TOPIC:

I am working on reviving an 82 KZ750H and tonight's project was to assess the electrical system. I connected a mostly charged (11.6V no load, it won't go any higher, I guess I need a new battery too!) battery to the bike and turned the ignition key to on. In this position I started checking out the lighting system.

I'll open with my stupid question - the little red switch on the right side of the light switch assembly, is this switch the hazards switch? I don't have an owners manual for the bike so this might be a dumb question but it roughly seems to behave like one. All the writing is worn off the switch assembly so I can't just read it It seemed strange to have a hazard switch on the bike but I've got to ask anyway.

On to my real problem, after about 10 minutes of playing with buttons and switches and occasionally testing the starter motor (it won't start because the carbs are removed but it makes a cool noise and I still act like a little kid sometimes) I noticed an unnerving warm electrical smell. A quick check located the smell as coming from the fuse box (as if it is enough to deserve that name!) - the main fuse (white/white+red wires) was super hot. I touched it with my slightly damp finger while opening the cover and it sizzled, leaving a nice mark on my finger, that hot. This worries me as my battery was only providing 11.1V under load so it wasn't even running the lights and everything at full current.

Is this a common issue? Are there parts of the electrical system I should be looking to upgrade to prevent an electrical fire (which I am now quite worried about)?
The fuse contacts are all clean and shiny and tight on the fuse, and the correct 20A fuse is fitted to that socket so I don't have a reason to suspect any sort of trouble within the fuse box itself.
Also, does anybody have a good wiring diagram for this bike? I have a copy of the FSM but big parts of pages are cut off and some of those cut off bits are important!

Sorry if this came out a bit ramble-y, with 3 small kids in the house we don't sleep like we used to and it seems my language skills have suffered as a result.

First, yes that should be the hazard switch.
Second, you have resistance building up at the Main Fuse Terminals and probably a few inches of the wiring harness at each side of the fuse holder clips. Common on several models. Once the Fuse gets a bit lose fitting, or the clips get dirty, the resistance builds which makes heat making it worse. Not uncommon to see the fuse panel melted around those clips.
You can replace the panel with a stock one, or change it out to an ATO blade fuse type of panel which requires a bit of rewiring.
Make sure you have very little or no voltage drop across the main fuse. So when you have 12v at the battery, then into the main fuse, make sure its the same going across the fuse and out. Also on yours, look at your regulator/ rectifier connection. There will be a brown wire there in the 6 wire plug. It needs to be within .5v of battery voltage also, or you will have a high charging voltage as this is the voltage sense wire for your charging system.

Do you have the factory ignition? A Dyna S ignition let's the coils draw full current when the motor is not running as long as the ignition is turned on. The factory ignition does not.

Sorry to not post back sooner, I read both posts and started to repair the issue. Ignition is totally stock, as is everything on this bike (including most of the light bulbs!!).

I took the advice on this thread and upgraded the main fuse box. I replaced this:



With this:



I am also replacing the little 2 position fuse box located further back on the body. I don't use the accessory lead from it so I am replacing it with a single weatherproof ATM fuse holder. This way all fuses on the bike will be of the same type and new.

As for the hazard light switch, man that assembly was a pain to disassemble and clean. There were numerous dead spiders and empty egg sacks inside the switch. I think they would explain why some things were wonky (dim headlight, hazards working one side only, turn signals intermittent). After an hour of scraping, wiping and spraying with contact cleaner the switch measures out good as new, hopefully it'll work that well when I get it back on the bike.

I had the bike running but have been preparing to store it for the winter so I won't be able to run it again until the spring. I assume that to check the voltage on that wire accurately I need the engine to be running so I'll put that on the spring maintenance list. Thanks for the tip

Personally, I never "store" my bike over the Winter. I did it once and paid the price for not prepping it properly. I simply start it up once a week and let it idle for 10 minutes or so. That keeps oil on the cylinder walls, prevent the carbs from gunking up, keeps the battery charged, etc.

If you do store it be SURE to drain the carbs and fill the fuel tank. Filling the tank will prevent rust; thoroughly draining the carbs will keep them from gunking up. I would also unhook the fuel line from the carbs and tightly cap it. That way you will be positive that no fuel leaks through the petcock into the carbs to gunk them up. You may also want to "fog" the cylinders with boat engine fogging oil (see link below) to prevent rust. Ed

www.coolridesonline.net/news-blog/how-to...use-of-fogging-oils/