Topic: 1973 CB500 Headlight on/off switch question...

[Taylor]

Hello all,

Proud new owner of a 73 cb500. The owner before me hacked up the harness and there were many electrical bits that were not working. I have spent the last week fixing them all, but there is one that still eludes me. My bike has a on/off for the headlight on the right hand bar. It looks like there is a brown, white and yellow that are used to interrupt the headlight somehow, these three wires come from the RH swtich and are sitting disconnected behind the headlight in the rats nest of wires. SOOOOOOOO I am wondering where these wires need to go to make it so the on/off switch will function as intended . I have the wiring diagrams for the 500 but I don't see the on/off switch in it. Everything on the bike now works perfectly except for this dang switch!

Thank you!

[traveler]

If they are on the RIGHT side, then it is NOT factory.  From the factory all lighting control is on the left switch, and the light is always on, with only a high/low beam switch being present.  Looking at your switch, you have 3 wires.  Now, what you need to find out, and you can do this with a ohmmeter, is find out which wire is your high beam on the switch and mark it, or write down the color of the wire.  Next, do the same for the low beam.  The other wire must be the incoming power from the lighting circuit.  OR, someone used a off color wire as a ground.....in short you gotta be able to trace the wiring, and you gotta be able to actually "see" what it is you are talking about.

without pics.....diagnosing this is like ray charles trying to do heart surgery.

~joe

[Taylor]

I will try and post some pictures tomorrow. But the High/Low switch is on the left, this is working fine. The on/off switch is on the right hand side, I thought this was standard till the later 70's models when they made the headlights remain on all the time. Its a 73 btw.

[traveler]

All I would do is really go over the wiring diagram, get an ohmmeter, amd start in on it.

~Joe

[Taylor]

I have used multiple wiring diagrams and none show the on/off switch wiring on the right hand side that were specific to earlier CB500's. I have been though the whole bike with an ohm meter... its how i fixed the other dozen problems with the electrical system.  This is my last hurdle and I was hoping for a short and sweet answer. If anyone out there has a diagram for the right hand side on/off headlight switch this would help me immensely!

-Taylor

[boulder74]

This is just a noob opinion but I have the exact same bike and my headlight switch & starter are on the right and the turn signal & horn are on the left.  My stuff is definitely stock and the headlight switch is just for high/low control.  I can't actually turn the light off.  Hopefully this helps.  I could check the wiring if you get really stuck.

good luck...

Gotta love POs

[weekend_junkie]

If they are on the RIGHT side, then it is NOT factory.  From the factory all lighting control is on the left switch, and the light is always on, with only a high/low beam switch being present.  Looking at your switch, you have 3 wires.  Now, what you need to find out, and you can do this with a ohmmeter, is find out which wire is your high beam on the switch and mark it, or write down the color of the wire.  Next, do the same for the low beam.  The other wire must be the incoming power from the lighting circuit.  OR, someone used a off color wire as a ground.....in short you gotta be able to trace the wiring, and you gotta be able to actually "see" what it is you are talking about.

without pics.....diagnosing this is like ray charles trying to do heart surgery.

~joe

I gotta jump on you for that response.  My '73 CB350 has an off-low-high headlight control on the right side and no light control on the left side.  Furthermore, my dad's '72 CB500 had the same control.

On top of that, who's to say it's not a european bike that has an original headlight off-siwtch?

@boulder74 - trying pushing the switch down a little and to the left.  You might be surprized that you have an 'off' position.

[Taylor]

Here are some pics

[333]

I'm wondering if the PO put different bars and switches, changing it from a single off-low-high switch on the right to a on-off on the right, and high-low on the left.  That would certainly cause confusion.

[eideteker]

I also have a '73 CB500 and I wanted to chime in on the right-hand switch location and off-low-high positions.

[Taylor]

Hmmm.... well If these aren't stock anybody know where their from by chance?

[weekend_junkie]

The left looks like the one on my 1978 CB550K.  I would guess that the right side is a non US CB550 control if it has the light switch.  Ebay has a far reach and I've done this mod for my CB900F.  Are you from the US?

[Taylor]

Yup, living in Minnesota actually.

[gane]

Gents, Excuse please, It's been many years...But, I dimly recall that at one time, fused power for h/l went thru ign sw via br/w wire 1st thru r/h sw, & changed color Bk I think, back to harness, & then to l/h switch providing source for Hi/lo... later models recieved power directly to l/h switch within harness, bypassing r/h switch. if intested enough, you could probly re-trace wiring & restore on/off function by a simple re-connection at harness. luck G

[bender01]

I also think 1975 was the last year the USA allowed bikes not to run without the headlamp on. So 76 and later did not allow the r/h switch to turn on and off. My 75 550k has the on /off option r/h switch. Hi/lo is on the l/h switch.