MotoLectric Starter Cable upgrade - what a difference!

[Mobius]

http://www.motolectric.com/hicap.all.html

WOW! What a difference this outstanding modification has made to my bike. With the right choke setting it leaps into life within 1 second of hitting the starter. Every. Single. Time.

This compared to it often grinding on for 6-7 without starting, and having to take 4-5 attempts.

The starter turns the bike over noticeably more powerfully - and that's gotta be good for the starter, too.

The kit contained everything needed, including di-electric grease, various ties, alcohol swabbing pads and even some positive-battery-boot softener! Mike Heth at MotoLectric did a great job: The cables are extremely high quality, and very thick, while still being very bendable too. This made fitting the three cables very easy. He even provided a link to the step by step process that ol' 8-thumbs could follow easily.

I spent quite some time preparing the surfaces of things with sandpaper and steel wool (supplied) and applied dielectric grease on sparingly on all connections.

I ended up wiring the negative battery terminal directly to the engine, and cut off the old battery strap, while retaining the other negative terminal on the frame.

The cables were absolutely perfect length, and Mike made absolutely sure of the under-seat layout of my bike before my purchase.

I can't praise this mod highly enough, for the low-low price of just $79 USD, the bike is starting like a brand new one - and there's nothing like a slow-starting vehicle to make you feel insecure.

The bike is running fabulously too, and I've had a couple of runs in the hot weather in the last few days, and enjoying every second of it hugely. The only problem I have is this: I can't decide whether I prefer the sound of teh bike accelerating, or on the over-run. So I blow a shizload of gas just accelerating, and letting it run down all the time!

[persempre907]

But.... 79 $ for 4 bits of cable

[Mobius]

My mistake: $75 USD + shipping.

Take a look at the images of the cables on the web site. While good pictures, they do not show the quality of the items in sufficient detail to impress you, apparently. If you wrapped your mitts around these things you would see that the price is extremely good for what you get - plus the pre/after sales service from Michael Heh is simply excellent.

Even though the exchange rate made the cables around $130 NZD, I consider them to be extremely good value - especially in light of the result of installing them.

If your bike has problems starting (and I believe MotoLectric can make them for just about any bike) then this, I believe, is the answer to your problems.

If your bike already starts well - that's great - but mine didn't, and I am very happy with the product and what it instantly delivered.

[Motolectric]

But.... 79 $ for 4 bits of cable

First off, I appreciate all the positive comments made about my products.

Secondly I can understand the above comment because I have not gotten my "what's inside" product comparison finished and online. I've bought the low cost option that is out there along with raw 4 GA and prebuilt 4 GA leads sourced from a chain auto parts store, a small independent auto parts store and also a marine store which purports to offer the best you can get. They all fall quite short of what I offer in my kits but you can't tell unless you Dremel the terminals open and look inside. Which I've done but I have to write the comments and build out the photo comparisons so that it all makes sense.

But the bottom line is that for a bike like a Paso or perhaps the Hyper you can't actually buy anything even close to the HICAP for even the same money. That's because those bikes have pretty long starting circuits. Once you get enough length you are up in the $60+ price range and you are actually getting some pretty junky cabling/terminals/assembly for that money. At this point you'll just have to take my word for it but in addition to the positive comments on this forum I get emails back from HICAP buyers with these types of comments;

"Yep! very nice kit here Michael, gives me confidence that I'm not wasting my time.....glad it's not some cheapo junk and can't wait to install it."

and then

"Installed it and it works perfect!...The starter really zings along much faster.....instead of it laboring along.
Completely different thump to the motor.....no lag, just a rapid thump, thump, and ignition!"

The above is from a 999 owner who paid $120 for the kit as it requires specialized terminals to fit the bike (about 75% of the Ducs have 1 of 4 types of specialized terminals I have to fabricate or the kits won't fit properly).

So I'm happy with the direction I'm going in. I realize that for some the pricing might seem higher than they would want to pay but the Japanese bike makers sell a lot of bikes to riders who don't want to spend the money for a Ducati. And you wouldn't want Ducati to start building their bikes down to a price just to compete with the Japanese now would you?

For a quickie overview I have the image below. It is the cables under scrutiny for the product comparison;
OEM Ducati
OEM Triumph
cheapie M900 replacement kit (knockoff of my original kit for the E900 circa 2003)
chain store 4 GA lead
small store specialty lead
marine grade bulk 4 GA ($5.69 per foot)
marine store 4 GA lead
and the HICAP 1000+ strand 4 GA

As you can see it is only the expensive marine store lead you buy in bulk that has any appreciable strand count and even then it is about 25% the stranding of the HICAP lead. The other wires are all thick conductor junk. The knockoff lead is barely the same size as the OEM and since it is tinned it has less flow than all copper.

Again, thanks for any and all comments they really are welcomed. If anyone has specific questions about their bike or any other electrical applications I can be reached directly from the site. I try and monitor the forums but for the quickest response to a query, direct is best.

Happy New Year to all.

8.cable.bundle.jpg (238.25 KiB) Viewed 10187 times

[Tamburinifan]

Which one corrodes the least at the terminals, no 8 or what?

My experience is that that`s the main reason bad connection/starting w these cables.
Quality f sure helps but corrosion is the main culprit.
Just my 2c.

[micklm]

Hi all,

+1 that this is a quality kit. Nice guy to deal with also.

Before I installed it my starter and main earth connections had some type of silicone grease on the connections (applied by previous owner - thanks!) so the connections were is good condition already. No corrosion. Same battery before and after.

Big difference in the starter character with these new cables. I'm very happy.

See also this thread for my photos and Higgys (better) photos. http://forums.ducatipaso.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4130

All that said, I can't argue that just going over all the connections and making up some new cables myself wouldn't have helped a lot, and maybe been enough without spending the money for the kit - for me however this was easy and probably better in the long run!

For my 2c, worth the money unless you make a lot of you own cables and have a good crimping tool.

Cheers,

Mick

[romus]

http://www.motolectric.com/hicap.all.html

WOW! What a difference this outstanding modification has made to my bike.

Yep, I agree. I put in this wiring kit at the same time as a new battery. Starting is 100% better.

[wup]

would you know which kit to buy? a,b or c? Mine is a '90 906. Vin zdm1jb4l6lb000342. They don't answer their emails.

[higgy]

which kit depends on the location of your starter solenoid on the under the seat electrical plate and which side of the battery is positve..I think I have some documentation here somewhere,I have to find it and I will post it here for you to decide on the proper kit. Mike will ask you before he makes up your kit to be sure It is part of his process.
Mike has had issues with his mail server in the past,keep trying I don't think I have has direct email anymore but I will look, had a hard drive failure a while back and lost all my email addies

In the mean time check out this thread it may answer your issue


http://forums.ducatipaso.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4130

[907pasonut]

I'm sure the Motolectric wiring is a good upgrade for better starting (better conductors to compensate for the voltage drop that occurs in acid batteries)... but as I mentioned previously, if you fit a deka battery you won't need to change any wiring and the bike starts very quickly as they seem to have more crank amps, this battery is manely used with harleys, plus you get the bonus of very low maintenance

[higgy]

I have both the Dekka and the motolectric kit on both the Paso's jfyi
Both start instantly every time

[paso750]

I have neither and the bike always started instantly, too
Stronger coils made the biggest difference.
All ground and starter cables were meanwhile replaced as that´s definetely a good thing.

G.

[907pasonut]

my personal experience with batteries...and I had many over the years, is there is no comparison between the two, the starting issue with the 907 has always been there since new, ie: it started ok but it was always a bit of a stuggle with the lights on, FI pump, electronic computer, I immagine the battery drain is more than carbied pasos
in april 07, I went to a battery shop and specifically asked for a battery with more power...the guy behind the counter said, this is the best battery you can get, of course I didnt believe him at the time, but as soon as I installed it you can tell the difference straight away, and now in its 5th year still going strong, plus they do not leak acid as they are sealed, so they cant damage metalwork

[higgy]

And a glassmat is way more forgiving then an acid or gel battery when it comes to charging

You don't really need anything special..btw there are better batteries for about 6 times the price of a Dekka

[Mc tool]

'scuse my ignorance ( its no secret ) what is a deka battery ? another name for a gel battery ?