Author Topic: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap  (Read 1537 times)

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Offline singedebile

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1975 cb550f

(i know im an idiot, when i noticed all the colors didnt perfectly match to their connectors I should have taken the time to label them.. maybe next time I will be more inclined to take the time necessary to do something right)

First question, if i hook these up wrong what kind of damage can I do? or will certain things simply not work?

...
so this is what I have left

Right Hand Controls
-Black
-Green/Red
-Black

Left Hand Controls
-Brown White
-Grey

Wiring Harness
-Black and a Green bundled together (with the green run externally to the wiring harness for some reason.. )
-Black/Red
-Green
-Dark Grey

As I wade through the manuals to see if there is a sort of logic to the colors (apart from green being ground), I'd like to make sure that I wont fry anything by hooking these up wrong.. any other ideas or pointers would be appreciated!
1975 cb550f super sport, 1976 Yamaha IT400, 1974 Suzuki T500

Offline Quorthon

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2011, 04:41:09 PM »
1975 cb550f

(i know im an idiot, when i noticed all the colors didnt perfectly match to their connectors I should have taken the time to label them.. maybe next time I will be more inclined to take the time necessary to do something right)

First question, if i hook these up wrong what kind of damage can I do? or will certain things simply not work?

...
so this is what I have left

Right Hand Controls
-Black
-Green/Red
-Black

Left Hand Controls
-Brown White
-Grey

Wiring Harness
-Black and a Green bundled together (with the green run externally to the wiring harness for some reason.. )
-Black/Red
-Green
-Dark Grey

As I wade through the manuals to see if there is a sort of logic to the colors (apart from green being ground), I'd like to make sure that I wont fry anything by hooking these up wrong.. any other ideas or pointers would be appreciated!

Hmm, The colors should all match up in the headlight.
1972 cb500/4

Offline singedebile

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2011, 04:57:07 PM »
so it looks like the two black wires from the RH controls plug "into one another" through a black wire from the wiring harness (atleast thats what it looks like on the wiring diagram)

...only 4 to go

mine didnt unplug at the headlight but inside this black plastic box on the left hand side next to the coils
1975 cb550f super sport, 1976 Yamaha IT400, 1974 Suzuki T500

pat english

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2011, 05:06:31 PM »
yeah people change or add wire to these bikes somtimes..you wont do any damage to anythin..just start plugging stuff in and see if it works...the worst that can happen is youll burn a fuse..(ive done this same thing before.i just umplugged everything assuming all the wires were colord,but yeah someone had added some wire and #$%*ed things up)

Offline singedebile

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2011, 05:49:52 PM »
update

Left Hand Controls
-Brown White

Wiring Harness
-Black/Red

.... and no headlight (or high/low beam)

not sure about those black wires (have two going together from RH controls into a black from the wiring harness along with the stray green)

cant check the engine kill switch yet as the bike is indoors
1975 cb550f super sport, 1976 Yamaha IT400, 1974 Suzuki T500

Online Don R

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2011, 09:52:06 PM »
Not sure about the stray green I've never hooked green to anything else. Did you download a color wiring diagram? I like to glue it to cardboard and stand it up where it's close while I'm working.
No matter how many times you paint over a shadow, it's still there.
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Offline singedebile

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2011, 04:48:15 PM »
at wits end, atleast I've made some progress but still no headlight

the only wires im not "sure" about include 2 black wires from the right hand controls and a black red coming from the wiring harness.. maybe something else is messed up but all the connections match well color to color (and the ones that dont I tested to make sure they were doing something).

I feel like after a while i may figure this out but if someone had an idea it would really be helpful. (I did check the fuses)

the wires that come from the RH controls and their connections to the harness looks like this

RH control              wiring harness
Black
Black
Yellow/Red     -       Yellow/Red
Green/Red     -       Green
Black/white    -       Black/white
Brown/white   -       Brown/white

I've been going through the honda manual and the clymer but because of the abbreviated clymer and the fact the honda manual has these 550F supplements makes discerning the wiring even harder
« Last Edit: June 22, 2011, 04:58:18 PM by singedebile »
1975 cb550f super sport, 1976 Yamaha IT400, 1974 Suzuki T500

Offline SohRon

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2011, 11:44:13 PM »
The two black wires come from the kill switch and the lighting control; just plug them into any open black power lead on the harness. Your wiring match-up is good; the G/R to Green bypasses the clutch switch on the handlebars.

You can find more details here: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=80532.0
« Last Edit: June 23, 2011, 08:04:28 AM by SohRon »
"He slipped back down the alley with some roly-poly little bat-faced girl..."

Assembling my '74 CB550: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=86697.0
Assembly of the Right-hand Switch (a rebuilder's guide):  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=80532.0
Installing stock 4X4 exhaust: CB500-CB550 K: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=82323.0
CB550 Assembly Manual: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,151576.0.html

Offline seanbarney41

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2011, 03:10:22 AM »
yep, I made the same mistake doing a handlebar swap...I think where it gets really confusing is all the multi-wire connections like where 4 wires go into one connector...sorry I don't have any specific advice for you, just keep working at it...I eventually got it all sorted, probably spent a good ten hours on it!, and so will you...
If it works good, it looks good...

Offline singedebile

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2011, 07:39:41 AM »
ok thanks! those are the kinds of answers I needed,

I leaves me with still one black/red wire from the harness that I am pretty sure was hooked up to something but I feel like I can figure that out through trial an error now that i know the rest is likely correct.
1975 cb550f super sport, 1976 Yamaha IT400, 1974 Suzuki T500

Offline SohRon

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2011, 08:05:05 AM »
I just noticed this is a '75 550F... I'm starting to wonder if you don't have the wrong right hand switch. Does your switch have a lighting control on it? The 550F introduced the hard-wired switch, so your bike should not have any lighting switches on the right hand control.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2011, 08:44:04 AM by SohRon »
"He slipped back down the alley with some roly-poly little bat-faced girl..."

Assembling my '74 CB550: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=86697.0
Assembly of the Right-hand Switch (a rebuilder's guide):  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=80532.0
Installing stock 4X4 exhaust: CB500-CB550 K: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=82323.0
CB550 Assembly Manual: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,151576.0.html

Offline singedebile

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2011, 08:45:32 AM »
I just noticed this is a '75 550F... I'm starting to wonder if you don't have the wrong right hand switch. Does your switch have a lighting control on it? The 550F introduced thehard-wired switch, so your bike should not have any lighting switches on the right hand control.


good point, it certainly has a headlight on/off switch on the RH controls, i guess it must have been added? or is there a way of telling if my bike was imported from the serial numbers?
1975 cb550f super sport, 1976 Yamaha IT400, 1974 Suzuki T500

Offline SohRon

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2011, 09:18:58 AM »
Your wiring harness points to the hard-wired switch: the B/R wire connects to it, and the G/R clutch sw lead on these bikes is now a straight shot from the solenoid and is no longer associated directly with the start switch, so that's why there's a spare B/R lead and no G/R at this end of the wiring harness.

So, with the correct switch installed, the right hand switch leads are B/W & Black from the kill sw,  B/R & Y/R & Black from the start/headlight button. The Br/W lead for the headlight dimmer connects with the left hand control, which should have a HI/LO switch.

It sounds as if your hard-wired switch has self-destructed at some time in the past (surprise, surprise) and the PO installed an earlier model control on the right side. Did the starter work before? Did you have headlights? If so, the PO probably made some modifications to the harness.

This might be helpful:

Here are some ways to get around this problem proferred by two of the forum's heftiest authorities. When you find your switch is no longer functioning, Hondaman suggests the folowing:

"There are 2 easy solutions:
1. Inside the headlight, find the wire that feeds the middle fuse of the fuseblock. This circuit usually has a Blk/Red or Blk/Brn wire coming from that Start button, and it may even change color to become Blk/Brn enroute to the fuse, right there in the headlight. For example, the wire from the switch might be Blk/Red, but is plugged into a Blk/Brn to go to the fuse. Honda had some of these foibles in the 750"F" bikes...at any rate, you can unplug the feed wire to the fuse from teh pushbutton, then plug it into an available Black circuit in the headlight. This will leave the headlight always ON when the bike is ON, but it works.

2. If you want to still keep the "off when starting" function, you can install (or buy one of my kits for a prebuilt version) a relay that follows the Start button and disconnects the headlight from this same Black wire circuit. It's simple to do: just feed the relay's COMMON terminal from the Black circuit and connect the middle fuse's wire (usually Blk/Brn on 750 after 1974) to the NC contact on the relay. Then ground one side of the relay coil to a Green wire and connect the coil's (+) contact to the Start solenoid circuit (usually Yel/Red in the 750). Then this relay engages when the Starter does, opening the power to the fuse for the headlight.

The keyswitch on these bikes controls the taillight circuit, not the headlight circuit."

And Two Tired adds:

"There are a few alternatives for repair.

1 - replace the entire control group.   It seems the newer replacements use a different plastic material than earlier ones, which seem to be more robust.

2a - Replace the switch with a single pole button for the starter. 
2b - Then hard wire the head light on with Key switch control.  (This lowers voltage for coils during electric start.)

3-  same as 2a but add a switch elsewhere to control the headlight power.

4 - same as 2a except add a relay for the headlight that disables the headlight when the starter solenoid is energized."

« Last Edit: June 23, 2011, 09:37:21 AM by SohRon »
"He slipped back down the alley with some roly-poly little bat-faced girl..."

Assembling my '74 CB550: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=86697.0
Assembly of the Right-hand Switch (a rebuilder's guide):  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=80532.0
Installing stock 4X4 exhaust: CB500-CB550 K: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=82323.0
CB550 Assembly Manual: http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,151576.0.html

Offline singedebile

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Re: Help re-attatching electrical connections after handlebar swap
« Reply #13 on: July 14, 2011, 06:08:54 PM »
thanks for the lengthy reply! , I am still a bit confused though..  (and after another couple hours of fiddling I still haven't gotten the headlight working) though I have fixed almost everything else on the bike in the meantime!

Are you implying here that I could not simply run a wire essentially straight to the battery with a switch on it?

Im sorry that I need some things really spelled out, and I really appreciate the help
1975 cb550f super sport, 1976 Yamaha IT400, 1974 Suzuki T500