Headlight Wiring Hell

J

Jonas

New Member
Hello-

Sorry I haven't been on here much. When I started my build (a 71 CB350), I had hoped to document it in a build feed here, but that just hasn't happened and now I'm almost done! Oh well, maybe next time :)

I have nearly finished up the wiring, but that jungle of wires in the headlight bucket has got my by the balls. Every time I go to finish wiring it, I come out with a couple wires to hanging maliciously out, waiting to be attached to a connector that doesn't exist (or so it feels). I've gotten most of these done, but still have a couple leftovers that I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than I can help me with. So, without further ado, here they are:

Green/Yellow, Black: these two run together out of the front brake, but I can't find where on earth they belong. Of course they are brake light controls, but I'm lost trying to figure out how to control them.

Black/White: there is a black and white wire coming, if my memory is correct, out of the right handlebar (although it could be the main harness - I'm not with my bike right now). This poor wire has no other wire that looks like it, and has been hanging limply for a while. I have no idea where it belongs, but it seems important given its color.

White/Yellow Tube: My bike had been "customized" a bit before I got it, and one of the customizations appears to have been removing almost all the yellow tube except for a very thin (.5cm) tube which is all that lets me know it was ever there. Unfortunately, that means that I have no idea where this connects since there is no other white/yellow tube. There is, however, a white/yellow stripe wire that could very easily be connected - do these two belong together?

Lg/Red, Red: the two wires coming out of the headlight neutral lamp or whatever it's called (the little red light on top of the bucket). Which of these belongs where? In diagrams that I've seen, my red wire appears to be black. Is there a reason for this change?

Thank you all so much. Can't wait to hear back and be able to get going again.

~Jonas
Charlotte, VT
 
I'm hoping you have a wiring diagram. If not, you can find one here:

http://oldmanhonda.com/MC/WiringDiagrams/MCwiring.php#class

This should be able to tell you where everything goes. If they are hard to read, I really like the CL450(Glenns) diagram as it is very clear. Your wiring harness should be nearly identical.

The white with the yellow tube is part of your charging system. It connects to your headlight switch somehow. These bike are set up with a 3rd winding on their alternator, When you turn the high beam on, it is supposed to connect that phase and provide some more power. A lot of people (me included) have changed it so that third phase is always on.
 
The green/yellow brake light wire should have a same colour mate somewhere in the main wiring harness. Got to have a multi meter for doing this stuff. The black is your earth/ground wire. There should be plenty of earth connectors in the wiring harness.

The black/white wire from the right handlebar should be your kill switch. You should have the same colour wires feeding power to the coils.

Your struggling in the dark here without a wiring diagram. Reasonably easy unless someone has been in there and messed with the wiring colours.
 
Hey all, thanks for the responses. I do have plenty of literature ojn it available to me - the Clymer manual has one general diagram and four diagrams for specific export locations.l I also have another printed manual, though I don't know where it came fromk. Unfortunately, none of these have been able to help. Thanks for the help! I'll get back to you soon telling how it went.
 
On any Honda,
Red is main power to ignition switch
Any Black wire should be battery voltage AFTER ignition switch (direction indicator wires are black with a 'collar' either Orange or Light Blue, do not confuse them with direct Black wire)
Green is always ground wire
Green with Yellow tracer is brake light
Brown is tail light and sidelight for some markets
White is low beam
Dark Blue is high beam
Black with White tracer is ignition power (coils, kill switch, etc)
 
Jonas said:
Hello-

Sorry I haven't been on here much. When I started my build (a 71 CB350), I had hoped to document it in a build feed here, but that just hasn't happened and now I'm almost done! Oh well, maybe next time :)

I have nearly finished up the wiring, but that jungle of wires in the headlight bucket has got my by the balls. Every time I go to finish wiring it, I come out with a couple wires to hanging maliciously out, waiting to be attached to a connector that doesn't exist (or so it feels). I've gotten most of these done, but still have a couple leftovers that I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than I can help me with. So, without further ado, here they are:

Green/Yellow, Black: these two run together out of the front brake, but I can't find where on earth they belong. Of course they are brake light controls, but I'm lost trying to figure out how to control them.

Black/White: there is a black and white wire coming, if my memory is correct, out of the right handlebar (although it could be the main harness - I'm not with my bike right now). This poor wire has no other wire that looks like it, and has been hanging limply for a while. I have no idea where it belongs, but it seems important given its color.

White/Yellow Tube: My bike had been "customized" a bit before I got it, and one of the customizations appears to have been removing almost all the yellow tube except for a very thin (.5cm) tube which is all that lets me know it was ever there. Unfortunately, that means that I have no idea where this connects since there is no other white/yellow tube. There is, however, a white/yellow stripe wire that could very easily be connected - do these two belong together?

Lg/Red, Red: the two wires coming out of the headlight neutral lamp or whatever it's called (the little red light on top of the bucket). Which of these belongs where? In diagrams that I've seen, my red wire appears to be black. Is there a reason for this change?

Thank you all so much. Can't wait to hear back and be able to get going again.

~Jonas
Charlotte, VT
Click to expand...

Black wire is power and green/yellow is brake light. When you pull the lever, the switch is closed and current passes through the black wire to the green/yellow wire and to the brake light.

Black/white is the power to the coils. Kill switch controls this. Kill switch is also fed by a black wire, just like the brake switch.

White/yellow should be connected to the white wire in the harness. This wire is used to complete the circuit from the yellow wire when you turn on the headlight. It adds extra charging to the bike when the headlight is on. Without this wire connected you'll likely drain your battery even when riding. There is a modification that can be made to ignore it, but I don't recommend it for those new to electrics.

Green/red wire is for the neutral light. It's a switched ground circuit so that the neutral light lights up when the switch behind the sprocket cover is closed (when you're in neutral). If you read this wire with a multimeter it should always have power so long as the bike is turned on. As for the red, there shouldn't be a red wire for the neutral light. It should be black. There may be some brown or brown/white wires though. They're for gauge lights and come on when you turn the headlight on.
 
Again, thanks to all for the responses, and I apologize for not being very prompt with my check-ins.

Sonreir said:
Green/red wire is for the neutral light. It's a switched ground circuit so that the neutral light lights up when the switch behind the sprocket cover is closed (when you're in neutral). If you read this wire with a multimeter it should always have power so long as the bike is turned on. As for the red, there shouldn't be a red wire for the neutral light. It should be black. There may be some brown or brown/white wires though. They're for gauge lights and come on when you turn the headlight on.
Click to expand...

I'm down to just this darn light-green and red wire and the pure red one. I don't know why it's red, but it is. These two don't seem to attach to anything. In that mess of wires in the headlight, there is another LG/R one but it goes continuously from one grouping to another (I believe a handlebar set to the main harness.) Should I splice in the neutral lamp LG/R wire? And then what about the red? I presume that since it should be black, it is a power wire, and thus should meet up with another black somewhere?

Thanks. Sorry for my pretty basic level of knowledge.
 
Light green/red is neutral switch wire, it should have 12v on it with ignition on, switch grounds it
Red is direct to/from battery into switch and comes out of switch on black wire.
Ignore the earlier post where guy said black is ground, that's on something else (BMW/Yamaha/Kawasaki?)
Honda, black is always live after switch
 
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