I've been wrestling with my bike for the past few days trying to get it ready for the upcoming good weather but I'm currently stumped by a dodgy electrical connection and I'm not sure what to do with it.
It's at the very front of the wiring loom where it splits in half and goes to the clocks / lights, I've managed to isolate it to a specific connector (if I jiggle it, the light goes off), however the connector has about 20ish different wires and is completely wrapped into the loom so I don't feel comfortable tackling it myself...
Anyone available to have a look at it for me (read: sort it out) or even just give me some advice and slag me off while I try to tackle it?
Rowan
I thought that I had a similar issue with the R-6 until I noticed that one of the connections further back in the loom had come slack when I loosened the subframe.
Have you checked all the connections along the path of the loom? and does the isue only occur when you "jiggle" the main multi con under the headstock?
Zax wrote:Rowan
Have you checked all the connections along the path of the loom? and does the isue only occur when you "jiggle" the main multi con under the headstock?
Yeah, I lifted the tank to check the connections running upto the front but they all seemed fine to me. The light only seems to be influenced by jiggling that one connector so i'm reasonably sure the problems in or around there.
If you can check to see if the socket that the wire is connecting to is held tight when in position & not hanging out of the back of both the plug & socket arrangement, have this problem with my optimate in that the connection will come loose if not pushed in hard enough, failing that you have a broken wire in the connection (try pulling wires out from rear of plug & socket to see if this is a problem).
sparkie wrote:If you can check to see if the socket that the wire is connecting to is held tight when in position & not hanging out of the back of both the plug & socket arrangement, have this problem with my optimate in that the connection will come loose if not pushed in hard enough, failing that you have a broken wire in the connection (try pulling wires out from rear of plug & socket to see if this is a problem).
Dave
The connector itself is in tight and the wires look and feel pretty damn solid in the back. Having said that, the headlight flickers when you jiggle it around (even though there's very little free play to move the thing).
I'm going to have a look further back in the loom on Saturday morning to see if there's anything obvious that I've missed elsewhere but i'm pretty sure it's the front connector thats causing problems. I'll try pulling on each individual wire from the back to see if anythings loose.
Might have some leccy tape kings round for a gander this weekend so hopefully i'll (read: they'll) get it sussed.
or you could do what i did when i had an old vfr.....
the heedlights stopped working and the indicators went spazzz....
i had all the fairings, heedlight and clocks off and was swearing a lot till a kind soul pointed at the connector that wasn't connected to anything and asked "should that be plugged in?".....d'oh!
moral of the story - another set of eyes might soon see the issue.......
lawzer wrote:or you could do what i did when i had an old vfr.....
the heedlights stopped working and the indicators went spazzz....
i had all the fairings, heedlight and clocks off and was swearing a lot till a kind soul pointed at the connector that wasn't connected to anything and asked "should that be plugged in?".....d'oh!
lawzer wrote:moral of the story - another set of eyes might soon see the issue.......
Fairly productive weekend this time round - my bikes now almost ready to meet the roads again.
Big thanks to Izz for sorting out the electrical gremlin while I stood and watched! And another big thanks to Stu & Katy for all the pumping / expert reach arounds.
RK6 wrote:Big thanks to Izz for sorting out the electrical gremlin
Don't be too hasty, that may not have been the problem but if it does happen again just go to main beam
That connection was getting hot for a reason, are you running uprated bulbs by any chance? I didn't think to check on Saturday.
The RVF fried 2 sets of handle bar switches because I used uprated bulbs (no relays on the dip beam but only a very dim 35 watts) it was cheaper in time to replace the switches though than wire in a set of relays. Fairings off etc. against a 2 minute switch change.
RK6 wrote:Big thanks to Izz for sorting out the electrical gremlin
Don't be too hasty, that may not have been the problem but if it does happen again just go to main beam
That connection was getting hot for a reason, are you running uprated bulbs by any chance? I didn't think to check on Saturday.
The RVF fried 2 sets of handle bar switches because I used uprated bulbs (no relays on the dip beam but only a very dim 35 watts) it was cheaper in time to replace the switches though than wire in a set of relays. Fairings off etc. against a 2 minute switch change.
I'm fairly sure it's sorted - jiggled the hell out of it and the light didn't flicker at all.
Kinda hoping it was just a dodgy connection that was heating up and not a problem somewhere else (it's a standard bulb by the by).
Guess i'll find out next week when I get the bike on the road properly!
RK6 wrote:
It's all good! Figured you were busy by the lack of contact & didn't want to chase you up incase you were busy washing your hair, walking the dog etc.
Took my bike up to Shirlaws on Thursday for the ZX-10 launch night & my battery died again. Turns out bump starting between traffic lights on Crown street when the roads are greasy isn't much fun...
I've had another look at the bike since then & can't figure out why the battery keeps dying. I replaced it last month before the connector was fixed and it was fully charged last week but still seems to die after even the smallest of runs or more than a few days without charging.
Is there a way to check if my aternators actually working or if anything is draining power?
Any idea if there should be return wires from the alternator to the battery or do the 2 main power cables incorporate a return feed?
RK6 wrote:Took my bike up to Shirlaws on Thursday for the ZX-10 launch night & my battery died again. Turns out bump starting between traffic lights on Crown street when the roads are greasy isn't much fun...
I've had another look at the bike since then & can't figure out why the battery keeps dying. I replaced it last month before the connector was fixed and it was fully charged last week but still seems to die after even the smallest of runs or more than a few days without charging.
Is there a way to check if my aternators actually working or if anything is draining power?
Any idea if there should be return wires from the alternator to the battery or do the 2 main power cables incorporate a return feed?
The generator (sometimes incorrectly referred to as an alternator) is a 3 phase jobbie so will have three wired that connect to the regulator rectifier. The other two wires on the regulator rectifier connect to the 12v system to power the bike and charge the battery.
Are you sure the problem isn't either your Reg/Rect or the generator itself?
