Nice one James, glad yours was OK, not like mine all corroded. As to my experience the consequences are not good that red cable failing resulted in complete dead bike when turning ignition. That could leave you in the middle of nowhere strandard. Camping in Wales at the moment all seems well with the bike👍
Well, James, if you weren't rolling around on the ground at 12:15am trying to fix things that shouldn't go wrong in the first place, you wouldn't be enjoying the genuine vintage British bike experience !😁😅
I always wondered how Enfield managed to fit a tool kit under the side cover. 'Cause on my Triumph, under the side cover, there's no space for tools. It's packed with electrical hardware under there. Chock a block as you English might say. Now I know how --- Enfield freed up some space under the side cover by moving some of the electrical parts to the rear fender shroud. The Triumph has got nothing electrical near the back fender, except the main ground wire that attaches to the engine case right where the halves bolt together. It's interesting for me to compare the 2.
Absolutely. And a pretty much useless tool kit, they are on most bikes. Without that, the starter motor solenoid could have been mounted under the side panel, away from road muck and water and easily accessible.
I think I'll extend the inner guard down to the swingarm with some rubber and make a flap to protect the electrics. I've long thought that area is not well protected. Stones and road muck gets flung in there too easily.
Great stuff James...your video "Haynes manual" is certainly coming together.... Thank you. Is this evidence of the west coast being damper than the east? Should be OK down here in the tropical south 😊
I do think it’s worth the time and effort to check it though, despite the 2+ hours needed. Failure of the red wire block connector means an electrically dead bike……
@@internetpolification Having identified this issue ( big thanks for highlighting it), should total shut down occur, once some basic checks are completed, it’s a definite place to then look at.
@@martinowl absolutely. First stop is the fuse box, of course. The left side of the 30A green fuse (second one down in the box) should be live,me en with the key switched off. If not, then it’s highly likely to be as per the video…..
Would it be possible to trace the red wire backwards to a more accessible place in the wiring loom tap into it and run another wire straight to the battery?
I’ve been thinking about that. I have a Honda Pan-European (23 years old) and the setup is very similar, with the charging from the RR unit joining at the solenoid. The block connector at this point gets hot to the point of burning the contacts and actually melting the block. There’s a thing called a ‘Red wire fix’ (which I’ve done) where the output from the RR unit has its own (fused) wire direct to the battery. In the case of the Interceptor though, the red wire not only send current back to the battery and also from it to power the fuse box (and therefore the bike) but it also supplies the solenoid itself, so removing it to relocate it to the battery means that the starter motor solenoid won’t function. I’m going to check the circuit diagram and have a think. The first fuse in the fuse box (30A) is solely for the RR unit output, so it might be possible to re-locate the charging aspect if the red wire direct to battery. Just needs a bit of thought but I’ve been that busy making extension cables that I don’t really have enough time!
I’d like to think they do but I suspect not? For example, the RR unit is still under the bike even on the latest models of the Interceptor and I believe the Himalayan and others
