Topic: 1976 CB500/550 Project "Squirrel"

[riverfever]

Really happy with how this turned out. I'll make a new tab this weekend and be just about ready to start on the gauge install.

F5B2EF05-6E4E-41E4-B436-1796A6E56E58 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

B74FC277-9CAB-4515-BA55-20824A9B6E73 by cneumann2000, on Flickr

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Not a bad job for hand-held Harbor Freight drill!

[riverfever]

Electrical question. I finished installing the Motoscope Pro several weeks ago and it works beautifully. This gauge calls for two 12 volt wires. The brown comes from AUX off the M Unit and wants a 1 amp inline fuse. This keeps the clock on the gauge working when the bike is parked. The red wire comes straight from batt POS and also needs a 1 amp inline fuse. This is the only difference I can see between the old analog gauges and the new one. One of the 1 amp fuses was bad and I swapped in a 5 amp after the install just to make sure things worked. Bikes been sitting now for a few weeks and M Unit won’t power up. Battery was showing 3.5V. It’s charging now but do I have a drain on the battery or maybe the battery is just done?

[riverfever]

Battery is a Scorpion AGM and it’s probably two years old and it did just get cold a few weeks ago so it could just be done. I have another one but it’s been on a shelf for about that long. Swapped it in and it shows 12V with key off but when I power up the M Lock and M Unit it drops to 8 and then the M Unit shuts off which it’s supposed to do when the vilts hit 8. I’ll charge this battery over night and see what happens in the morning. Bike does start with the kicker and volts show up to 14 when revving it. I disconnected the negative cable from the battery and switched my meter to amps and put one probe on negative cable and the other on negative post and the meter shows 0 so I believe there’s no issue with drain (be great if someone could confirm I’m doing that test correctly).

[riverfever]

I figured it had to be draining a tiny amount but that’s how Motogadget says to wire it in the manual.

[riverfever]

Ordered a new battery (Scorpion AGM) and everything is fine. Temps really dropped here so the battery is inside the house and on a trickle charger. Bike is prepped for a winter’s nap and under a cover.

I’ve seen the M Unit shut down upon hitting the starter button after hearing the solenoid click (because the volts are dropping to 8-9). This time the lights would not dance around the M Unit at all after waving the fob over the M Lock. The bottom three lights on input side would just faintly flicker. This is why I thought I had something bigger going on. Battery was showing 12 but I don’t know what the other specs were but didn’t really trust the battery because it was almost 3 years old.

[RAFster122s]

Unless I were going to be riding this winter I would have delayed that purchase until spring when signs of the break in weather were apparent, how is your battery maintenance charger?
David

[riverfever]

Well I can see where you would think that. But because the battery was on the tender for two days and still wouldn’t crank the starter and because I wasn’t sure if there was another bigger issue that I would have to tackle over the long winter, ordering a $54 battery seemed like the smartest choice.

[Stev-o]

Where are ya Riverdude?!   

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

He's busy fishing (now that the schoolyears is finished)!

[Stev-o]

He's busy fishing (now that the schoolyears is finished)!

He should be ridin' now that the snow has melted!

[RAFster122s]

Someone needs to print a fishing pole holder or two to mount to the shocks and then a luggage rack for the hip waders and other paraphernalia to be lashed down to, otherwise his fishing and acting as a guide will absorb all his riding time.
Will a cb750 get to his fishing holes or is he gonna need a  adventure bike?

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

Someone needs to print a fishing pole holder or two to mount to the shocks and then a luggage rack for the hip waders and other paraphernalia to be lashed down to, otherwise his fishing and acting as a guide will absorb all his riding time.
Will a cb750 get to his fishing holes or is he gonna need a  adventure bike?

I think his CB500 will do just fine. I don't think he has to go far from his house.