Topic: Wiring short or a worst problem???

[kine8282]

I have a 75 cb550 and I was installing shorter front turn signals. I checked the turn signals after I installed them but before I put the headlight bucket back on and everything worked. Once I put the headlight bucket, I tried the turn signals and they worked and them I tried to put the head light on and...nothing happend.

looks like a blew the 5 amp fuse...then i noticed that the battery tender was still connected. I need to get a new fuse tomorrow but did i royally screw something up because I had the tender connected?

[TwoTired]

Seems unlikely the Tender had anything to do with the fuse.

More likely the action of putting in the headlight rubbed some wires or connections the wrong way.

Look inside the headlight again and make sure there are no exposed wires or connections.  There should be insulating boots over all the connectors.

Cheers,

[MadDogMcq]

What's a "Tender"??  Are you referring to something like an Optimate or Accumate battery charger? If so, then I can virtually guarantee it's nothing to do with that.

[medic09]

What's a "Tender"??  Are you referring to something like an Optimate or Accumate battery charger? If so, then I can virtually guarantee it's nothing to do with that.

Battery Tender is a brand of charger.  I use a Battery Tender Jr., myself.

[Raul CB750K1]

I wouldn't say it is actually a "charger". A charger provides high current. A "tender" like the accumate or any other brand is nothing more than a 12V power supply with a maximum current rating of 500 mA or 1 A. It is connected in parallel to the battery to compensate the self discharge, but doesn't have enough power to charge a battery. The "tenders" are constant-voltage power supplies, therefore, when connected to a battery, the battery will become a load and will "suck" current as needed. A charger would compensate the output voltage to keep the output current constant and limited.

[TwoTired]

The Tender Jr is most certainly a charger.  Anything that puts energy back into a battery qualifies as a charger.

The Tender Jr is rated at 750ma peak charge rate.  It will most certainly charge a motorcycle battery.  However, if the battery is completely depleted it will take a while. (Days even).

I use the Yuasa hotshot charger which is a 3 stage charger similar to the Tender Jr. but it has a 900ma max peak charge rate.
Stage 1 is the max charge rate to recover low batteries (in time)
Stage 2 is a reduced charge as it nears the voltage peak of 14.5V.  This allows the cells to slowly but fully saturate the chemical conversion throughout the cell and truly achieve full, saturated, charge.  (this helps to reverse some of the sulfation)
Stage 3 is a minimum charge level, switched to after 14.5v is attained, to maintain the cells at peak charge and prevent sulfation.

Do NOT confuse these smart"Tenders" to ordinary trickle chargers which are close to what Raul describes.  They dump a small amount of energy into the battery regardless of current state of charge.  They may very slowly increase the charge of the battery but they can also over charge a battery after it has reached full charge state.

Many of the trickle chargers on the market will maintain a larger capacity auto battery without too much concern for overcharge. But, when used on smaller capacity batteries such as is used on the SOHC4, extended use can cause them harm through overcharging.

It is easy to get confused about chargers, tenders, and tricklers.  There are so many different brands and marketing labels applied.  They will all mostly work if you know what the battery needs and can apply personal intervention when they are doing the wrong thing.  If you don't wish to know or learn what the battery needs, it is best to find one that is labeled "automatic" as it usually has the voltage sensing circuitry to keep the battery from harm.  Also, try to get one sized to deal with motorcycle batteries rather than the larger auto batteries that provide and require much higher currents for the chemical conversion processes.

Cheers,

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

TT,

Any insight on French Tricklers. 

I apologize, I couldn't resist. AND I know I shouldn't mess with THE electrical guru. Oh, have I ever mentioned "Thanks" for all your invaluable insight. Probably so but once more never hurts.

Jerry

[TwoTired]

I thought they've been redefined as "Freedom Tricklers" weren't they?

If it were truly french, it would simply sneer at any battery or motorcycle in the vicinity to reinforce its superiority.  When begged, it will only allow installation between motorcycle and battery and then try to remove power from the battery as only it can manage the power correctly.  Further, it would only work if it somehow found some benefit to itself.
Then, when faced with a difficult load such as a deeply discharged battery, it would simply give up and disconnect itself.

But, I could be wrong...

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

 

I guess Trojan and Shiek don't make French Tricklers. Those are more like Roman and Arabic Tricklers. 

Oh well, gotta quit playing and go ride. 56° and climbing in beautiful Colorado. Deep blue skies. No clouds. 7000 ft. Humidity maybe 30% (damn thats high!). This actually make it seem 70°. The Colorado Weather Factor. Kinda like the wind chill factor.

[kine8282]

I worked on my bike this weekend and still can't figure out why I keep burning up my main fuse. I checked and rechecked all the wires in the bucket to see if there are any loose wires etc but still the problem is there.

I wonder if the lights i got are not compatible. I bought a single filiment Lockhart, 2 wires. The stock ones alos have 2 wires but they have running lights. Does anyone know if this is why I keep burning up my main fuse? I'm gonna install my stock ones tomorrow and buy yet another set of fuses to see if that works.

any help would be awesome

[TwoTired]

You can make the lights work.  But, they can't function like the originals.

The originals actually have three connections.  Filament one (LB or O), Filament two (LB/W or O/W), and a common ground for each (green).
Your new ones have two connections:  Filament and ground.

 You can choose for them to be turn sigs or run lights.

I don't know how the Lockharts are wired.  But, it may have one of the wires already common to the light housing.
If you connect such a wire to the bike (LB, O, LB/W, O/W) that is delivering light power...poof goes the fuse.

For the CB550F connect the signal lead (not connected to the housing, I'm guessing red) to the Light Blue or the Orange wires depending on which side of bike. And the black (you haven't told us your replacement light wire colors, have you?) would be connected to the bike Green wires.

You will not have forward run lights.

Cheers,

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Sorry about the off track remarks. Electricals can be frustrating without us messing around. I don't own a 550 so I'm not sure about your fusebox.  TT can be of more assistance on this I'm sure. My bike is a 75 750F. I think the older K's only ran a 15A single fuse for the main(whole bike). Again, don't know about yours. I have 3 fuses. 15A main, 7A headlight, and 7A taillight. If my main blows I am hosed. If the headlight or tail light blows it's fuse I keep riding since my main doesn't blow too. Just don't have a light. Now if I were to keep blowing my 7A headlight fuse I could simply remove the headlight and see if that problem went away. If the headlight only fuse still blows with the light removed I have a short that needs tending too. Now if I had a 5A fuse for my headlight fuse chances are I could very easily blow it since the fuse would be too small. I was having a problem blowing my main. Turns out a hot wire going to the ignition switch had a spot worn through on it's insulation and when I turned hard left it shorted again the steering neck. You mentioned a 5A in the first post then said you keep burning up your main fuse. With this in mind if you are running a 5A main then I think this may obviously be your problem. If you're running a 5A headlight only fuse then you probably need to up that to a 7A.

"I bought a single filiment Lockhart, 2 wires. The stock ones alos have 2 wires but they have running lights"    Please explain this setup. Does not sound stock. I would like to think your headlight should be high/low beam with 3 wires. Again I do not know 550's. Where's the third wire? Has it simply been cut off with an exposed end shorting out?
 
Do you have a shop manual, owner's manual, Clymer's, Chilton's, etc?  If not, get one! You'll need it for other stuff too. Check it out and be sure you are using the correct fuse(s). Hope this helps some.

Modified due to TT's post beat mine as I was typing. Read his first. He is THE MASTER.

[kine8282]

Thanks TT and friends. I looked closer to see if the PO modified the stock lights and it looks like he cut off the ground (DG) wires and also changed the flasher to a 2 prong and left the ground on the flasher hanging. Even with this set up I never had a problem and still had running lights that would flash or blink rather. I've inspected all the wires and none are touching or corroded

I put the old set up back and have narrowed with no blown fuses so it looks like the problem is with the Lockharts. The wires on the Lockharts are black (pos) and black/white (neg)

I wonder if the replacements are bad..i've installed the same Lockharts for the back without problems but perhaps i'm having problems because of the "running" lights function of the fronts.

If i install a new flasher with 3 prongs can i install the new lights?

[TwoTired]

Stock flasher is two prong.  The dangling Green (ground) nearby is normal for us models.  Some Euro models need the three prong flasher.

If you have an ohm meter, check your lockharts to find out which wire is attached to the housing body.  That one is what has to go to the green.  The other goes to the orange or LB.

A cut green wire is important as to where it is cut.  Might want to elaborate unless you can decide yourself that it is not an issue.

If your replacement flashers are of different wattage than the stock ones, the stock flasher may not work right.

Cheers,

[kine8282]

ok so since english is my second language i guess i could say that i dont read directions that good. long story short since the "stock" turn signals only had 2 wires (ground one being cut by PO) i thought that i could plug the single filament replacements on the same 2 that the stock turn signals plugged into...but after having a bottle of wine and thinking about it, i realized that the replacements arent grounded at all and i need to plug the black/white tracer to the ground connector and, like everyone else was saying, find the flasher connector and forego the running lights.

I guess I dont read directions that good. Thanks to all the inputs! I wouldnt even know what to do if this sight wasnt around.

Wish that i could work on the bike and fix the problem right now but my GF is already on my case about spending too much time on the bike and not with her...something i know all you dudes know about

p's