I need to learn how to understand/fix wiring.

[PPhemester]

I know nothing about wiring. Nothing. I get fidgety when hooking up a car battery. This needs to change. Maybe God wanted me to learn how to wire by putting a cheap '78 into my hands with a bad ground on the left rear turn signal and a works when it wants to radio and horn. Then again, maybe I'm just paranoid. What I do know for certain is that I need to get my learn on. Where is a good starting point for indispensable books and diagnostic tools? I need to know even basic stuff like how to figure out which wires are hot, which wires are grounds, how to cut and splice properly, and how to generally troubleshoot electrical problems.

Bring on the knowledge, oh Divine Masters of the demon strands.

[majicwrench]

Well,
You need a simple test light, and a volt/ohm meter. Test light #1 electrical tool. Hook test light clip to battery (-) then touch tip of probe to (+), light glows bright meaning current is flowing thru bulb and wire back to ground. Now anything else you want to check, touch tip of probe to wire or contact, if light glows bright, means battery voltage is present. Now for anything electrical to work, needs to be a ground path, if you touch the probe to the ground wire light should not glow at all. Obviosly a lot more to it than that, but that is the basics, and that is how everything works, power comes to the motor/bulb, runs thru motor/bulb to ground, and cool things happen, like the fan motor runs. Usually either the power or the ground are switched. Wiring diagram will show what is power and what is ground, although reading wiring diagram is an aquired skill in most cases.



Not sure of any good book on subject, I would bet most books make is sound too complicated, in most al cases is pretty darn simple.
Good luck,
Just an old master,
Keith

[jimincalif]

While this is designed for British electrical systems, there are rumors that it works in Italian systems too.

http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm

[So Cal Mark]

first, I applaud you for wanting to learn the basics and theory. With that knowledge you will be able to solve most problems and more importantly, know how and why you solved them. Far too many owners tackle projects they have no knowledge of and make small problems into major headaches.
Now, simply type Basic Automotive Electricity into your google search box. You will be presented with pages of tutorials to choose from

[mbouse]

While this is designed for British electrical systems, there are rumors that it works in Italian systems too.

http://www3.telus.net/bc_triumph_registry/smoke.htm

that stuff is utterly fantastic. though, it is not as good as OEM smoke, something about patent rights. i first used it for the Spitwad a couple of years ago, and keep a can around all the time now.

i've used it for my Spider, but i gotta warn ya that the adaptor from Whitworth to metric is extremely difficult to locate, and therefore outragiously expensive. I've a step-by-step instruction kit just for the adaptor.

[davidwhitt]

Hi
Good Luck. That is something I am just learning too. I found the site below to be very helpful and basic enough to answer all of my dumb questions before I asked them:

http://www.secondchancegarage.com/public/230.cfm

David