[dvjac]

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I put my freshly charged battery in the bike, turned on the key, hit the start button, it turned over then lost all electrical. Everything. I checked the kill switch andmade sure the battery was right. I broke out the meter and I have correct voltage at the battery and out of the old dogbone. I looked at the wrong schematic and made the assumption the ignition switch died. Not good news on the 83A. I am in the process of tearing the front end off.

Last night, I realized my mistake on the schematic and I see now that the 83A was unique and went through the starter relay first. If I am reading it correctly, however, it seems to be a straight pass through controlled by the fuse and would not cause power loss to everything if the relay failed.

When I get to the igniton plug I think I should be showing the correct voltage between the hot and ground which would verify switch failure. Am I right about the relay and does this sound about right to you guys? dj

 

[J DUB]

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If you lost all electrical, which means to me you have no neutral light glowing at ya and no oil press. light either, so when this happened to me I knew there was only one item to keep all that electical current from happening, and that one thing is the 30 Amp fuse.

 

[muaymendez1]

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I would also check the 5 wire harness next to the 3 yellow wires. I had mine burn just like the 3 yellow wires. If it comes undone or burnt you may lose power as I did.

 

[dvjac]

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The main 30amp/dogbone fuse is good. I am weak on schematics but I think power passes through the fuse to the ignition switch. Although main power is also distributed to other locations I think the ignition switch controls it by it's various positions. I think the ignition switch is the only other thing that will kill power to everything meaning like the switch is off. If the meter shows the red wire from the fuse to the switch plug is hot from the battery I think that will tell the story.

I'll know after removing the fairing, counterweight and switch. After taking the tank shell off I can see the plug is in the box behind the weight. dj

 

[dvjac]

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Well, we are naked. The ignition switch is checking out on continuity in the various positions. There is voltage in and out of the connector checked to ground. Now if I have power through the switch connectors with the meter to ground at the front of the bike, why is everything dead? I am still studying the schematic but for tonight I am at a total loss.

If the switch is good in the ON, ACC and P positions and I have verified power and ground it would seem the instrument panel would light up. I had an old Charger that would do this because of the regulator but the schematic here looks like there are separate hots from the fuse to the ignition switch and regulator. Ideas? dj

 

[DaveO430]

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Remove the dog bone fuse as it may be cracked and still have enough contact to show voltage on a meter but not enough to handle any sort of load.

 

[wing ding]

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Have you checked your battery ground cable and it's connection to the frame? If you are using a meter or a test light and have it grounded at the battery terminal you will show power at all the points you mentioned. If the negative cable is broken internally or the connection to the frame is bad nothing will operate. I've seen this more than once. I use extra large cables on my 83 A to make sure all the current gets to where it needs to go.:weightlifter:

 

[dvjac]

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Thanks guys, all electrical tests were made with a volt meter using the frame for ground. I used an ohm meter to check the switch contacts per the schematic. I have 12v in and out of the 6 lug connector at the ignition switch tested to frame ground.

I guess the next step is to remove/replace the dogbone based on Davogd430 and some suggestions from Paul. Interesting that the voltmeter could show good but the fuse could not be passing enough amperage to light the display in the dash pod. dj

 

[dvjac]

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The "dogbone" 30 amp fuse is good. Pulled the relay and cleaned all the contacts. Cleaned the starter terminal and replaced the batterycables. The ignitions switch is hanging loose and turned it to on. After a bit the gauge pod lit up. I turned the switch off and on a few times and the gauge pod would light. Shifter is in neutral and the kill switch is on run. Hit the starter button and the starter relay clicked and the dash pod wentdark. I turned the key to off and tried it a couple more time with the same result. For the hydrolock fans, I pulled the plugs and tried it again with the same results. Hit the start button and the gauge pod goes dark. The starter does nothing. The fairing is off but I think I remember that only the headlight goes off when starting and here everything goes dark.

I have theories and next step ideas but I wanted the hear from you guys. dj

 

[dvjac]

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I have read a lot of unfinished threads in the archives. To close this one,my 1100 nearly started then completely lost electrical power. The key didn't do anythingie no dash lights, radio, starter andno relay sound.I made a bad assumption that the starter was good and the ignition switch was bad.Eventually enough things happened to make me realize the problem. The starter cranked then something happened internally and it shorted to ground. I left the key to ON for several minutes trying to understand the problem....Themassive short welded the relayclosed for several days; then with all of thetestingit finally broke loose where the dash pod would light up before the relaypulled in. I finallyhad pod lights but when I would turn the key and push the starter button, the relay would click and the pod lights go out and stay out until the key recycled. I finally did what I should have done first and that is checked the starter terminal to the case and found it was grounded. The grounded starter and forseveral daysthe welded relay dumped all voltage to ground where even the dash light couldn't light. I would have thought that condition would blow the 30 amp fuse but that was not the case....Getting to reinstall the ignition switch, fairing, dashpod,tank shroud andlowers when you didn't have to is all it takes when you make a mistake. Oh well, I cleaned a lot of plugs and I hope this helps someone. dj

 

[sus_spence]

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I have a very similar problem with my 78 goldwing. I was about to pull the ignition switch (fairing is off), but decided to search the forum first.



I take it you eventurally replaced the starter and starter relay to solve the problem? My starter is only a few months old, but it was a rebuild...

 

[dvjac]

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Yes sir that took care of the problem I would also note that I have similar problems with batteries in the past that would show good on a voltmeter but apparently fail under the load. In this case the battery was nearly new.

I would suggest you first pull the starter and test it with some jumper cables off of your car for a final diagnostic before you commit. I have not worked on a '78 but I am sure there arelots of articles her on how tricks to drop it.dj

 

[exavid]

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You really can't tell how good a battery is with only a volt meter. A battery with bad internal cell connectors will show normal voltage when tested with a volt meter. When putting a load on a battery in that condition the voltage will drop across the battery terminals because of high resistance between cells. The total voltage in a series circuit is divided up by the various loads or resistances inproportion of their resistance. In other words higher resistanceswill have more voltage dissipated or dropped across them. In a good battery with low internal resistance very little voltage will be dropped across the battery itself leaving most of the battery's potential available for use by the main load, the bike itself. With corroded inter-cell connectors more voltage will be lost internally in the battery leaving less for use by the bike's systems. .

 

[wodam]

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I'm glad I read this thread. I was out riding just yesterday when the same thing happened. Turned the key on, radio blasted but no head or parking lights, no neutral indicator and no ignition circuit. I checked all the fuses including the fuse/link, all good. I turned the key on and shorted the solenoid and cranked but no ignition. Luckily I happened to be at the Honda Dealer so I just wrote up a service order and called my wife to come get me. When I get the over priced charges I'll let you know. Was frustrating as heck ride in all good then have nothing.

 

[sus_spence]

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I'm glad you jumped on as I haven't finished the job.