83 cb550sc has no key-on power

Ok, so I drove to work today with no problems. The bike seemed to turn over a tad slower, but nothing unusual since I had a lot of stop and go traffic yesterday (slightly low battery). Anyway, after work I turned the key on and absolutely nothing happened. Needless to say, the start button didn't work either. I tried cycling the key on and off a couple times and flicking some wires in case there was some kind of short (it's helped my truck more than once) but to no avail. I checked the main fuse off the battery, but it was fine. I finally had to get a ride home; I couldn't do anything else without any tools.

So I got home and started looking through my manual. There are 4 fuses up front for the guages, lights, etc so they would all have to blow at once for me to experience what happened, so that's not likely. The main fuse is good, so there aren't any other fuses to check. The only thing I can think of is that the ignition switch went bad, but I didn't get any warning signs or anything. The only other thing I can think of it that the negative cable came loose from the battery, and I couldn't get to it without any tools. Unlikely, though.

Does anyone have any other things for me to check? So far I've got ignition (but no way to test) and the battery cable. The battery is brand new, plus the bike would die if it was unhooked (discharges idle-2500). I'm pretty stumped. Does anyone know how to bypass the ignition to test whether that's my problem or not?

Food for though: It has to be something that would allow the bike to keep running, or something that broke as I turned it off. More likely the latter.

Oh, and I guess all the power runs through the starter solenoid. Could that be the culprit? My brother suggests tapping it with a screwdriver or something :-).

Power runs thru the start solenoid only for the starter. The bike sends all other electrical function thru the ignition switch to the fuses and on to the ignition circuit and other bike circuits.

Charge your battery.

Verify the battery connections and that there is a the good ground connection from the battery cable to the frame.

Disconnect the hot battery cable and put a test light in line between the battery and the cable. With the key off, it should not light up. If it does, you have a short. Pull the fuses one by one to identify the circuit with the short.

Check the fuse sockets for power when the key is on. They should all have power coming in. If not, check to see if the panel connector is disconnected.

Please post your findings and I'll try to help more.
Rocksolid

I guess what I meant about power running through the solenoid is that the main fuse it "part" of the solenoid, it's all one big unit. From there it goes to the fuse box.

I only had a little time today to test, but I got the easy stuff done. The battery is connect and is good. I verified by jumping the solenoid terminals and the bike turned over. So I have good ground and there is power at least to the solenoid. I need to get a tester tomorrow and see if there is power coming out, then check at the forward fuses.

I'm leaning towards the ignition switch as the problem right now. I'll have more time to test over the weekend.

I'm too lazy to hook up my scanner, but here's a snap of the wiring diagram. You can see the battery goes through the 'solenoid', then off to where ever.

Wiring Diagram (http://oregonstate.edu/~vissm/wiring.jpg)

Update: Some new developments today. I got her to start, WOOOO!!!! It's kinda a mixed blessing though, cause I still don't know for sure what it was which means it might break again.

So someone replaced the ignition switch at some time, because every single wire coming off it is crimped. I wiggled a couple wires, and viola! For a while I thought it was the black wire, because I could hit it and make the lights go on and off, but i had to still cycle the key to make the change.

So I'm not sure if there is a short in the ignition switch itself or one (maybe several) wires coming off it. Does it make sense that one broken wire could kill everything?

My plan is to redo the crimps, this time with something waterproof and see how it goes. I'll carry some tools with me so I can get to the magic wires if I have problems again. If it does happen again, I'll have to replace the switch. I suppose it could be a connection further down the line too, but that doesn't seem as likely.

I still don't get, how if it was a loose wire, that my bike would keep running, but then not start back up after turning it off.

One wire can kill the whole system if it's the right one. If you can solder the connections, I would. That bundle is the center of all the bikes electrics.
Rocksolid