Topic: What is missing under the seat of my Cb350?

[Cowboy]

Help a cowboy understand his new pony, would ya?

The 1970 CB350 I just bought has a bracket under the seat, right next to the battery. What goes in this bracket?  And what is the purpose of the unused four-prong wiring pigtail next to that bracket?

Oh, and as long as I have all the CB350 owners reading this, where on earth did Honda hide the turn signal flasher?

[CBGBs]

The missing part is a rectumfryer and it plugs in to the four wire plug. I think the winker is near the ignition switch. Enjoy that cycle, its sweet.

[Cowboy]

Is it my battery at risk, or my rectum, if I ride without that rectumfryer?

[csendker]

Yippie-ki-a!  CBGB's got it right.  Rectifier is the missing piece and the winker is up front.  I attached the parts fiches showing both.  If i'm not mistaken, you alternator makes AC, your battery will want to see DC and your missing rectumfryer converts the AC to DC.  I believe you'll really want to have one of them thar' things.

[GNXFan]

It is actually spelled "rectifier" and yes you need it. The turn signal flasher should be a small silver colored aluminum thing, rectangular in shape and hanging by a rubber thingy. If I can find an old one I'll send you a picture of both pieces.

[seaweb11]

Got to give the guy credit for a nice photo and makings for his question

sig hangs on a rubber mount off the front under the tank can't see mine in the dark right now.

[Cowboy]

One of the most useful skills I've learned for net forums is to take a picture, open it in  the MS "Paint" program that seems to come with every windows based pc, and mark it up.  It sure helps you make a point easily.

Actually, I've found the frequent use of photos on this forum to be the second best feature of SOHC4.  The best feature, of course, is the nice people you meet on a Honda, and in a Honda forum, who are super helpful, and usually have a good sense of humor too! I get to learn so many new things, like there's more than one kind of rectumfryer. Here's the kind we cowboys learned about down on the ranch:



So am I correct that there are some voltage regulators out there that do not require a rectifier?  I'm wondering if the previous owner of this bike modified it in that way. I've sent off an email hoping to find out, and I'll report back if he did.

[csendker]

So am I correct that there are some voltage regulators out there that do not require a rectifier?  I'm wondering if the previous owner of this bike modified it in that way. I've sent off an email hoping to find out, and I'll report back if he did.

I don't think so, AC & DC are different beasts.  I think there was recently a thread discussing an 'all-in-one' version where the rectifier & regulator were built into a single unit (a HD part??).  I doubt that is your case as the wires coming from the harness are wide open & empty, not plugged into anything funny or jumpered out anywhere.  I'm betting that you're just missing it.

Your whole bike is a DC beast.  You can get DC from your battery (currently missing in the pic) or from a post-rectified alternator output, which of course, requires the bike to be running & spinning the alternator.  If like mine, spinning more than 2,000 RPM before the alternator puts out more energy than the bike requires, finally allowing the excess to be directed into charging the battery.  Below 2,000 RPM, there's not enough power generated to satisfy the bike, so the gap is filled in by the battery.  Idle long enough and you kill your battery.

I don't know if they're still available, but the parts fiches that I attached in my last post in this thread indicate the rectifier can be had for $77.61.  Or there's a couple on e-buy right now:

http://search.ebay.com/cb350-rectifier_W0QQfromZR40

And now that I looked at them, this one is the right part number:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-CB350-CL350-CB450-CL450-CB500-RECTIFIER_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ35594QQihZ008QQitemZ180075536592QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

But only 3 hours to go as I type...

[bill440cars]

         Yeah, that's what it looks like. The rectifier is just missing and needs replaced. A previous assumption is right. The alternator makes AC (like in a house) current and the rectifier converts it to DC so that your bike's electrical system can handle it.

                                             Later on, Bill

                                               

[medic09]

There is such a thing as a combined voltage regulator/rectifier in one unit, but those were invented after these bikes.  Even if the PO retrofitted one, I wouln't think he'd have left that plug just hanging.  He'd have needed the wires to make the connections.

[crazypj]

         Yeah, that's what it looks like. The rectifier is just missing and needs replaced. A previous assumption is right. The alternator makes AC (like in a house) current and the rectifier converts it to DC so that your bike's electrical system can handle it.

                                             Later on, Bill

                                               

AC voltage is bouncy and DC voltage is flat (look at the wave form)
PJ

[Cowboy]

Well, the seller confirmed that he borrowed the rectifier from this bike back when he parked it. I'll snag one from a parts bike I have sitting out back.

Thanks for the help, gang!

[Cowboy]

Well, the parts bike has been robbed of its rectifier.

Now if only the snow and ice would go away, so I could ride my new pony!

[heffay]

cowboy... that's a cute horse... i mean that    i'm from kansas   

do you call him 3 socks?   

i miss my childhood horses a lot.  we had 4 while i was growing up.  3 were born with the mare as i grew up alongside.  if there is one thing that i miss it is the farm.

[Cowboy]

Heffay,

I'm not so far away. Hop on that gorgeous black cafe bike, and zip North across the border to Laramie. I've got plenty of horses to ride, and great scenery to do it in.

"Three socks" belongs to a friend of a friend, and I have no idea what his real name is. The photo was handy on my computer when I decided to play with paintbrush.  I guess we have only one hose named for its color/markings: Raven is the only pure black horse on the place. To this day I have a horse out back that I grew up with. "Foxy" was born to my sister's mare when I was about 10. I rode her around the ranch to work cattle for a couple decades. When I finally bought my own acreage, I brought her down to Laramie to spend her retirement. She's just over 30 now, which is very old for a full size horse.

I still ride horses a lot, but I don't chase cows anymore. I took up jumping competitions, and I enjoy the horses a lot more now. Good thing I didn't discover jumping (or motorcycles) when I was younger. I would never have survived either!

[Raul CB750K1]

Cowboy, if you need to ask wether an electrical part need or not need to be there, just ask yourself this question: Did the bike left the factory with it? I the answer is "yes", then you need it. Installing useless electrical parts is against cost-effectiveness. Another thing are cosmetic parts: the bike can run without them but won't sell that well.