I want to add a battery kill switch for emergency purposes, and would like your input on how I plan to do it.
First, the reason:
A few days ago I left work headed for home, and stopped for gas after riding for about 20 minutes. When I hit the kill switch to shut her off, it immediately started cranking by itself. I turned the kill switch back on and the bike started up. I turned the key off, and again it started cranking. The starter solenoid was stuck, presumably ever since I'd started up, and the starter motor had been spinning wide open the entire 20 minutes. The starter solenoid was blistering hot (literally) and before I could get the battery negative disconnected the starter motor crapped out. After a push-start and a couple of spare parts (I LOVE SPARE PARTS) she's running fine again, but I thought I'd overreact anyway.
THE PLAN:
I'm going to put a kill switch on the small 12v wire that leads to the starter button, and run a couple of extra wires so I have separate indicator LED on the console for the 12v from the starter button to the starter solenoid and for the 12v from the solenoid to the starter motor. This is because I'm guessing the initial failure was the starter button failing to disengage, holding the solenoid open until it locked up. If I see the right LED light up, I can kill the power to the starter button by a small kill switch. If I see the left LED light up, I can kill the battery with the large battery kill switch. I got this battery kill switch:
and a couple of battery connection cables (4ga) with eyelet ends from an auto parts store.
I was thinking the ground strap connection on the left side of the frame would be the best place to put it, as there's not really room in the left side cover, and I'm guessing that lengthening the hot wire to the starter would be a worse idea than lengthening the battery ground strap. Or, alternately, putting it up near the air cleaner cover but I'm not sure how much length would be too much.
THE QUESTIONS:
What size wire is the factory ground strap?
How bad of an idea would it be to lengthen the ground strap by 24" of 4ga?
Should I get a shorter and/or thicker wire?
Do I need to get a solid bus plate (3-4") to go straight from the kill switch to the ground point?
Is there a better kill switch I should be looking for?
First, the reason:
A few days ago I left work headed for home, and stopped for gas after riding for about 20 minutes. When I hit the kill switch to shut her off, it immediately started cranking by itself. I turned the kill switch back on and the bike started up. I turned the key off, and again it started cranking. The starter solenoid was stuck, presumably ever since I'd started up, and the starter motor had been spinning wide open the entire 20 minutes. The starter solenoid was blistering hot (literally) and before I could get the battery negative disconnected the starter motor crapped out. After a push-start and a couple of spare parts (I LOVE SPARE PARTS) she's running fine again, but I thought I'd overreact anyway.
THE PLAN:
I'm going to put a kill switch on the small 12v wire that leads to the starter button, and run a couple of extra wires so I have separate indicator LED on the console for the 12v from the starter button to the starter solenoid and for the 12v from the solenoid to the starter motor. This is because I'm guessing the initial failure was the starter button failing to disengage, holding the solenoid open until it locked up. If I see the right LED light up, I can kill the power to the starter button by a small kill switch. If I see the left LED light up, I can kill the battery with the large battery kill switch. I got this battery kill switch:
and a couple of battery connection cables (4ga) with eyelet ends from an auto parts store.
I was thinking the ground strap connection on the left side of the frame would be the best place to put it, as there's not really room in the left side cover, and I'm guessing that lengthening the hot wire to the starter would be a worse idea than lengthening the battery ground strap. Or, alternately, putting it up near the air cleaner cover but I'm not sure how much length would be too much.
THE QUESTIONS:
What size wire is the factory ground strap?
How bad of an idea would it be to lengthen the ground strap by 24" of 4ga?
Should I get a shorter and/or thicker wire?
Do I need to get a solid bus plate (3-4") to go straight from the kill switch to the ground point?
Is there a better kill switch I should be looking for?