[jreidfive]

okay, first off, since i still haven't changed my signature, i have an '81 cx500C...now, down to business. i'm turning this bike into a custom something or other (most likely café racer) and i want to dramatically reduce the stuff on this bike, including the wiring. what i want to do is dump the ignition switch and key, and use a switch with push start set-up, that is, have a switch that turns on all systems and doubles as a kill switch, with a push button start to activate the ignition process. i'd like to keep brake lights and turn signals, and i can go either way on the high beam, though it'd be nice to have, just in case i want to take my handy to spotlight for deer in the field. i just finished browsing all 14 pages of the tech forum and have seen some useful info in the form of wiring diagrams (which i've downloaded and will definitely use), but what i'm looking for now is any advice from anyone who has done this in the past. i mean, i am fully prepared to spend a few days and brain cells tracing wires and trial-and-error testing, but if there's anyone who knows what's up already i'd appreciate the info. is it even possible to do this with the cdi/stator system? i'm not an expert on bike wiring, so anything i do at this point is pretty much shooting in the dark. any ideas? i guess my main area of concern is condensing everything the ignition switch does into a single on/off switch...but given my limited knowledge in this area, i may well be vastly understating the challenge ahead.



thanks!!



~J

 

[DaveF]

For general power control you want a switch that is open when the bike is shut off, and closed to apply battery power to the vehicle electrics when the bike is running.



On CDI bikes, the ignition is killed by grounding the black/white CDI wire. The kill function requires a switch that is open when the bike is running and then closed to ground the CDI kill wire when the bike is shut off.



Note the open vs. closed sense of these switch controls are opposite. When one is closed, the other is open.



It is not difficult to combine these functions into a single switch with two independent electrical sections. A common switch type that will accomplish this is a double-pole double-throw switch, abbreviated as DPDT. It can be readily wired to get the opposite open vs. closed operation you need.



A separate push button switch will still be needed to activate the starter solenoid, though.

 

[jreidfive]

thanks for the info...i'm going to try posting this in the modifications forum and see if i get any other hits, i probably should've done that to begin with but for some reason i didn't know it was even there!

 

[jreidfive]

i re-posted this in the custom/mod forum, this post can be deleted if anyone wants to, for the sake of avoiding redundancy. thanks.