14
What the wires do
Main positive and negative connections
N.B.
All S4 alarm systems are designed to work on 12 volt NEGATIVE earth machine. Do not install this
product to a POSITIVE earth machine.
The main positive and negative connections are the most important wires of any alarm system as they supply the power
to make most of the other functions work.
MAIN POSITIVE SUPPLY (Red tagged wire)
Many machines are now provided with a dedicated 12 volt positive feed designed to power the alarm system. Alternatives
can be the fuel injection fuse, clock or fan fuse. The rating of this fuse should be between 10 and 20 amps. If the rating
is below this the fuse may blow when indicators flash via the alarm system. It is normally safe to increase the rating of
this OE fuse by a small margin (e.g. 7.5 amps to 10amps).
The alarm is equipped with internal protection to deal with shorts on the indicators but it is always advisable to fit a
protection fuse as this protects the wiring from the fuse to the alarm unit itself. Where possible the fuse should be fitted as
close as possible to the source of power. The supply should never be taken directly from the battery.
MAIN NEGATIVE SUPPLIES (Black tagged Wires)
The S4 Red and Yellow systems have 2 earth wires due to them being equipped with immobilisation. The S4 Green unit
only has one. This is for immobilisation safety, as the alarm system would have to lose both earths before there was a
potential problem with the immobilisation. For the same reason it is very important these two wires are connected to two
separate points on the machine.
These points can be on the frame or within the wiring harness but should never be mixed and never taken directly to the
battery. Any harness based earth should be tested to ensure it is a true earth and does not change when the ignition is
turned on and switches are operated. If unsure refer to the machine’s wiring diagram.
We advise the use of harness based earths in most cases. Frame earths, especially on anodised frames, can be very
poor.
Immobilisation
The Starter cut (Yellow tagged wires)
Identify the wire which controls the starter relay (maximum load 7 amps) and cut it. Where possible remove a section of
the original cable and rejoin this wire via the 2 Yellow tagged wires of the alarm harness (one to the starter relay end and
one to the main harness end). These wires are non-directional so it doesn’t matter which Yellow wire is connected to the
relay end or the harness end.
Under no circumstances should the heavy duty wire which powers the Starter motor itself be cut.
On most machines the starter trigger will be a
Positive
when the ignition is turned on and the Starter button is pressed,
however this is not always the case. Many scooters and nearly all Yamaha motorcycles control the starter relay via a
Negative
signal when the starter button is pressed.
The alarm system is not sensitive to whether a positive or negative is cut.
Important note: Canbus based machines
It is recommended on canbus based machines that the starter
immobilisation is taken between the starter button and the ECU. If the cut is made post ECU the machine will log a fault.
