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Unread 05-28-2008, 08:10 AM
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Smithers Smithers is offline
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Location: San Luis Obispo, CA
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Since this is a pretty hot topic on the forums I thought I would post my own list of things to help the electrical system of the Mille stay fresh and in good operating condition. The very first thing that everyone should do is resurface the grounds to the electrical system on their bike. This is the most simple thing to do and the ground is most often a problem in any electrical system on any auto or bike simply because NO ONE EVER TAKES IT INTO CONSIDERATION. In the human body everyone knows of veins and arteries but on machines everyone just pays attention to the positive side of the circuit. The ground is most important as current can only flow through the positive end as fast as it can return through the negative!



And just because the connection looks clean doesn't mean it's optimized. You REALLY want to brush the surface to get it nice and shiny. Cleaning the contacts this way is the only way to assure a really good connection to the mating surfaces. I used a flat file which surely shined them up. Then if you live along the ocean you can assemble the pieces and spray them with battery terminal corrosion preventative spray coating. If you look at the most race cars and car stereos you will see how seriously the engineers take the ground lead. You should too.

There is a ground that is connected to the engine as well but I didn't get a picture of it. Maybe sometime if I can remember.

I have had my dash/instrument cluster reset on me a few times and the battery is somewhat new. This is the first step anyone should take against this issue. Next I'm going to replace the starter relay as this is sometimes said to be a drain on the electrical system as well as some of the connectors. Mine has always started just fine but I bought a Battery Tender as a preventative measure just in case. Next I plan on buying an Odessey battery PC310 to replace the larger normal lead acid battery.
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