Topic: 78 cb550 ground cable ?

[evopgt]

Hello.  Do both ground cables in the pic attatch to the negative battery terminal?? If so, where does the other end of the cable with the green on it attatch to?? The other cable leads in the left side engine cover. Thanks

[strynboen]

think one goes to the start engine"ground..and the other to engine/frame/..the 3(smaller green ) are in the main harenes and gets konnekted to the coils ground schrev..(.but mine is a k3.euro bike..)

[eigenvector]

I have a '77, but on mine the big cable goes from the battery to the frame.

The frame connection is a weirdly long bolt right by where the rear brake switch sits.  Never did understand why it looks the way it does. 
Nothing else connects to the negative battery terminal.

[Scott S]

 If I'm looking at your pics correctly, the one with the rubber boot....coming out of the LH engine cover....is for the starter and should go to the solenoid, on the other side of the bike. On the electrical panel under the LH side cover.

 The ground goes to NEG on battery and to the engine/frame/bracket/hanger bolt at the right rear of the engine. Make sure you have some bare metal for it to attach to.

[eigenvector]

Yeah maybe we should be crystal clear here - less you blow out something.

Negative battery terminal goes to the frame, short hop to a bolt by the rear brake switch
Positive battery terminal crosses under seat and connects to the starter solenoid.

Since your pic is showing the chain - I can only assume you're looking at the electrical panel.  Negative cable doesn't go anywhere near that side at least on a '77

[Scott S]

 Ah, yes.... a better look at the pic and that IS the LH side. The one with the boot goes on the starter solenoid.
 See the engine bolt just behind your thumb/forefinger in the pic? On the OTHER side of the bike is where the negative/ground cable goes. If that's a 550, it goes on the bracket that guides the clutch cable.

[evopgt]

There are 2 terminals on the starter solenoid. One already has a red positive cable on it.  I assume it goes to the other terminal on the solenoid?? Sorry for what probably seems like dumb ?'s here. You guys are lots of help

[eigenvector]

It's not a dumb question, the wiring is a bit confusing over there.

There are 3 (THREE) cables on the starter solenoid.  One to the starter on one post, TWO on the other post, one to the battery positive terminal the other hooks to the power supply of the bike.  The last one will be not so heavy duty, ring terminal and you'll see that it goes into the wiring bundle.

I'm sorry I don't have a pic handy otherwise it would be easy to see.

[evopgt]

I'm confused. You said there are 3 total on the solenoid .. but you described 4 .. Are there 3 or 4 connections total on the solenoid?? How many positive and how many negative??

[TwoTired]

There are no negative battery connections on the solenoid. One of the big posts goes to battery POS.  The other big post goes to the starter.  The big post that has the big cable to the battery, may have a smaller wire that powers the bike's main fuse.  The smaller posts on the solenoid are for solenoid a activation.

My 78 is 700 miles away right now.  But, if I go from memory, the battery NEG cable routes to ring terminal that fits between engine case and frame squeezed by an engine mount bolt.

Are you sure you have a battery neg cable that is correct for your bike?  I could be wrong, but I don't recall a two wire connection to the battery post.  But, a possibility is that the smaller wire goes to the rectifier.

[evopgt]

Ok. I think I gotcha!! I went to the garage. Attatched the wire coming from the engine/starter to the terminal at the top of the pic, which also has another connection that leads to the wire bundle.  The terminal at the bottom of the pic has only one connection to it which is the + battery terminal.  What threw me off was the red tape on the wire coming from the top post ,, so I assumed there was a negative.  Does that photo look right?? I am concerned that they should be in reverse order though because of other pics I've seen show the front post with the starter wire attatched?? Any thoughts??

[eigenvector]

The first pic is the battery of course
The 2nd pic is where the negative cable attaches
The 3rd pic is the starter solenoid - Mind you I've done some (ahem..) rewiring, but I followed the Honda wiring diagram when I did.  wire on left, powers harness.  Wire on right - from the battery.  Wire in foreground - from starter.

[evopgt]

I can't tell from the pic.  Which post is the wire going to the harness going to?? Does it share a post with the starter cable or positive terminal?? It looks like yours is a bit different from mine

[Scott S]

 While Ron is working on an earlier model, this post is indispensable for us 550 guys:

 http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,151576.0.html

 He has clear pics and descriptions of the the wiring and routing.