Topic: 1978 CB-550K electrics "died" suddenly

[bauerd]

I was just about to ride my bike to work, when all of a sudden the bike literally just "died."  The engine quit and none of the electronics work.  I checked the fuses, and they're fine.  I also checked for continuity from the battery to the fuses, and it's okay.  The battery is putting out full power as well. 
Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be happening? 

[TwoTired]

Check voltage on both ends of the fuse.  Dirty fuse clips or ones with clear oxidation add heat to the fuse and they melt under the end cap.

Check your key switch, otherwise, or the plug on the back of it.

Cheers,

[springer]

fuse

[AdamRE550]

This happened to me before a ride home from work and after checking all the fuses and the battery and really getting worried, I checked the connector from the key switch and it had come loose. I re-connected it and everything was fine. I guess the take away is don't assume it's something crazy and serious, maybe it's something simple!

Adam

[Sporkfly]

Check the clip with the main wires. The big red ones, yeah? Anyway, I lost my 12 volt completely while riding and it was that clip. The terminals were shorting out due to being dirty and loose (what some people look for in a woman, but not an electrical connection.)

And also, as TT said, look at the key switch.

[bauerd]

Thanks to everyone for their advice.  I was thinking the next step would be to check the key switch and you've confirmed that that's a good idea.  I'll look into that and will post again what the results are.

[bauerd]

I used the schematic available on the sohc4 website and used my multimeter to trace the red line from the battery.  The fuses were good.  The problem ended up being in the fuse box just after the main fuse.  The solder connection had broken inside the box.  So, thankfully that will be an easy fix.