Topic: What could this be?

[MrZxp]

Decided yesterday, now that the 750 is finished, that it is time to "freshen" up my '74 550. To that end I've begun dismantling the old girl. Now, in the process of doing this, came across this strange (electrical) item attached to the frame below the coils on the right hand side of the frame... it isn't the blinker beeper 'cos that is attached to the inside of the left fork ear... checked the online fiche and can find nothing that looks like it... seems like it should be there as it looks OEM. Pics are attached. Anybody know what it is? Thanks in advance...

Cheers, Phil

[MrZxp]

Here's a pic of the beeper...

[csendker]

I just checked my '75, and all I have is a pair of threaded mounting holes, no mystery-thing-a-ma-bob there though.

[kghost]

Kinda looks like the actual flasher relay

[750goes]

It's got wiring out the back of it- -where does that lead you too?? - being so close to the coils does it have something to do with that ??

[MrZxp]

It's got wiring out the back of it- -where does that lead you too?? - being so close to the coils does it have something to do with that ??

The wiring for it terminated in the rats nest in the headlight shell... unfortunately I'd disconnected everything in there before I noticed it...

Kinda looks like the actual flasher relay

Thought that initially too, but what I believe to be the flasher relay is located with the rest of the electrical bits under the left sidecover.

This bike could well have a number of "anomalies" as I believe it to be a Japanese domestic market model. All warning stickers are in japanese script and it has this curious light affixed to the steering stem bolt... It has never "lit up" since I've had the bike...

Cheers, Phil



 

[paulages]

that's your turn signal beeper. beeps with your relay (when the relay is allowing power through, actually), and sounds like a backup warning. it's handy if you always forget to turn your signals off...   

[burmashave]

Have you tried disconnecting it to see what fails?  If the bike runs fine without it, then the part is redundant.

[kettlesd]

My 550 doesnt have one of those either. My signal buzzer is where yours is - on the inside of the headlight bracket ears.

[eldar]

well I know nothing about the 550s but that kinda looks like it may be a ballast resistor. It was commonly used with the goldwing coils. It was a common mod on the 750s and I suppose it could have been done on a 550 too. But since you said it went to the headlight, hard to say. I dont see why it would have anything to do with a turn signal buzzer as those never really changed during the years on these bikes.

As for that red light on your stem may not actually be a light. I have seen those before and they were not lights, just reflectors. But hey, it is only a pic and so it is hard to tell.

[Bodi]

Japanese domestic models should have a speed beeper, activated from the speedometer when you're over 100km/h. The speedo would have some extra wires as well. That may be what you show?

[kettlesd]

A speed beeper??? wow - never heard of one! Wind 'er up to a hundred Km MrZ and see what happens!!!

[heffay]

right!... cuz when we're going 100kph and can't even hear the exhaust we sure as heck couldn't hear a dumb little beeper.

p.s.  i CAN hear my exhaust at 100kph... previous comment was for illustration purposes only 

[MrZxp]

As for that red light on your stem may not actually be a light. I have seen those before and they were not lights, just reflectors. But hey, it is only a pic and so it is hard to tell.

Definitely has a bulb in there eldar, so I guess it is/was meant to light up...

[MrZxp]

Japanese domestic models should have a speed beeper, activated from the speedometer when you're over 100km/h. The speedo would have some extra wires as well. That may be what you show?

Checked the speedo, and guess what? There does appear to be extra wiring there! See pic attached... now that you mention it, as far as my feeble memory can recall, I remember asking the PO when I bought the bike off him (20 years ago!!) about the stem light and he said that it was some speed warning light peculiar to japanese models... I'd forgotten clean about that! Thanks for the ID Bodi! 

A speed beeper??? wow - never heard of one! Wind 'er up to a hundred Km MrZ and see what happens!!!

Rest assured the little 550 has been well past 100km/h on many an occasion and never heard a buzzer. i would assume it would have been disconnected - something I would not hesitate to do! (I took it around Manfield racing circuit once on a club ride day - scariest thing I've ever done on it! The brakes are definitely not up to hauling down all the weight in a hurry!  )



Cheers, Phil

[MrZxp]

right!... cuz when we're going 100kph and can't even hear the exhaust we sure as heck couldn't hear a dumb little beeper.

p.s.  i CAN hear my exhaust at 100kph... previous comment was for illustration purposes only 

Perhaps that is what the red light on the steering bolt is for? I guess it would light up in conjunction with the beeper? You could expect the clever Honda engineers to try and think of everything right?? 

When I get everything back together I might just try to connect it up just to see if it works!

Thanks everybody for your input... it is greatly appreciated - I reckon this mystery is solved.

Cheers, Phil

[toycollector10]

That is, what we call in the trade, an OEM dooferlater. The thingamabob has a green light with it. Watzits are made in Thailand and aren't recommended replacement items.



P.S. would you believe thingamabob and watzits made it through the spellchecker, but dooferlater didn't??

[736cc]

The light comes on at 80 kph (Jap speed limit then) and is activated by a little gearbox between tach cable and tachometer. Your pegs probably non-folding, too.

[paulages]

oops...looked too quickly when i said it was the beeper. sorry...   

[MrZxp]

The light comes on at 80 kph (Jap speed limit then) and is activated by a little gearbox between tach cable and tachometer.

That would make sense... it was 80 km/h too around that time here...

Your pegs probably non-folding, too.

It would seem they have been swapped out for the folding kind.. probably at the same time the speed beeper was disconnected!! 

Cheers, Phil

[MrZxp]

oops...looked too quickly when i said it was the beeper. sorry...   

That's alright Paul - figured it would've been something like that. Done it on occasion myself! 

Cheers, Phil

[bryanj]

Those wires on the speedo both look like illumination bulbs to me as the big clocks have two bulbs-what colours are the wires,
I have a NOS stem light and the colours on the wires suggest it is just a running light (brown/white and green). I have just filed away my japanese parts book in hope of a house moove so i cant look to see if your doohicky by the coils is original or not.

[nickjtc]

Very interesting!! "Curiouser and curiouser," said Alice.

[MrZxp]

Those wires on the speedo both look like illumination bulbs to me as the big clocks have two bulbs-what colours are the wires,
I have a NOS stem light and the colours on the wires suggest it is just a running light (brown/white and green). I have just filed away my japanese parts book in hope of a house moove so i cant look to see if your doohicky by the coils is original or not.

One set of wires out of the speedo is a green and a pink... the other is a green and a brown with white tracer - where the outer black plastic sheath is broken I can see there is actually 4 wires joined down to the two that finally emerge... on the stem light the wires are a black and a brown with a red tracer...

The mystery (beeper?) object has 4 wires, a brown, a black, a green and a white with a red tracer...

I would have thought there would only need to be one set of wires for backlighting of the speedo... there is only the one set for the tachometer...?

Cheers, Phil

[bryanj]

The pink means it aint a light so it must be the "sensor" Some speedo/tacho's have idividual wires to each bulb and some have joined like the one you discribe,
The "thing" colours suggest black-live with ignition; brown--live with lights; green--ground; last one not sure you need to find what colour it plugs into, maybe its a warning for if the running light fails?
The "light" colours again black is power and the brown with red is usually a light feed but obviously not in this case, does it plug into a brown/red?