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Author Topic: Electrical concern while out riding today...  (Read 1729 times)

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Jim Kennedy

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Electrical concern while out riding today...
« on: May 14, 2012, 07:41:48 PM »

While out riding for a few hundred miles today a little [?] issue arose that has me a bit concrened.

I have an idea or two, but I am NOT a Technician and leave diagnosis and repair to those trained and knowledgeable in their field.

I had ridden for hours everything fine. About 30 miles after stopping to refuel I looked down and noticed the radio display was 'blank'. Scanned the guages quickly and noticed they all appeared to be functioning properly - EXCEPT I noticed that the Volt meter was 'pegged' all the way to the right of the dial. Under virtually all conditions the guage normally sits at 13.5 volts and does not drop unless I am idling at a light with my heated grips on and heated jacket plugged in.

I tried my cruise control and it would not engage. Wiggled my ignition switch a small amount while riding and nothing changed. Hit my front brake lever and the radio, volt guage and cruise control started functioning again. For about 2 miles. Then they returned to the previous non-functioning state.

About 4 miles later everything again started working properly..

BUT

The voltage guage now seems to sit a full volt lower at about 12.5 volts or so under normal riding, and whereas it would normally not drop from the 13.5+ it used to show continuously while coasting through small towns and villages, it now starts to drop to 12 volt [or below] if the RPM's drop while cruising at lower RPM - and takes a while before it returns to about the 12.5 range
once backroad cruising speeds are achieved.

Everything remained functional on the remaining 20-25 miles home. The bike did not stall out when idling at a stoplight - but the voltage guage dropped each and every time and continued to sit roughly 1 to 1.5 volts lower than it always had in the past at 40-50 mph.

Thoughts anyone....?
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FLHTCUSE7

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2012, 07:52:41 PM »

Voltage regulator maybe.

If that is the case your battery will run out of steam and the bike will stop.
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sadunbar

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2012, 08:12:30 PM »

Check the connections at your battery...check for clean and tight.
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AXIL

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2012, 09:38:01 PM »

    First I would check the charging system, repair if needed. Something that effects that many things reading the codes is not my next move. so many things in the fairing are acting up that i would take a few minutes and pull the fairing and look for a loose conector or wire rubbing the fairing brackets. also check the groung wire, black with green stripe,is connected the spade terminal on the upper tree clutch side facing the front.      axil
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Tannehill Kid

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2012, 09:44:11 PM »

With all the voltage regulator problems they are having  I would carry it to the dealer and have it checked out.  Because when it goes and the battery has discharged the bike goes dead and then you are stranded unless you have to way to recharge the battery. 
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Jim Kennedy

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2012, 10:13:40 PM »

Part 2...

Went back out to the garage. Checked the battery connections and searched [in a very amateur'ish sort of way] for a possible pinched wire under the seat. None found.

Should have mentioned before that when I got home originally I hooked the bike up to the battery tender [always do that after every ride] the light went red to charge for only a couple of minutes before going green again. Battery did not appear to have lost charge during the original ride when the issue occured.

Decided now to fire up the bike [while still connected to the Tender] and watched the voltage guage. It initially sat at 12 volt. I rev'd the bike gradually to 2,200 rpm and the volt guage slowly climbed to 14 volts. Held her there for probbably 2 minutes and then the guage made a quick swing to the end of the guage [16+]. When this occurred the "Cruise" light on tach went out - however the radio display continued to work fine.
Held her there for possibly 10 seconds and then allowed the revs to drop. Moments later the guage needle dropped back to 14 volts and the cruise light illuminated once again.

[I tend to ride with the Cruise switch in the "on" position at all times... In this particular scenario it just happened to provide some food for thought and gave me some sort of reference...]

Turned the bike off and the battery tender light continued to stay 'green' to indicate full charge.

Hmmm......
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Sledge

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2012, 11:28:38 PM »

I had a problem once where the bike would just die, guages pegged low, lights off.  When I rolled to a stop I was able to restart it and continue only to have it happen again in a few minutes.  Turned out to be a pinched wire in the handlebar controls which had been installed the week before at the dealer.

Methinks you have a pinched wire.  Have you had any work done inside the fairing or in the handlebar controls?  If the radio goes dead that means it isn't grounded or it's not getting power.  If the power to the radio goes I would guess a whole lot more would go dead too including all your guages and inner fairing lighting.  I'm leaning toward an open ground problem somewhere since a short would/may pop a fuse too.  Axil steered you clear with the black wire/green stripe.  Need that one connected.

Sledge
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chaos901

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #7 on: May 17, 2012, 09:05:44 AM »

There are folks that know much more than me, but if it is really getting up to 16 volts that is not good.  I would check the output of the voltage regulator. 
   
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Jim Kennedy

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #8 on: May 17, 2012, 09:47:29 AM »

It was the stator....

I have a pic - but filee too large to post.

Thanks for the replies

Jim
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spada84

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #9 on: May 17, 2012, 12:46:45 PM »

Had some of the same symptoms with the same cause. 
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gearnhart

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Re: Electrical concern while out riding today...
« Reply #10 on: May 21, 2012, 04:58:42 PM »

Ugh....I got the same thing going on. When I take it to service, the needle sits in the middle of the gauge fine. I let the tech ride it and he said no issues. I live about 70 miles away from the dealer, got half way home and it pegged out again. I rode 870 miles this weekend and it pegged out and work fine. Very weird thing here....

Back to the dealer I go......
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