My Electrical Learning Experience

[coalnation]

I'm going to need some help in the coming days to get the wiring done on both of my bikes. For some reason when it comes to the electrical side of motorcycles my brain hits a wall. The bikes are a 1974 Honda CB350F and a 1973 Suzuki GT185. I'm not changing anything major on the bikes, however, I know I will need some help.

CB350F: New switches all the way around. I got rid of the turn signals and horn. I would like the headlight to always be on. On the bars I would like to have a switch for the lights, a switch for run, and a push button switch for the starter. Later today I will post pictures of the switches I'm currently trying to wire up.

GT185: When I got this bike from the previous owner it was not running and the wiring had been redone at some point. It seemed like a mess to me and I do not know how it was ever running the way it was since there was no on/off switch. On this bike I also got rid of the horn and signals, I want the headlight to always be on, and I need an on/off switch. I will post pictures later today of the controls I'm currently trying to wire up.

I spent yesterday trying to figure this out on my own and got nowhere. Hopefully I will be able to figure it out with some help from the community.

 

[coalnation]

Okay up first is the CB350F. I'm having to use random parts I have around the house because I am absolutely broke right now. Basically I have two toggle switches and a push button switch. I've labeled what I want the switches to do. Obviously I want the push button to be for the electric start, one toggle for on/off, and the other toggle for headlights on/off. Would it be better to wire the headlight always on (since it's the law in SC) and use that toggle as the high/low? My dogs got a hold of the original switch and absolutely destroyed it, however, the wiring was still okay. I want to use that wiring to hopefully make everything match up.

Anyways, this is what I would like some help with. What should I wire to what? What color wires should I connect to each switch to make it match up to the original wiring harness? I've spent two days playing around with it and I need help.

 

[Sonreir]

Start button is going to need yellow/red on one pole and green on the other.

Headlight will need black in the middle pole, blue on one pole, and white on the opposite.

On/off (kill?) switch will be black in the middle pole and black/white one of the outside poles.

 

[coalnation]

Start button is going to need yellow/red on one pole and green on the other.

Headlight will need black in the middle pole, blue on one pole, and white on the opposite.

On/off (kill?) switch will be black in the middle pole and black/white one of the outside poles.

Thanks! I will try this tomorrow.

 

[coalnation]

Okay so I made some progress.

As of right now:
- The headlight is always on and the toggle switch works to switch from high to low.
- The gauge lights are not working
- The taillight only works when the key is in the 3rd position

The on/off and the starter work too.

Any ideas on how to fix the other stuff?

 

[Sonreir]

By gauge lights, do you mean the backlights or the warning lights?

For the tail light, plug the brown wire from the tail light into a spare black wire in the harness (you may need to splice it) for always-on.

 

[coalnation]

By gauge lights, do you mean the backlights or the warning lights?

For the tail light, plug the brown wire from the tail light into a spare black wire in the harness (you may need to splice it) for always-on.

My speedometer and tachometer backlights. Each one should be connected to the green and brown correct?

 

[Sonreir]

Yup. Brown is power and green is ground.