Based on the prima facie as described clearly something wasn't right. The only thing that works from a black box point of view is that the oem starter leads actually contains a low resistance / high current ballast (resistor) to limit the available current to the starter motor on start up, thus allowing more current to flow to the fuel pump and injectors..... does anyone have a circuit diagram for me to look at? May be the leads contain a choke to limit interference to a sensitive ECU?
interesting angle, AC, but surely in a dc circuit there would be no need for a choke, unless it is susceptible to high transients (where I believe some starter systems have either zener diodes to take voltage spikes away or freewheel diodes to sink any reverse current caused by a possible back emf from the inductive motor circuit) all theoretical, but doesn't seem to be logical in a simple motorbike starter circuit. definitely worth exploring from a circuit diagram point of view as to what might be causing IDB to have faced the issues he did. Pete
You may be onto something. Another thing I play around with is outboard engines, and currently run a 1996 Suzuki DT200EFI, which is a 2.7l V6 Fuel injected 2 stroke. Being a 1996 engine the EFI is a little primitive. I've seen stories of the starter motor staying engaged because of a starter ‘clutch’ fault. The result of this is that once the engine starts, the spinning starter motor feeds current back into the system which isn’t as clean as the alternator and can cause the engine to run really rough. Perhaps Ducati tried to guard against something similar. Nasher
I was thinking back EMF and the zeners would only cancel spikes in one direction, but as I said it was all I could think of together with the more likely second theory.
No gizmos in any Ducat cables I have seen so far, just cheap quality cable and crimps - not seen a sport classic set but can't imagine anything different on these bikes
I’m lucky enough to have the crimp tooling for larger cable sizes, and enjoy making stuff myself, so haven’t needed to call on his services, but having made cables myself I know Exige’s kits are great value and look to be of excellent quality. I’ve now made two sets of Ducati cables, one for my M900 and one for the 900SS I’m working on at the moment. If other Ducati cables are of a similar quality to what I’ve seen then I’d imagine it’s worth doing on other models. I’d already cleaned and refitted the original cables on the M900, but after changing the cables the difference to the speed the engine spins up at is amazing. For carb’d monsters that don’t get used often, and rely on that vacuum operated fuel pump to refill the float bowls, I think a better set of cables is a necessity. Nasher
Tbe leads on my bike are just bog standard , nothing special. When my bike wouldnt start well i remade all my connections thinking bad earth but with the same result. When the bike eventually started it ran well. Could the starter running better have dropped the power at the power commander? Just a thought, what if the earth on the power commander was weak.
Tbe leads on my bike are just bog standard , nothing special. When my bike wouldnt start well i remade all my connections thinking bad earth but with the same result. When the bike eventually started it ran well. Could the starter running better have dropped the power at the power commander?
Without an electronics engineer checking what was done at the time and making a few measurements I think we've lost anything useful from this situation. I'd always replace the Ducati OEM cables for the Exactfit. ...albeit I'd like to see the crimps made of Silver, then gold plated to stop tarnishing..... and I'd like to pay less due to my shameless advertising of his products.
My power commander is powered straight from the battery terminals - is it possible you didn't have yours properly connected when you fitted the cable kit? Could explain a lot...
The power commander was fitted when i bought the bike and hasnt gave any problems, its definatly not connected direct to the battery though.
