Author Topic: HELP! Electric Issues - No power to bike/76' CB550  (Read 1147 times)

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Offline clersch

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HELP! Electric Issues - No power to bike/76' CB550
« on: October 22, 2009, 11:34:31 AM »
I am in need of help and advise. Last weekend, in haste, i connected a brand new battery to my 76' Honda CB550 and accidentally had the ground wire connected to the positive terminal. As you could imagine, this caused a great deal of sparks and smoke coming from the electric panel. Since then, i have replaced some ground wire that was fried and/or melted. However, i still have no power, none, to the ignition. To be safe, I ordered a new ignition switch (since the old one had been giving me some trouble anyhow) and still no power: no headlights, no panel lights, and definitely no turnover. I can get the starter to turnover when I short the solenoid, but otherwise, nothing. I am also getting four or five volts to the harness side of the ignition switch connector. Can you give me some suggestions on what this might be. I thought i had identified all the ground wires that were damaged. What obvious things am i missing. Electrical is not my strong suit when it comes to bikes. Feel free to ask me questions that may help me to identify where/how to identify the problem. Many thanks in advance!!!!

Offline OldSchool_IsCool

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Re: HELP! Electric Issues - No power to bike/76' CB550
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2009, 05:57:35 PM »
Reversing polarity often takes out more than just the wires, letting the magic sparks and smoke out of regulators, rectifiers and such.  To start with, have you checked/changed the fuses?
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Offline clersch

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Re: HELP! Electric Issues - No power to bike/76' CB550
« Reply #2 on: October 22, 2009, 07:03:34 PM »
yeah, i know. however, i first needed to get my bike started before checking to see if the battery would hold and/or be recharged. that is yet to be determined. i did go through old post and find many, many suggestions that pointed to the fuse box. i had checked the fuses for continuity, all checked out. however, i had not checked for voltage. when i did this, realized the master fuse was blown. i have replaced the fuse and cleaned all the contacts. voila . . . power. it still drops off and i have to mess with the wires, so i must have a short somewhere. but at least i have wires and the bike started and ran for a time. thanks for the help! will be back with more  questions if i determine something else has been damaged by my stupid mistake.