Topic: Modernizing Electronics?

[KB02]

The green item to which you refer, is a wire wound resistor encapsulated in ceramic material. It does NOT need a cover.  It is used strategically as part of the Vreg, to keep your battery from out-gassing all it's electrolyte.   It is as reliable as the frame, provided you can avoid incidents of rage while handling hatchets, axes, and things of that nature.

 

Okay, this post has made me feel better now.

As for the Duc, it's the only modern bike in my garage; that's why  tok thee Duc's picture.But, with 28,000 miles on it, it has only given me one electrical problem. Lost an ignition pick up. The mechanic said that it was due to, "...the bike running rich. The plugs were getting fouled up quicker, making the pick up work harder and burning them out." His solution was to just change the plugs more often... rather then fix the cause of the running rich that has been getting progressively worse to the point that I am going to have to pull the carbs this winter and dive in myself...

Anyway, back to Hondas....
   I'll keep that long green thing, then. It's been working so far, right? 

[TwoTired]

If these contacts were coated with noble metals (like gold), there would be very few issues with bike electricals that weren't meddling induced.

Platinium or gold would be great......obviously not cost efficent.

You don't have to make the contacts solid gold.  There are plating processes that use very little gold to cover the surface area and provide the desired anti-corrosive effect.  The electronics industry has found these VERY cost efficient, as it reduces or eliminates myriad reliability issues that can cost far more to repair under warranty than the materials used in the manufacturing process.   However, Honda's warranty wasn't longer than it took for the supplied contacts to have oxidation issues.

Silicone grease works great. I like solid state stuff....I've stated it before. I remember Loyd said points were "digital" as they are either off or on. I guess my pants are digital too.

I like digital stuff, too.  But, only when it supplies a real benefit for the user.  LCD window glass, for example, is way cool.  But, it is far cheaper and more practical to simply get up and pull down the window shade.  Further, the window shade works even if the power goes out.
Anyway, the SOHC4 has solid state components. One need only look at the rectifier: six (count 'em, six) solid state diodes doing your bidding on a regular basis for over thirty years.  To this day I don't understand why Honda marketing didn't exploit the solid state buzzword in sales brochure for the ultra modern SOHC4.  Perhaps they just didn't recognize the vast geek market back then?

Uh, by the way, silicon and silicone are two very different materials.  And, I'd prefer not to dwell on the digital nature of your pants, Mike.  No offense. 

There are 10 kinds of people in the world.  Those that understand binary (digital) and those that do not. 

Cheers,

[Bodi]

I had one of the very first transistor televisions. It had "TRANSISTORIZED" in fancy chrome script front-and centre on the cabinet, right below the 13 channel selector knob. Inside were about 20 tubes and one (1) transistor. Pretty good marketing!
HM: good luck finding a halogen headlight for the 350/400. They used a weird size that is rather difficult to find!

[MRieck]

 One of the nice things about modern bikes is the use of weatherproof connectors. No need for coatings, grease etc. They can be difficult to get apart sometimes but other than that they work very well.

[bert96]

I bought the 4,6 and 8 fuse block to replace the old glass fuse.

http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servlet/catalog?parentid=10823&page=1


Now i think it would be a better idea to install the 8 fuse block,but i was wondering if anyone did this before??

[mark]

Lots of threads on this board about blade fuse conversions.

Here's mine:

1.Remove plastic plug from harness connector.
2.Clean terminals.
3.Put shrink tube on terminals.
4.Plug in fuses.
5.Cover with rubber boot thing.

Then the flasher went bad and I put an electronic one in.

And that is quite enough modernizing, thank you. Actually, since the stock fusebox had failed, this was merely repairing that issue with the parts available.
The rest of the electrics are modern enough for me. I thought the brushless alternator was a pretty cool idea. A three phase bridge will replace the rectifier for $15, when my spares get used up. Plenty of old Fords around to swipe a regulator off, when the spares are gone. Points don't really bother me.


Happy trails.

[Tim2005]

Contact corrosion is generally the biggest problem, and it affects some contacts much worse than others. Check out how just one contact in an otherwise clean block was really bad (this was on a 550 I was tidying up a few months ago).

[Raul CB750K1]

I had one of the very first transistor televisions. It had "TRANSISTORIZED" in fancy chrome script front-and centre on the cabinet, right below the 13 channel selector knob. Inside were about 20 tubes and one (1) transistor. Pretty good marketing!
HM: good luck finding a halogen headlight for the 350/400. They used a weird size that is rather difficult to find!

It wasn't until I was 15 or so and started to study electronics that I learnt that a transistor was an electronic component, not a radio.


Tube radios were always called "Radios" in Spain, until transistorized radios from Sony, Sanyo and Toshiba came along with their fancy badges "All transistor". People here -like my mom-, with no clue about foreign languages, would simply read the badges and rename the device, in the logic that "if it says 'transistor', that should be the name for it". For examples, vans have been called here for many years "decauves", a word formed by the spelling of "DKW", as those german vans were the first to be sold here and people had never seen a van, halfway between a truck and a car. People simply would call them what the badge would say, or what the owner would say. "I have a DKW", and the confussion was served taking the brand by the name.

The same goes to rollerblades and many other things.

[HondaMan]

HM: good luck finding a halogen headlight for the 350/400. They used a weird size that is rather difficult to find!

Roger that! 

What I need for this solution is an old (or existing) 350F/400F headlite. Then I can search more intelligently. I'm sure there's a solution, as the halogens, by 1985, had replaced nearly every incandescent out there.

Does anyone have an old, maybe burned-out, 350F/400F headlight?

[Dennis]

HM: good luck finding a halogen headlight for the 350/400. They used a weird size that is rather difficult to find!

Roger that! 

What I need for this solution is an old (or existing) 350F/400F headlite. Then I can search more intelligently. I'm sure there's a solution, as the halogens, by 1985, had replaced nearly every incandescent out there.

Does anyone have an old, maybe burned-out, 350F/400F headlight?

Mark,

No, I don't have one of those old headlights, but maybe this can help.
I can't be sure that it will fit. I'll just put it here and maybe someone will know.

http://www.hvccycle.com/Lights.htm

Scroll about 1/3 down the page on the left. See the Candlepower 162 mm headlight.
Some of you know that I have a few Yammie smokers. (And a Honda smoker too.)

Hope this helps.

[Raul CB750K1]

Does anyone have an old, maybe burned-out, 350F/400F headlight?

What's the reflector diameter? I have one spare from my CB350 twin.

[keiths]

Hondaman,
I have a spare 350F headlight I've been holding onto just in case. I definately will not need it till spring.
Keith

[eldar]

I figure as long as you can get your electrics to work properly without butchering, what does it matter? If you pull the machanical reg and put in an electronic one, as long as it is done right, where is the difference? Good connections, low loss, and neat, orderly wiring are what is important.

Now a REAL upgrade would be a method to rewind or modify the alternator to allow greater power generation capabilities. Then you could solve the low power issue of the smaller 4s while providing even more room to add accessories to the 750.

I know it would require more power to create a stronger mag field which eats a little extra HP but if you are adding accessories, you are not going after performance but comfort.

[dave400]

Does anyone have an old, maybe burned-out, 350F/400F headlight?

What's the reflector diameter? I have one spare from my CB350 twin.

The UK headlight reflector size for a 400/4 is 6 3/8” I gave up looking for a H4 in that size and used a 5 ¾”.

[Pinhead]

I figure as long as you can get your electrics to work properly without butchering, what does it matter? If you pull the machanical reg and put in an electronic one, as long as it is done right, where is the difference? Good connections, low loss, and neat, orderly wiring are what is important.

Now a REAL upgrade would be a method to rewind or modify the alternator to allow greater power generation capabilities. Then you could solve the low power issue of the smaller 4s while providing even more room to add accessories to the 750.

I know it would require more power to create a stronger mag field which eats a little extra HP but if you are adding accessories, you are not going after performance but comfort.

And that extra horsepower needed would only be pulled when the extras are turned on. With no current drawn from the alternator, no matter the size, the only thing your engine has to overcome is inertia from the weight of the spinning coil. This doesn't effect the 750s, though, because the field coil is stationary. You could theoretically engineer a 200 amp alternator for the 750 and it won't use any more horsepower than a smaller alternator, all else being equal.

[eldar]

Exactly. It only drops HP when the power is needed. I think something like this would be the biggest boon to sohcers.

[HondaMan]

Hondaman,
I have a spare 350F headlight I've been holding onto just in case. I definately will not need it till spring.
Keith

Keith:
I'd hate to risk shipping it back and forth: maybe you could do a couple of pix and some measurements? Also, there should be a DOT or ISO or possibly a JIS type number cast or printed on it somewhere that would help ID the size and wattage. I could probably find the industry standard part from that info, like what Raul has posted above for the 400F.

[keiths]

Here are some pics of my spare CB350F headlight. It measures 6 inches across and as you can see from the photos it says A9550 SEALED BEAM Stanley on the front and HM-19M-S 12 35/25W on the back.
Hope this helps.
Keith

[HondaMan]

Excellent, Keith!
That will help a lot. NOW, I remeber the "fly in the ointment" with these lites: it was that built-in bracket.

But, there's always another way... 

[keiths]

That's a nasty fly. I thought you might be able to cut out the center with a glass cutter and epoxy in the new electronics.

[Bodi]

The reflector is metal with a glass lens glued on IIRC. If so you could open the back and attach an H4 socket, but I fear the reflector would corrode quickly once exposed to air.
Possibly you could remove the glass and cut the reflector down to just the attaching hardware and ring. Then if you could find a right-size lamp just glue it in the ring. You would still need a donor bulb for every replacement unit.

[HondaMan]

That's a nasty fly. I thought you might be able to cut out the center with a glass cutter and epoxy in the new electronics.

At the moment, I'm thinking about Goo-ing a fashioned bracket on: there are adhesives that thrive on the heat, improving with age. I have to find a 35/45W Halogen bulb that will fit into a small reflector (6" ?) for this one. The Stanley company usually has specs: gotta find those. That whole operation moved to Japan in the 1980s, so it will take some digging and maybe some translating....then, swapping to LED tail/stop lite, LED flashers and instrument lamps, and a solid-state flasher should result in an even power swap, but giving the better night ride. Then the bike could even support one of my electronic ignitions, as the new "Type C" unit only draws .2 amps more than stock points, far less than any Dyna or Martek unit. This would help preserve that sweet 350F ride (I love those bikes!).