Topic: electrical shutdown on hiway tonight

[my79650]

79 cb650: out for a drive tonight and the engine was working great at 70 mph i lost all my lights and the engine quit on me. Pulled over and got to neutral; both the oil and neutral lamps were dim, no dash or any other lights would light up on the bike. the park light side of the ignition switch is fine as i had the tail light when i turned the key to that position. i replaced the battery and rotor and the r/r this year as new plus i fixed the wire harnass for the stator. What i was wondering is what can short out to just kill practically everything on the motorcycle? Any ideas or suggestions is appreciated, thanks.

[grumpy]

check the fuses?

[74750k4]

Exactly.
I had that happen to me. The main fuse was blown, and I suspect the brake lamp wire shorted. I was slowing down when it happened. Not sure if that matters though...

[bjbuchanan]

Replace your fuses with other ones or check continuity or resistance if you are stubborn like me. Check voltage at the battery after sitting for the night, what does it say? Should be up north of 12.5 for sure otherwise you have some investigating to do of your charging system

[painteddigital]

I've had this happen once or twice to my 550. Not sure of the wiring differences, but when I wiggled my top wiring harness, the lights came back on. I cleaned it out with some vinegar and a brush and inspected the wires for corrosion. Then put some dielectric grease to help the connection. Seems to have fixed it.

[toytuff]

Could be in the ignition switch also. I remember reading a few posts on this.

Just a thought.

tt

[my79650]

Thanks for the tips, will post results this afternoon.

[my79650]

All the fuses are good, even the homemade main fuse made out of wire. Was like that when i bought the bike. The battery was at 9.45V cause i had to keep turning the rear park lights on and off to keep from getting run over last nite. The r/r tested good, didn't fry it. I went to test the stator and the black wire insulation was melted nearly all the way up the harness....my own fault for not making sure the harness was in the proper route. I don't know what it was except maybe it was grounding out on the frame and stopped everything. when i unplugged the stator i got everything back plus it started up after a few hrs on the trickle charger.

[my79650]

Cell phone pics...since i suck a$$ at soldering; i'm going to get my other stator and harness and use it...why did Honda say its ok to use soft steel screws in aluminum? I got the 3 for the stator itself to turn. The 2 for the brushes...just made them round!  Maybe i can drill them out and retap them.

[bjbuchanan]

Drill the heads and vice grip the studs should come loose. Get yourself a handheld impact driver. Anywhere from 9$ (harbor freight/princess auto) to 25 for craftsman. You will feel like a clown for not having gotten one sooner. Small fragile stuff just needs to be supported well and don't use the big hammer on em

[my79650]

I got one but it's too big and  for a 1/2" drive. I tried an easy out on the spare unit and that messed it up, then used a few bits to drill it out and damn that's pretty hard steel for a screw. The ones with the fried harness has the good brushes and the screw heads are good. Either i get a smaller handheld or rebuild the harness....fun never ends. Napa is close for me; will call them to see if they have a handheld.

[my79650]

Bought beer, to hell with the new tool! I did the splice job instead. Soldered and the sealed heat schrink. I Did the splice near the engine case where the harness runs before it goes under the side cover for the front sprocket. Was out for a 13km drive@70mph; same as last night and everything worked great. Lights got brighter when i gave it gas. Check the battery volts in the morning.

[stickman]

That cold beer does the trick for me too.  I try to start every new task with cold beer and music.  Unless that battery is fairly new, better keep
a close eye on it.  They don't seem  to recover well from trauma.

Stickman

[bjatwood]

And, some of these older bikes will not charge up a battery. The charging systems will just maintain the battery charge. Make sure it has a full 12 volt charge on it, prior to running it.
And then if the battery voltage drops after you have ridden, you will know then you have either a A) Bad Battery or B) more electrical problems

[my79650]

Battery is a month old; so is the rotor, new r/r box Friday. I ran 100 mile drive Sunday afternoon and i had my multimeter with me. Each time i stopped for break i checked the battery. Shutdown was at 12.40/45v neartly every test. i checked it today after work and it was holding at 12.39v. I am pleased with the results of the repair job.

[bollingball]

All the fuses are good, even the homemade main fuse made out of wire.                                            Now about that fuse?

Ken

[bjatwood]

Glad you got it figured out! Keep the Rubber down