The 500 lack of multiple fuses is there a cure ?

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Just fit a loom off a Cb550F Ted [...]

I would not. The better alternative of course is the loom the CB500K2 (ED, F, G) had: https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cb500k2-general-export_model50441/harness-wire_32100374700/
BTW, it's the same the CB550K2 (A) had. You can have 3 fuses, knowing: 15A main, 7A head, 5A tail.

What is the advantage of using this loom over the one Ken mentions?
Part number appears to be 32100-374-700 not currently available at csml - DS show as discontinued.

[Oddjob]

Advantage Ted would be the ignition would be in the right place with the K2 loom.

Must admit Ted to not thinking this through enough, I used a scrap 550F2 that I bought as a write off, funnily enough the lad I bought it off only moved in 2 doors away from me last year, haven't seen him since 1980, I was polishing some parts on the front when he passed and the part I was polishing was off his old bike, strange world.

Anyway, I had to use the electrical panel off the 550 as well due to it having the facility to hang the fusebox off, something I didn't think about until you mentioned where to put it.

I hindsight it might be better to go with the Motogadget, they don't float my boat but they seem to work.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

So how does  the Motogadget connect into the existing loom or do you bin that then individually connect each device into the box of tricks or is it a Canbus system?

Is there a good video that shows the way?

[Matt_Harrington]

Ted, I'm not saying this is a great video but may help https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsSNS91EmxU&ab_channel=CafeRacerGarage
CanBus is a little more complex than the Motogadget and seems to be simplified but certainly ideal for bike re-wiring. I would not install it if I didn't need to rewire, however. I do like the idea of an imobiliser and alarm built in. I also like hazards on a bike - I'm sure Roo will chip in!! 

[K2-K6]

So how does  the Motogadget connect into the existing loom or do you bin that then individually connect each device into the box of tricks or is it a Canbus system?

Is there a good video that shows the way?

Motogadget is just remote switching on solid state control board as I understand it, so command switch to tell the board to turn the required circuit on, power then runs to device from there, without going through switch. A relay system in essence, just integrated to one unit.

Canbus, principle is the device has a constant supply from live loom (for example a brake light) with a control method sighted at that device to toggle it on/off. The signal to do that comes from ecu command sent "consentric" down that wire as a digital code to "call" that responding unit in situ. The ecu can then control all the devices by having their unique address.
Effectively can be one ring loop of positive to all components (deletes all individual strands) to remove much wiring etc. Can also monitor status, resistance etc to observe any out of range component.

Household computer comms with Ethernet over mains effectively does the same in sending digital data through live 240 volt distribution concurrent to other usage.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

After viewing the video plus looking at the cost I'm not going down the Motogadget road so it will be either check my existing loom thoroughly or if I replace it go for Deltariders option of fitting the
500 K2 version if I can find a new one.

As I am some time away from fitting a loom I will await the outcome of the thread on a members Dead Short cause.

[Nurse Julie]

We have 7 bikes on the road all with a single fuse and never had a problem with the fuse. I have seen loads of fuse boxes off 550 F1, F2, K3's melted but never a single fuse melted. Even Millie has a 500 loom on a K3 frame and F2 engine and i have had her on the road for 5 years / 6,450 miles with no problem. The only problem i have had is with DSS looms and now buy from electrexwold which have the correct colour coded wires.

[Oddjob]

Sorry Julie but your looking through rose tinted glasses there, the amount of fuses I've seen burnt out on 500s is immense, most had been replaced by those fuse holders where you twist the top a little to release the fuse, a longer fuse than standard I may add. Also a lot of them showed melting on the fuse holders, some had even melted the fuse holder itself. Plus this was when the bikes were still fairly new, not 40 years later with all the corrosion and wire hardening that has happened in that time. Conversely I've not seen a 3 fuse system in the same state, I've seen the back of the fuse box in poor state, I've seen fuse holders in poor state but I've never seen one melted, loads of corrosion, loads of blue gunge everywhere.

Due to me being the 500/550 enthusiast at Queenies I tended to get every single one that came through our doors, subsequently I've seen hundreds of examples and I can't think of a single 500 that didn't show some sign of melting. Even if that was just the red wire starting to buckle as they did when they were starting to go. If I'd kept some of my sub looms from over the years I could show pics of them.

There are 3 examples of the electrical panel for the CB500 on Ebay right now, not a single one of them has the complete fuse setup, all are missing the plastic fuse holder, all show signs of the wires going to the fuse holders starting to melt or have even been replaced. I'd imagine even breakers don't list parts that clearly show it's almost started a fire.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255571789499?hash=item3b814406bb:g:YRQAAOSw~~RfziuJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwMUQF1m2JWVO8N7Y4pferHxSI0XNzcTn8lfE0WagcS90ulE%2BRQuG9Kk%2FVfhucLx16Ez%2FXyJaPZmuhsL6K%2FXEzkFdr6PvyLysEmVrYw4T4oWYoG0xxbOe%2FclZbYx%2FZr9cqbSNTMQ6tRYDVJ5FOR7mNJFCzVE1h1T1bcrIcSimz0c1b15UYfrzzbhI%2Fw%2FBIcQvFyfzcfxdfbwrO40r48l5DmYoRBm%2F%2BmYleslnZcja7L41CcdK8VRUc9Z1tZvx5kgkFQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9Tp-oSCYg

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353647379550?hash=item525706c45e:g:ZTwAAOSwSBVhKler&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwBtCX62Wr%2F%2BiPA54vMN2jyiWaGwTgbNrcikkl%2B2Ftm%2FqN5ntTQBhfSvXOHwWn6mJwhIOeU%2BIo3gxsoGP7DFefCgDw3ClBtmnEvJmiOiZW6LdYd%2B5z140LNcnucQlmTA861WmklGTNKE6dbOTzaDrZq80hVm15O0D9sEuraBr0xo5PwrwEOreb2dxh%2FqqDRJSnBkEd51IWJwDgNRRGPpICOxqX2dh36NYOKt1BNdWJxF80Qj2HDzwStkx79bttOmm0Q%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9jp-oSCYg

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314157677804?hash=item492541bcec:g:BnYAAOSwzsVjLIVB&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwIFWyGcVGm2hhNT%2Fdv5G45pxsHps59xh3t7RcOPMFcJ8G0YCyB%2BPUHBrlPU37j1JthSAKN05vundIAEq294hYtK6uIYJ2drDlUrqTg6kQejfejqnaBx8jwvbetWjCUnmCr1XA9jytYaivWvu0k%2BSI6%2B%2BGQTQJqM2Hn0UOKb1IBVdl%2BFKK%2BetnC0CnsrZFPdxqhpGf%2FK%2FG9ps%2FXpVT8Ii4Iwzb8g0lnk8u4%2BHiM%2BdkItawaBbxVeZjqhMc2eXLxavdg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR9zp-oSCYg

Perhaps Ted will post a pic of his fuse board and show what that looks like. I'm betting it will show signs of either melting or wire buckling that precedes the melting.

[Nurse Julie]

I don't wear rose tinted glasses Ken, I wear clear varifocals 😂😂😂😂
All I know is that our bikes have the original plastic type single fuse holders and the original glass (shorter) fuses and we haven't had any problems with them at all. I would have thought that with riding our bikes very regularly and the mileage we do on them, we have a higher chance of something burning out, or getting hot and melting but that hasn't been the case. Maybe because we do ride all our bikes so often, they aren't sitting around long enough doing nowt for wiring / fuse box problems to occur 🤔🤔🤔

[Oddjob]

Not exactly Julie. First off your mileages will be far less than anyone in the 70s for example. You have a few bikes to choose from for example, not just the one you'd most likely have back then. More bikes means less mileage on each. Plus back then we rode in all sorts of weather, we had to, it was our means of transport to and from work in most cases. We didn't pamper them, they were essentially work horses, bought for having fun on yes but mainly as a means of getting from A to B. Secondly, you look after your bikes, they've all been restored, that means they've all had excessive amounts of attention to parts that normally don't get any attention, so any faults that were developing have been fixed, most of these fuses burn out because of dirty connections which increase the resistance, when that reaches a critical point the wire starts to buckle or distort, it's a clear sign things are going to start melting soon, on a restoration all those parts would be spotted and changed, contacts are cleaned, spade connectors are removed, cleaned and fitted with dielectric grease to stop any further corrosion forming. I have 2 500s, both have obscene amounts of mileage on them, close to half a million miles between them, one was even raced for a few seasons, both no longer have single fuses, they were too prone to blowing, had IMO far too much power coming down a single wire, Honda recognised that and changed to a better multi fuse system, not for just the 500 but for all of them. It's a poor system, badly designed and poorly constructed but was built that way due to costs and the fact they were breaking new ground, when they recognised those faults they changed the design, we should learn from that.

I do remember Graham telling me that he'd bought quite a few of the fuse holders at one time so he had spares for when they needed replacing, clearly there was a demand for them. Which begs the question, why? they are essentially indestructible, just a plastic parts that hardly ever gets touched, why would you ever need to buy in loads of them?

The prosecution rests milord 

[Nurse Julie]

Be cause I sell them on my ebay page Ken and buy them in bulk for that reason. Yes, I agree, none of us use our old bikes all year round and in all weathers which does help enormously in preventing problems.

[Bryanj]

Teds has a blade type fuse holder cos i didnt have the plastic one