79' KZ650B Electrical Mysteries

The stock wiring on my bike has been "adjusted" by a previous owner.
It seems when comparing my bike to any of the wiring diagrams in my Clymers and here in the filebase, things just aren't matching up.

Here is a pic what I believe to be the stock Reg/Rectifier. It has four wires, 2 yellows, a white/red, and a black/white. The black and white is grounded to the frame. One of the yellows connects to the alternator, the other yellow connects to the red/white wire in the fuse block, the white and red wire is connected to the Green/orange wire from the ignition. Also the red wire from the ignition has been run directly to the postive connection on the starter relay via a new piece of wire.

Post edited by: Voodoosoup, at: 2006/09/24 14:33

Post edited by: Voodoosoup, at: 2006/09/24 14:44

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!!!!!

...

Here's the last mystery, on the right side of the battery box, screwed on to the rear mounting tab was this wiring harness. It was just coiled up and shove into the wiring mess under the battery box. Any Idea what it's from or what it might be???????

Voodoosoup,your last "mystery" is an insulated case for a TO3 type power transistor, such as a 2N3055. they're commonly used in regulator circuits and the ilk.

Man that is a mystery all right. :blink:

Lets get some other things figured out:

1: How many wires are coming from the alternator and what colors are they?

2: Is your bike running with Points or an electronic Ignition (either factory Kawi or Dyna, etc.)?

3: Has your bike been running with this wire set up?

There are three wires going back in towards the alt. Two yellows, and the Red/Green neutral switch wire.

The bike has points on it. I just replaced the points/condensers and set the points gap and adjusted timing to the best I can with the current idle/running problems. I also just freed up and lubricated the rusted timing advancer.


Amazingly, the bike does run, but it won't idle below 1500RPM's reliably and it bogs if you blip the throttle from idle. Once you get it above 3000 it revs freely until redline. I'm hoping part of that is a lean condition caused by the lack of an airbox hooked up to the carbs right now. I'll have new rubber boots on wednesday for the airbox I that I bought yesterday. My petcock is shot as well, fuel flows in all three valve positions without the vacuum line hooked up. I'll should have a new one of those by wednesday as well.

Boy is that confusing.

Your '79 B3 Rectifier with Regulator should have 5 wire connections, but you only mention 4 on yours. Sounds like you have a '78 models Regulator on there.

Some more questions:

1. There are 2 yellows coming from the Alternator/Generator. One at the moment goes to your Rectifier. Does the other Yellow connect to the blue/white wire from the mystery box, plus is grounded to the frame somewhere?

2. Does your Neutral light come on when your in Neutral?

Almost sounds like the mystery box is some sort of regulator, but what the neutral wire is running to it for I can't guess.
I'd be looking for a proper '79 5 wire Regulator and wire it up as per the wiring diagram for your model.

BUT, if it all works as it is, you could keep running it like that for a while.

The low idle problems sound like your carbs need some sort of attention.

I made a mistake in the tile of the thread. I do have a 78"!!!:blush:

1. That's correct.
2. Neutral light works great.

I think I'm going to try and wire it like it is in the diagrams I have for 78' B2's
If it doesn't work, I'll put it back. It just doesn't make sense why it's even there.

I need to go through the carbs. The PO told me that they were clean but I know that he didn't clean hem personally, so..........

tellietubbie wrote:

Voodoosoup,your last "mystery" is an insulated case for a TO3 type power transistor, such as a 2N3055. they're commonly used in regulator circuits and the ilk.

That doesn't look like a TO-3 case to me. The case would have to make contact since it's the collector for the BJT.

To me, it looks more like the base for an ignition switch. Note the grooves where the moving contacts used to rotate across the fixed contacts.

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.

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2006/09/24 22:31

The box looks like a voltage reg out of a Ford ,, I agree with you loudhvx the round looks like a switch base ,, How about the remains of a secrity system ,, ?? The switch turned it on at one time ..Just adding ?