Topic: cb550 electrical problems

[njon]

So...  I'm working on a '78 cb550...  the bike runs like a champ - when it has power.  So far I've replaced the stator coil, field coil, battery (went to lithium), fuses, fuse box, connector wires...  With the new fuse box and battery the thing started right up on the first turn of the key and was just purring.... Took it out for a spin and it was yawning thru gears like it was nothing... then I shut her down, tried to start her again and NOTHING - completely dead - not even lights.  I've checked everything I can get my hands on with a meter and nothing is bad. I'm baffled...   Anyone have any ideas?  Have any of you guys encountered this sort of thing...?  I'd love some insight here if anyone's offering...

[sebastienb]

Anyway to check if the alternator is recharging the battery?

[zeech]

Which battery are you using? Did you upgrade to a modern regulator/rectifier in one?

When going to Lithium batteries I've heard you need to ditch the old two part unit and upgrade. I recently installed an 8 Cell Antigravity and it says you must also upgrade the regulator/rectifier, so I did (bought one off eBay for like $70). Runs like a champ and doesn't lose any charge.

[njon]

zeech - I went to Ballistic EVO 8 cell and NO I didn't upgrade regulator/rectifier.  I'm going to look into that right now.  Would be an easy fix...  Thanks

[Bankerdanny]

Don't assume it's the battery. The 77-78 550 is notorious for bad ignition switches.  Mine died on me at a light with zero prior warning. Dead as a doornail.

The connection from the wiring harness to the switch is spade terminals. The spades are on the switch side and the receptors on the harness side. The spades are attached to the switch with mushroomed rivets. Over time the vicrations cause the rivets to loosen resulting in a bad connection. It doesn't take many miles either. Mine died with 9k miles on it.

The fix is to solder the spade terminal to the rivet. The repair took less than 30 minutes to do.

You can test to see if this is the problem by making a jumper to bypass the switch, essentially hot wiring the bike.  The jumper only needs to be acouple inches long with spade terminals on each end. Jumper red to black and that should provide power to test if it is the switch.

Here is a link to how to rebuild: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=74213.0

[njon]

TwoTired - Did you read where I said I checked the battery voltage and it was fully charged?  Where I went through almost everything electrical that I could hit with a meter and everything checked out??  I guess you were TwoTired.

Bankerdanny - That's exactly what it was. Had time to work on it today and guess what I found, same exact thing.  Problem solved. 

Thanks for offering up that advise.  Much appreciated. I'm new to CB's...

[Bankerdanny]

You're welcome.

I was able to diagnose and fix this problem when it happened to me because I had already read about the problem here. You will note that the repair tutorial thread I linked to was written by Two Tired who really is the 550 guru here the way that Hondaman is for the 750.

[njon]

Thanks so much for info - seriously, its a huge help.

I'm totally new to this forum as this is my first CB. I'm figuring it out as go along. I can totally appreciate TwoTired's knowledge and expertise here, but I don't really appreciate the "duh, you retard"  tone of his response.  I'm certainly no expert, but I'm definitely not stupid.  I do this in my free time because I enjoy it and because it keeps my mind occupied. Am I really some idiot suddenly just because I asked a couple simple questions?   I got on this forum because I want to learn more about these bikes...  I thought thats what this was here for. A little help is always appreciated.

I'll definitely post some more pics from before - and as I go along.

[LesterPiglet]

I got the same with my first few posts, I put it down to old age. Water off a duck's back.

Victor meldrew tells how it is