79' KZ650B Electrical Mysteries

There's an old "yellowed" clear piece of tubing over the battery cable.

You should of seen the mess of wiring before I started cleaning it up!:laugh:

I'm positive the other wire is one of the alt wires. There are only three wires that go down there. 2 Yellows and the red/green neutral wire.

I'm going to mess with it tomorrow or Tuesday if I have time.

loudhvx wrote:

Is that a piece of flexible copper tubing around the positive battery cable?
Crazy.

Judging by the photos, it's time to re-wire. You can simplify the wiring a lot.

I can't remember what that mystery box is, but I recall seeing something like it somewhere. It's strange that one of the alternator wires goes to it, especially with a neutral wire. Are you sure it's not some other yellow wire? Both yellows should go to the oem reg/rec directly.<br><br>Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/09/24 22:31

Voodoosoup wrote:

On the other side of the battery box mounted to the airbox bracket tab is this "mystery box". It has six wires. Theres a brown wire that is connected to the neutral switch green wire. And a blue and white wire that is connected to the yelllow alternator wire that is grounded. The black/yellow and white wires are soldered to each other and the green/white and orange/white wires don't connect to anything?????????? It also has a black/white ground wire that was grounded to the frame. Anyone know what this is and why it might be on my bike!!!!!

looks like some sort of voltage regulater:S time for rewire.

Heh,
everything looks like copper tubing to me. I just spent 4 days replacing all the water feeds in the house. Not fun.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/09/25 03:10

Yep, the PO of your bike sure enough did one helluva job on "adjusting" the electronics/wiring on it! :ohmy:

I stink at electrical diagnosis and trouble-shooting, but even I can see something in the pics you posted that probably has everyone else here stumped as well:

Your bike is a '78 KZ650B2 or B2A (B2=early '78, B2A=late '78), correct?

Well the first pic you posted shows the combination regulator/rectifier that was used on the '78~ KZ650 models, but the second pic you posted is of the regulator that was used on the '77 KZ650 B1. :huh:
A little redundancy there if ya ask me.

On the '77 KZ650 the regulator (ref# 13 in the pic below) and rectifier (ref# 4) were seperate units. In '78 Kawi combined the reg and rec into one (ref# 32), and also went from a seperate yoke and field coil with rotor (stator) to a one-piece stator and rotor. The quickest way to tell a '77 from a '78 or newer is to look at the left side engine (generator) cover.
If it has 3 allen bolts screwing into the cover near the center (these bolts secure the field coil to the inside of the cover), it's a '77. If no allen bolts are there, it's a '78 or newer.

loudhvx can probably explain the diff in the two systems in his sleep way better than I could even hope to when wide awake, so I'll let him fill you in on that.

That jumbled mess of wires you have there are...um..."interesting" to say the least. :whistle:
I just took a gander at the wiring on my '78 KZ650 B2, and that green/white wire that is folded over and wrapped in electrical tape on your bike should go to the headlight outage indicator (small squarish shaped part). In actuality, that wire is supposed to be plugged into a connector that plugs into a corresponding connector in the main wire harness. It's function is to light the white HEADLIGHT indicator bulb on your dash to make you aware that your headlight is not functioning/has a burnt out beam.
That loose orange (or orange/white) wire goes to either the turn signal relay or hazard relay. FWIW here, you can actually swap the orange and orange/white wires from the two relays and it won't hurt anything, the relays just won't function correctly (or at all).

And I agree 100% with loudhvx on the "mystery part", since just over a month ago I disassembled my ignition switch to clean up the contacts and that's exactely what it looked like (ok, so mine was slightly more corroded ).

It certainly looks like you have some work ahead of you there, so I wish you the best of luck.

Post edited by: RetroRiceRocketRider, at: 2006/09/27 21:45

Thanks Retro.

It is a 78' 650B not sure on the 2 or 2a part
Here's the vin, KZ650B518381.

Those lose wires are coming from that 77' Regulator which I removed from the bike yesterday after the ignition/ignition harness fried on me. I think part of the cause was the red wire that had been run directly to the starter relay positive terminal. It looks like it shorted to the blue wire at the connections on the back of the ignition. I'm going to set the bike up as it should have originally been stock as far as the wiring is concerned, and go from there.

I'm looking into possibly building a new harness myself (having trouble finding a place that sells more than 10 colors of wire) or seeing if I can pick up an intact used one.

Very good point R4!

First we need to figure out which charging system you have, as R4 mentioned, to figure out what the P.O. did.

Get a photo of the alternator cover (big round cover on left side of engine). That will tell us which alternator you have. If the cover has 3 screws in a triangle pattern on the surface, it is the older type. If it doesn't, it's the newer type.

Also, the older type has 3 yellow or white wires coming out. The newer type has two yellow wires.

Here's a shot of the left side of the engine.

If you can't find all the wire colors you are looking for try looking for colored tape. We used colored electrical tape quite a bit to "color" wires as we need to.You can wrap it the length as you see fit.

Voodoosoup wrote:

Here's a shot of the left side of the engine.

This is the newer type of alternator. It is single-phase and uses the one-piece reg/rec. It should have two yellow wires coming out. You'll need the reg/rec which is the first photo you posted, and the diagram for a B2A.

I hooked it all up per the 78 B2/B2A wiring diagrams that I have and now I'm bloiwing the main fuse when I turn the ignition to the on position.
I tested the Reg/Rect using the instructions in my Clymer's and I get no readings at all. This leads me to believe that it's shot and I need another one.

The disconnect the positive wire to the reg/rec. does it still blow fuses?

Also, any charging system wiring for the B2 will be different for the B2A. Only use B2A wiring.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/10/01 23:31

I found a short in the right-hand switch gear that was blowing the fuses. I had pinched the brown wire when putting it back together on the handlebars.:blush:

After I fixed that, I went and tested all lights and signals. Everything is working perfectly!!!! I had picked up a flasher relay that was totally missing and the hazzard lights now work as they're supposed to.

Now if I could just get the airbox hoses that I ordered from Z1 last week (it now says that they are out of stock:( ) I could get this sucker tuned up the rest of the way and out for a test ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!