Aftermarket starter button wiring CB360

I know there are numerous threads regarding aftermarket starter buttons, but I can't seem to find one that fits my application. I have a 1976 CB360 with, from what I can tell, a right hand switch from one of the previous years based on the fact that it has the headlight on/off switch. I broke the starter button while switching out the bars and am looking to put an aftermarket SPDT button on it. My question is, to which poles do I hook up the green/red wire and yellow/red wire? And should there be another wire that should be ran to the switch? The only wires from the original setup were the two listed. It was working fine prior to me messing with the switch, although I may need to replace the solenoid. Any and all help, as always, is appreciated!

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For a starter button, you need a momentary switch. Yellow/red on one pole and ground (green) on the other. Green/red is your neutral indicator light to your neutral switch.

Am I rerouting a solid green ground wire from elsewhere in the switch housing? All that was originally connected was the green/red and yellow/red wires.

See below thread:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=80532.0

The controls in this thread are exactly like mine. Can't rule out controls from another bike (I now see the controls in that thread are from a CB550). As stated earlier, the starter button was working previously to it being damaged. On the 360 though, using an aftermarket button, am I now required to incorporate a ground wire into the mix?

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Tonnotyetdone said:

Am I rerouting a solid green ground wire from elsewhere in the switch housing? All that was originally connected was the green/red and yellow/red wires.

See below thread:

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=80532.0

The controls in this thread are exactly like mine. Can't rule out controls from another bike (I now see the controls in that thread are from a CB550). As stated earlier, the starter button was working previously to it being damaged. On the 360 though, using an aftermarket button, am I now required to incorporate a ground wire into the mix?

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Click to expand...

You have a CB360. It doesn't require the bike to be in neutral to start. I suppose you can wire it up that way, but it's not that way stock. The control most likely uses a common ground. My understanding by your first post is that you plan to use another switch for the starter button. You just need a ground, any ground, and the yellow/red wire.

I'm thinking it's already been wired to accommodate the CB550 switch since it was working prior to breaking it, although I can't see where there there have been any modifications to the wiring harness.

I guess I'm just trying to figure out why it worked before and how I can get it to work again. I suppose the first step will be to take a look at the connection junction and see if I can't trace the wires and find out if has been modded. My current setup seems to reflect what I see on the CB550 diagrams, so maybe when I reconnected the wires, I did so correctly for a correctly wired CB360, which increasingly seems to not be the case.

Irk, if I mod in a ground wire to my existing right hand control box, where should I ground it to? Directly to the switch housing, or elsewhere?

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Based on the wiring diagram for the 550, the starter button gets ground from the clutch switch. If you are running the 550 control, then you can tie the red/green into a ground wire. It can tap into any green wire in the harness, or you tie it somewhere into the frame. If you have a stock headlight bucket, you can use one of the grounds on the headlight mount bolts or another one in the bucket.

Awesome, that's exactly what I'm looking for! I'll probably rig it up sometime this week and report back

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Alright, so I am still having issues. I was able to find a wiring diagram for the 1976 model that has the green/red and yellow/red wires connecting at the starter button. Attached both wires to an aftermarket switch, but still no luck. Examining the rest of the wiring, I have come across a couple of issues (if hasn't already been apparent, I am terrible with electrical components - please bear with me):

1. All wiring diagrams I have found have a yellow/red and a black wire coming off the solenoid. Mine are yellow/red and green/red. Does this mean that these two wires would have to be connected at the starter switch to complete the circuit? Or would it be tied into a black wire somewhere down the pipeline that I haven't seen yet?

2. Using a circuit tester, I am able to get a light when I touch the green/red and yellow/red wires at the right hand control with the alligator clip on the positive side of the battery - am I wrong, or does that seem incorrect? I would think I should be getting the circuit to complete to the yellow/red wire with it attached to the negative side seeing as how the yellow/red wire is coming from the solenoid. Using a multimeter, I get no readings from either wire when I use the red probe on the wires and the black probe to the motor/frame.

3. The clutch switch in the headlight bucket - is there a particular ground circuit the green wire must be connected to, or will any of the three or four open green connections work? And is the clutch switch absolutely necessary for operation of the starter? I understand the safety aspect of it, but can it be removed from the circuit altogether?

What am I doing wrong here? Again, I can't understand why it was working previously.

You're running a CB550 control on a CB360, correct? I didn't know 360s ever came with a clutch switch. At least my 74 and 75 didn't. If you have a clutch switch, your control is not allowing power to the solenoid because you don't have a clutch switch to ground. It can be grounded anywhere. If you want to forgo the switch, you need to ground that green/red wire, which is what the clutch switch does. Just hook it to a green wire or screw it into the frame somewhere. My 360s only have a neutral indicator, which makes the light in the gauge cluster come on when it's in neutral. It's not necessary for operation, but it's a great idea to have it hooked up. If you've ever hit the starter button while a bike is in gear, you know why they have them.

In the Honda service manual, there is a supplemental wiring diagram for the 1976 models that has the headlight on/off switch (although I was under the impression that all 1976 models did not have this type of right-hand switch). So it appears I do have a CB360 switch, just from some transitioning 1976 model . It's nuts that there are so many wiring configurations for this bike.

But anyways, I did just connect the green/red wire from the right hand control into the gang of black wires from the harness. And...the starter turns over when I touch the green/red and yellow/red wires (switch is off, gonna replace with something that fits in the switch housing). Haven't tried actually starting it, but I think for now, we can cross the starter button off the list of electrical issues. On to the horn and front right turn signal. And thank you for all your help Mr. Miller!

Black wires are hot, not ground. Green is ground.

From what I could see from the later model 1976 Cb360s, the starter button gets power from the black wire and switches between the yellow/red wire to the solenoid and the black/red wire to the headlight (from what I understand on the later model 1976s, power is always running to the headlight until you press the starter button, then it switches it to the solenoid). Since I didn't have a black wire going to my set of controls, I used the green/red wire. Not perfect, nowhere near ideal, but it seems to be doing the job.