A general beginner question

[Fox]

Hey gents,

I posted up about the CL360 that I plan to rebuild(Clicky Clicky!), and was recommended that I asses the electrical situation before I tear it all down.

Currently, nothing works. I didn't know how old the battery was, so I plugged up my battery charger. Soon as I connected it, the brake light and the Speedo/Tach backlights came on, but I couldn't get anything else to illuminate. I engaged both brake's and the brake light did not get brighter.

I don't have my service manual just yet, so I didn't really "get into" the electrical system. It may be something that takes 5 minutes to fix when I really look at it, but regardless, I wanted to post up and ask some of the common issues that arise with motorcycles and electrical systems. What should I look out for on a Honda CL and bikes in general?

 

[CresentSon]

By no means am I an electrical expert of any kind, but for successful trouble shooting I'd get a good fresh battery. At least have it tested to see if it is any good. Personally I'd hate to throw money at a problem if I didn't have to, just to find that it would have been fixed by the battery I had to buy anyway.

 

[neevo]

Cleaning connections is a good move too. If its old the join may not be best for conduction.

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

First thing to do is go through the entire wiring harness. Pull apart EVERY connection. Clean with an anti-oxidation cleaner from Radio Shack, then put some dielectric grease in the connection and put it back together. You would be amazed at how many electrical problems are simply corroded connections somewhere in the harness.

Also, the switches can be corroded. Sometimes just operating the switch, (like flicking the dimmer switch back and forth a few dozen times,) can wear through the corrosion and make the switches start working. The ignition switch itself can suffer from this, too. Do the same thing in the switches that you did to the harness. Pull the handlebar controls apart, spray them out with cleaner, and pack them with dielectric grease.

Don't forget to do this with any ground connections to the frame, too.

 

[Fox]

CrescentSon, I'm going to take it down to Autozone when I'm out tomorrow and see if they can check it for me. It looks pretty new, and I do remember hearing the buy I bought it from say he put a new battery in it. I'm still gonna check it out though, because he also said the thing runs. We see how that turned out...

Alpha. Man, you're on top of it! Very cool. Thats good info. Thanks for that. I will do that while I am waiting on my tank to ferment, dry, whatever.

Here's a few shots I happened to have. May give a better idea of what I'm working with. Don't mind the rust by the way. It's there for effect... ;D

 

[VonYinzer]

Is the "new" battery full of acid? It needs to be. People will tell you again and again that these old bikes will run on no juice, but thats wrong. If you dont have a solid 12.5v or more, shit gets weird. If you dont have them yet, get a decent multi-meter, some contact cleaner (like AD said) for electronics, and your wiring diagram (that'll be in your manual). Make sure the battery has a good charge, and start at the headlight. One at a time check/clean all connections from front to back. Make sure the bulbs arent just busted/burned out. Check the operation of all switches. And so on and so on...

 

[Fox]

Is the "new" battery full of acid? It needs to be. People will tell you again and again that these old bikes will run on no juice, but thats wrong. If you dont have a solid 12.5v or more, shit gets weird. If you dont have them yet, get a decent multi-meter, some contact cleaner (like AD said) for electronics, and your wiring diagram (that'll be in your manual). Make sure the battery has a good charge, and start at the headlight. One at a time check/clean all connections from front to back. Make sure the bulbs arent just busted/burned out. Check the operation of all switches. And so on and so on...

Good question. I really didn't have time to do much to the bike. I bought it, then two days later I left. I'm heading home in about an hour so I'll be doing a whole lot of work on it this weekend. My goal, and it is a lofty one, is to get her to crank.

Working through the electrical may happen this weekend, or it may happen later on next week since I can do that in my parking lot(where I'll be working on my bike for a while). Depends on how bad everything else is. I'll keep it everyone updated on progression. Thanks for your help.

Wicked chick in your avatar, by the way.