Topic: Ignition lock wiring

[Teddyhoeg1982]

Bike is a 1977 CB550k3

I am a little confused about power from the ignition lock.

Red is coming from battery.

When i put the key to on, Black wire gets 12v. No power to Brown or Brown/white. So i have no rear or instrument light. 

When i put key to park, power comes on brown, but not brown/white. So i get rear light but still no instrument light.

Something is wrong here i Think?

[rotortiller]

When i put key to park, power comes on brown, but not brown/white. So i get rear light but still no instrument light.

I think that's normal.

When i put the key to on, Black wire gets 12v.

Again seems normal.

When i put the key to on, No power to Brown or Brown/white.

I think that's where you want to explore for power, at the switch with it plugged in.

[newday777]

Yes park is always tail light only on.
Yes black is powered to key on.

Are all your wires plugged in in the headlight bucket?

Yes on a 77 550 the head, front marker and tail lights should be coming on with the key in the on position.
Is there something you haven't told us about on your bike?
Is the bike wiring 100% original from the factory?
New harness?
Switches?
Custom made harness like for m-unit?
Relays added into the light circuits?(there weren't any originally but could have been added like Hondaman makes up)

[Teddyhoeg1982]

Yes park is always tail light only on.
Yes black is powered to key on.

Are all your wires plugged in in the headlight bucket?

Yes on a 77 550 the head, front marker and tail lights should be coming on with the key in the on position.
Is there something you haven't told us about on your bike?
Is the bike wiring 100% original from the factory?
New harness?
Switches?
Custom made harness like for m-unit?
Relays added into the light circuits?(there weren't any originally but could have been added like Hondaman makes up)

No sorry for not being more clear. It is a bike that was completely disassembled and getting a new wire harness. I was expecting the ignition switch to supply the brown wire with power from red, but can see it is not the case. Rather I found the right wiring diagram and can see that I need power for lights from a brown/blue wire from the fuse box. But in the diagram below it seems for me that the br/b wire is supposed to plug to bk in the headlight shell. I am a little confused by that, connecting different color wires in a plug, but will look for it later. That would supply br/w with power for rear light and instruments when ignition is on.

[calj737]

For clarity- BLK is switched power on your bike. It may connect to another striped wire to provide power to that circuit.

Solid Green is a ground (just to be obvious).
Grn/Red is the ground side of the Neutral switch to the cluster. You need a BLK to that cluster to provide its power (light).
Blu/Red is the oil pressure switch, just like the Grn/Red above.

If the bike is in NEU and key ON, your cluster should illuminate. Start there.

[Teddyhoeg1982]

For clarity- BLK is switched power on your bike. It may connect to another striped wire to provide power to that circuit.

Solid Green is a ground (just to be obvious).
Grn/Red is the ground side of the Neutral switch to the cluster. You need a BLK to that cluster to provide its power (light).
Blu/Red is the oil pressure switch, just like the Grn/Red above.

If the bike is in NEU and key ON, your cluster should illuminate. Start there.

Thanks for input. It actually turned out to be the case that for this year CB550 you need to connect the brown/blue to black to complete the circuit. Surprising to me since that is not so intuitive, but is supported by the 1977 model wiring diagram.

[calj737]

Which was the point of the first sentence. It’s not intuitive for sure and since black is traditionally a ground reference in the US, it helps to understand the switched power distinction.

Glad it’s working for you-

[Deltarider]

It actually turned out to be the case that for this year CB550 you need to connect the brown/blue to black to complete the circuit. Surprising to me since that is not so intuitive, but is supported by the 1977 model wiring diagram.

It's not the year, it is the model and that includes the socalled 'area code'. Check the K3 addendum in the Shop Manual CB500-550 and see for yourself how many wiring diagrams there are for several markets. https://www.dropbox.com/s/lirtu1euydi0rol/Honda%20CB500_CB550%20%20Four%20Service%20Manual%20Ammended.pdf?e=1&dl=0
Talking 'years' always lead to confusion sooner or later and the wrong parts being ordered. Just identify what exact model you have, for once and for all. You only need to do it once. Saves innumerous posts.

[Teddyhoeg1982]

It actually turned out to be the case that for this year CB550 you need to connect the brown/blue to black to complete the circuit. Surprising to me since that is not so intuitive, but is supported by the 1977 model wiring diagram.

It's not the year, it is the model and that includes the socalled 'area code'. Check the K3 addendum in the Shop Manual CB500-550 and see for yourself how many wiring diagrams there are for several markets. https://www.dropbox.com/s/lirtu1euydi0rol/Honda%20CB500_CB550%20%20Four%20Service%20Manual%20Ammended.pdf?e=1&dl=0
Talking 'years' always lead to confusion sooner or later and the wrong parts being ordered. Just identify what exact model you have, for once and for all. You only need to do it once. Saves innumerous posts.

I did write in my first post that it is a CB550K3, and in the workshop manual they further refer to that as ‘77. See below, it seems that the workshop manual should then also stop takling about years in your opinion.

[Deltarider]

It's the three different wiring diagrams in p.182-4 that matter. For the CB550F2 there were no less than five...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/lirtu1euydi0rol/Honda%20CB500_CB550%20%20Four%20Service%20Manual%20Ammended.pdf?e=2&dl=0