This article went out in the February 2024 copy (issue 434) of the Norton Owners Club magazine – Roadholder

I’m a community guy, and help moderate the Norton Commando group over on Facebook, where we have over nineteen thousand members – so it’s safe to say that Commandos are usually my thing.

However, since my Mum sadly passed away in 2011, my Dad and I have restored several bikes together – shock, horror not just Nortons!

Other than our Commandos we’ve restored an Aerial Huntmaster, Sunbeam S7 Deluxe, Triumph Bonneville and two Norton Dominators.

In 2017, Dad was hit hard with pneumonia, we carried on working on bikes together, but although his recovery was good, he came back feeling his age and decided a Norton Lightweight was for him in lieu of the heavier bikes he’d always had before.

A Norton Electra was his choice (the electric start being an obvious attraction)

On my website www.granttiller.com I have posted over three hundred wiring schematics over the last few years mainly for Norton Commandos, correcting errors in the factory original diagrams, and helping people with fitting modern and updated components like reg/recs, electronic ignitions, and electric starters.

It’s a hobby for me, and there is nothing more rewarding hearing back from others that I have helped them de-mystify their bike’s electrickery, or I have been helpful in some way getting their machine back on the road again!

So with an Electra on the bench, it seemed only right to give it the same treatment!

The Electra is mainly Wipac, with a few exceptions like the Hella bar-end turn signals, Lucas starter motor etc…

In general, Wipac wired a bike very differently to Lucas – the colour scheme, for example, can be particularly overwhelming!

However, the factory wiring schematic is excellent – and contains less errors than the factory Commando schematics, which makes for a pleasant change.

I am very lucky to have an original Wipac Service Manual, so the quality is better than the shrunk-down version that made it into the Norton Factory Workshop Manual.

Here is the original schematic:

While the Wipac schematic is beautifully drawn, the downside is it’s black and white, and not particularly easy to follow, for such a simple bike.

Just by adding a splash of colour and moving some of the components around on the page, I very easily managed to come up with something that was considerably easier to follow.

With the colorized original done and dusted, I have also produced a schematic that contains two of the most common upgrades that people do to their Electras:

• added a modern 2-wire alternator stator with a combined regulator/rectifier
• added an electronic ignition (most seem to go for the Pazon Sure-Fire, which is very reasonable priced and comes with a seven year warranty)

Here is the updated schematic which includes the modern upgrades:

My Dad sadly passed away in July this year having lost the fight to bowel cancer, so he never got to ride his Electra.

But he made me promise I’d get the re-commissioning completed, and put the bike back on the road, which (at the time of writing this) I have just finished.

I have chosen to give the bike to his good friend and neighbour, Bill who has promised me that he will love the bike and ride it in Dad’s memory.

Hopefully these updated schematics will help some of you.

There are downloadable versions available on my website www.granttiller.com – please feel free to print one out and pin it to your workshop wall!

Happy Riding,

Grant Tiller