Magnetic Ignition on a CM450

DoTheTodd

Been Around the Block
I'm trying to cut down on the switches and buttons, but since I don't have a kickstarter, I need to keep my electronic ignition. The CM450 has separate units for an ignition switch, a start button, and a kill switch. I'm trying to reduce this all down to a single ignition switch with a magnetic (automotive style) ignition. I was working on it yesterday, but I figured that I'd check here if anyone knows how to do it so I don't reinvent the wheel. My question is, what wires do I take from the current ignition system and where do I attach them on the new switch?

The bike is a 1982 CM450e and the new switch has posts for:
Battery
Accessory
Ignition
Starter

Thanks in advance.
 
It's not going to be that simple. Your bike uses a CDI ignition system that grounds out a wire in order to kill the engine and your new switch does not have that functionality. Get ready... this is going to be a bit of a longer post. I'l break it down into steps which will (hopefully) make it easier to follow.

Also, if you don't have two five-pin automotive relays handy, go get some.

1.) Your current ignition switch should have black, red, brown, brown/white, black/white, and green. Set aside the black/white and the green wires for now. The brown/white wire is no longer needed at all. Cap it off and move it out of the way. It can short out and blow a fuse if you don't.

2.) The remaining wires on the ignition switch should connect to the new ignition switch as follows:
Battery - Red wire
Ignition - Black Wire
Accessory - Brown Wire

3.) Now we need to wire up the starter button. On the old button you should have yellow/red, black, and brown/black wires. Set aside the brown/black and the black wires. We'll work those in the next step. The yellow/red wire gets attached to the Starter pole on the new ignition switch.

4.) Next step is to wire up the headlight cutout. This turns the headlight off when you're trying to start the bike. It's not strictly necessary, but it will save your battery a bit of work and make starting easier. You're going to need one of the five pin automotive relay for this step. On the relay, attach the black wire from step three to pin 87A. The matching brown/black wire goes to pin 30. Pin 86 gets grounded. Pin 87 is not used. Finally, pin 85 should get a spliced run into the yellow/red wire that leads to the ignition switch.

5.) Now we need to go back and address the spare wires on the old ignition switch; the black/white and the green wires. With your remaining automotive relay, wire pin 85 to a spare black wire (you may need to tap into the harness or to splice into the black wire already in use for your ignition switch). Pin 30 and pin 86 should go to the green wire (splice/junction as necessary). Finally, pin 87A goes to the black/white wire. Again, pin 87 is not used.

That should do it.
 
If you ever find yourself in Sacramento, I'm buying you a beer. Thanks so much for this detailed post.
 
Back
Top Bottom