I downloaded the color coded wiring diagram that another member made and it has been very helpful but I think I found an error in the diagram and I just want to confirm what I found in case I am wrong.
In the picture the Black / White wires coming from the Spark Units are connected to the Black / Brown wire which is going to the Control Unit (circled in red). I think they should be connected to the Black with White wire that goes to the Ignition Coils (circled in blue). upload image
All the other wiring diagrams from the service manuals have Black with White connected to Black with White.
Also it looks like one of the Black / White wires coming out of the top Spark Unit was accidentally made Black / Brown which might have led to the other error?
I didn't actually make those drawings, I merely stitched together scans of the 2 page drawings from the Clymer manual that someone posted in one of the forums years ago to make them easier to read and then shared them with the forum so any errors that were in Clymer's drawings were still in them.
All of that said, you are absolutely correct. The error is in the 1980-82 GL1100 Interstate Colour Schematic only and does not affect any other drawings.
That's great. Thanks for confirming my suspicion. I see that you just updated the diagram. I hope it didn't take too much effort because I also spent a few hours basically remaking the entire diagram. I used the existing one as the template but I wasn't happy with the quality of the scan. Some of the wire colors were impossible to discern so I made the colors much more distinguished and easy to see. I finished it last night with the wires but just need to finish the plugs. I've also modified it slightly to try and make it clearer.
My motivation was that I'm planning on totally rewiring my GL1100 when I do my build and I wanted to have a clear diagram for myself. I'm one of those psychos who actually loves wiring and doing this really helped my visualize the whole system.
I will upload it here in the next couple days for people to check over.
It actually took me about as long to upload the updated drawing and edit the thread as it did to update the drawing
The poor colour rendering on the drawings is something I'd like to improve on but it would take a long time and there is always something more interesting or important to do. at least they are easier to read than the ones in the FSM (who thought it would be a good idea to draw the switches separate from the wires they connect to anyway?).
I enjoy wiring also. I've been known to add the European park lamp and headlight switches on bikes that didn't get them. I did a cb400F and added a yellow LED park light in a Marchal H4 bucket. It is bright enough to be used in daytime to save battery and stays on with the headlight to make it appear a little different.
78 GL 1000, 70 CB750 sandcast, 70 CB836 hot rod, 1124cc 750 dragbike resto project.
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
if your CB400F has the same type of alternator as the 4 cylinder 'Wings (& a lot of other bikes) turning off the headlight won't save the battery. In systems with permanent magnet alternators the voltage is regulated by basically loading the alternator's output to pull the voltage down to the desired level so all turning the headlight off will do is make the regulator work harder (unless you also set it up so that the headlight switch disconnects one phase of the alternator when the headlight is off).
That said, both of my bikes have switch assemblies made for Indian Enfields with UK spec switches. I use the 3 position headlight switches to control the bike and sidecar headlights (I don't use the sidecar headlight in daytime and I try to remember to switch the bike headlight off while starting the engine)(the Start buttons don't do that like Honda ones do).
I also use the passing light buttons for the garage door remote
Before that I used a circuit that pulsed the remote whenever I switched to the high beam. It worked OK but you wouldn't believe how often I encountered an oncoming vehicle just as I needed to activate it, and on a dead end road too!
I like the new setup much better.
