Idiot lights on a '78 Strada and fork oil.

[Brickboy]

I'm slowly getting towards a useful and useable Strada - once I have the carbs sorted (see my other post!) and the grabby clutch sorted out. Great info on here, especially the top tip to eliminate swing arm play by rotating the spindle 90 degrees. Saved a few hours there.

Now I'm into the simple stuff... Three, rectangular idiot lights. Green, blue and red. Surely, thinks I, neutral, high beam and oil pressure.

Well, the blue is high beam, the green seems to be 'lights on" (why you'd need to be told that, I'm not sure!) and the red never lights up.

So, a question for those of you laughing at my idiocy.. green and blue functioning correctly? And the red? Charging warning, perhaps? The bike is charging correctly. Should I expect it to light up with ignition on, can I test the circuit, how?! I'm assuming it's not oil pressure, and the green isn't neutral as I can't spot any connections on the engine/gearbox unit for that sort of switch.

Life's a learning curve

Simon

[George 350]

Yes, does seem odd doesn't it. Blue as you say is main beam, green is lights on. The red one as I know it is ignition on. Why you need to know that after the 'clunk' of the fuel tap I don't know and it can be annoyingly bright at night. The only other way to look at it is as a 'charging' light - when it isn't on it is either not charging or the bulb has blown! However, it should come on when you key on, and it should stay on when running. When I redid the wiring on mine, I repurposed the red into an indicators on flasher instead. Far more useful.
Regards, George

[Brickboy]

Thank you, George.

That's wonderfully insane!

I shall re-purpose mine too.

Cheers,

Simon

[P&S]

Hi Simon,
on a '78 strada the red idiot light should already be the blinker signal.
At least it is on mine.

[George 350]

on a '78 strada the red idiot light should already be the blinker signal.
At least it is on mine.

Then I think someone may have modified it before you got it? My 78 sport, owned from new was as I described above.

[72degrees]

The 250 2C is more logical - just blue and green. No 'clunk' from the fuel tap though - strictly 'handraulic;.

[Steve Brown]

They were as George said, originally like that. The red doesn't have any indication of charging-just that the ignition is switched on. Really helpful, like the green. I always rewire them for some other job too.

[3potjohn]

On my 350 K1 the lights are
Red = oil pressure ( has been known to illuminate falsely very occasionally)
Yellow= indicators
Blue = lights on
Another Blue = main beam

I am wondering about that Blue lights on now. Should it have been green? I am used to Green = neutral. Not that I can always find neutral on the Morini when I need to.Nor do I have a neutral switch.
At least the alternator continues to charge the battery if the red light fails, unlike the German offering, which also puts the live circuit through it’s starter relay.What could possibly go wrong.
John

[P&S]

on a '78 strada the red idiot light should already be the blinker signal.
At least it is on mine.

Then I think someone may have modified it before you got it? My 78 sport, owned from new was as I described above.

Hi Simon,
Hi George 350,
does your bikes have the electric starter?

[George 350]

Hi,
Electric start? No they don't, however I'm fairly sure that the indicator repeater came in with the 'K' models (1981?) but am more than happy to be corrected on this though.
I do know that a friends W reg 350 electric start sport had exactly the same setup as my pair originally had.
The first 500's came with 4 idiot lights- oil pressure was added, -what extra colour was there for that I don't know, but still no indicator repeater and don't know if the 350's got the same 4 light console later on or did ithe oil light coincide with the K clocks on the 350?
I guess that as the bikes are 35+ years old now, unless it has been owned from new or its history is known it is getting hard to say what was original.
As you say, yours has an indicator repeater which is much better than a permanent red light.
George.

[P&S]

My bike has the electric starter as others of friends that have on bikes of that period the indicator repeater and the electric starter.
So I would say that the indicator repeater arrived when the electric starter was introduced.

[mbmm350s]

The 250 2C is more logical - just blue and green. No 'clunk' from the fuel tap though - strictly 'handraulic;.

Agree!
But beware,
Took our 1981 250 2C to get an MOT about 5 years ago and it was refused an MOT (with a rectification notice) for not having an indicator repeater. (tell-tale in the regulations)
No refund, I had to pay before I could get the bike back. A*hole says if I fix it I get the re-test for free.
Arguing that it never had one and didn't need to have one as all indicators are visible to the rider was to no avail.

No I did not take it back and have never been to a certain KTM dealer in Oxfordshire ever again.

just another year and it will be exempt anyway :>). In meantime and ever since taking it to a sympathetic old school MOT guy.

For the record my non e-start 78 sport never had indicator repeater. It's possible that there were different arrangements in different countries to suit local regulations.

Mark

[JonD]

I have a late 78 / early 79 Sport and have the original manual (in Italian) for it. It is an Italian import. The manual covers both the Sport and Strada models. Wiring Diagram is the same for both models as is the position of the lights. There is an inconsistency between the illustration on Page 4 and the Wiring Diagram for the "idiot" lights. The following is the what I have found sitting on the bike:

Wiring Diagram: Left Green - lights on, Middle Blue - Main Beam, Right Red - Indicators
Bike: Left Green - Indicators, Middle Blue - lights on, Right Red - main beam
Manual Page 4: Left Blue - main beam, Middle Red - indicators, Right Green - lights on

I don't think the bike has been restored. The position of the lights on the bike and the wiring diagram correspond but it looks as though the wires have been changed over at some time. Looking in the Blue Book the wiring diagrams are different again. Confusing or what!

Hope this helps