AberdeenBikers

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?

There's a big case of beer in it for someone.

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).

Dave

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.

Cheers!

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.......

I really hope so!

I'm not too shabby with a soldering iron / volt meter if yer stuck

metallninja wrote:I'm not too shabby with a soldering iron / volt meter if yer stuck

I can vouch for Stu's electrical knowingness.

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.

Glad you got it sorted mate.

Totally forgot I offered to help

Must be getting old

Zathos wrote: Must be getting old

that must be only thing that you have posted and that most will agree with

Zathos wrote:Glad you got it sorted mate.

Totally forgot I offered to help

Must be getting old

If I'm not mistaken this is Barry's 1st excuse post of 2011!!

Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian) wrote:

Zathos wrote:Glad you got it sorted mate.

Totally forgot I offered to help

Must be getting old

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.

Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian) wrote:If I'm not mistaken this is Barry's 1st excuse post of 2011!!

The excuse list must be almost exhausted if they're this far & few between.

Well I guess I had that comming

Now, get back to work ya slackers.

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.

IZINBARD wrote:

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.

that is a good one

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?

Check the voltage accross the battery terminals with the engine off and with it running at circa 5K rpm.

Should be 14V ish with the engine running.

Does the bike have an alarm?

With the engine and ignition off disconnect one battery terminal and measure the current draw to check you don't have a short somewhere.

Zathos wrote:Check the voltage accross the battery terminals with the engine off and with it running at circa 5K rpm.

Should be 14V ish with the engine running.

Does the bike have an alarm?

With the engine and ignition off disconnect one battery terminal and measure the current draw to check you don't have a short somewhere.

I think I know what you mean but i'll need a meter to check it out.

Pretty sure my mates got one so i'll try & have a look this weekend to see whats what.

There's no alarm so i'm hoping it's a short rather than a broken alternator!

Cheers Barry.

Just remember to double check you have the meter on the correct setting and connections before 'powering up'

If you connect a meter set to measure current accross the battery terminals it will go pop

Zathos wrote:Just remember to double check you have the meter on the correct setting and connections before 'powering up'

If you connect a meter set to measure current accross the battery terminals it will go pop

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?

Here are a couple of articles which may be of use.
http://www.electrexworld.co.uk/pdfs/Tro ... G-&-RR.pdf
http://www.electrosport.com/technical-r ... -guide.pdf

Have you disconnected the battery from the bike and hooked it up to an optimate to tests its health?

Big Kneed Al (master of the emergency stop & "stand up" comedian).

Bad earth somewhere, draining the battery?