imported post
Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised by all the responses. Thank-you all.
My bike does have the clarion radio with cb, intercom, and tape deck. I bought this bike from a long time friend, who had it for about a dozen years. He says that the radio and clock were like this since he first bought it. As someone pointed out, there will be a slight draw on the battery if memory is maintained. I suspect the original owner did a modification which causes the loss of memory problem as the bike has always drained the battery in about two weeks time. I personally don't care about the drain, because I'm extremely unlikely to let the bike sit for more than a day or two at a time. As it turns out, switching the clock and radio didn't fix the battery draining problem.
I've been hesitant to pull everything apart to trace wiring. It seems to be a big job to get inside of the fairing. The radio/cb/intercom/tape deck has an intermittent problem. It takes a while to warm up, sometimes up to 30 minutes. It also seems to switch between high and low settings, all by itself. I've sprayed contact cleaner as best as I can. It made little difference. I was thinking that perhaps I could find a stock replacement. Again, that will require some teardown. Meanwhile a local electronics shop suggested that it sounds like a cold solder joint and that I need to pull out the entire system and let them go through it at $35/hour. I'm not encouraged to do that yet. I sure would like to have the cb and intercom part working better though, as I can talk with other wings on the road, as we travel.
Anyone know how difficult it is to take out the whole system for inspection? Anyone know if Clarion is a great unit and should be salvaged, or is there a drop-in place replacement, or any other suggestions? I guess once I get in there, I'll figure out the hot wires and power supply points. Is it just my bad luck, or do all wings have electrical problems? My 75 had constant electrical problems. This 83 also has other problems such as turn signals which work most of the time. Other than electrical, it's a fantastic machine, and I love it.