I'm having issues...

[Winter]

I'm having issues of an electrical kind, and would appreciate a bit of help so i know where i should start looking.

There are a number of issues:

1) Right Rear indicator : First flash is normal, then second one is dimmer, and dimmer, and dimmer, and the flash rate increase until only the front right indicator is flashing double speed, and the rear unit not lit at all.

2) Left Indicators work normally, however the turn signal on my dash is incredibly dim when turning left, but normal when turning right.

3) Brake light flickers when applied with engine idling. When I get on the gas, as the RPM increases, the Brake light dims, until the brake light doesn't show at all.



Now, I've swapped the two rear bulbs around, to check if it was a lamp issues with the indicators. It made no difference.

I've had a quick geeze at the wiring inside the indicator house, and the wiring i can see following it under the seat. there are no obvious breaks etc.


Has anyone got any ideas? where should I start looking for something to address all those issues?

Cheers!

[xwhatsit]

Hmmm. Check your battery connections, make sure they're nice and tight. I had similar results (bulbs getting dimmer as engine got faster) when I had a bad connection with the battery terminals.

Good luck. Electrickery is not the most enjoyable thing to troubleshoot, I seem to be having a run of issues myself lately.

[Masterchop]

It sounds like it might be a bad earth somwhere,check all earth points and clean them.

[davereid]

Check the battery and the battery earth. (borrow a known good battery if you can.) The symptoms you describe don't really make sense, but we may be getting a clue from the fact that brake lights (and possibly headlight ?) seems to fail as rpm increases. This implies the voltage regulator is involved, or possibly the battery. Faulty earths often cause all sorts of wierd problems, so check and double check em!

[Winter]

Ok, Update.

Riding home last night the bike completly lost power, headlights were barely visible,and the bike was backfiring like hell, spluttering and coughing and became unrideable.

When i switched the headlights off, It was fine.

I'll check all my connections etc today, good thing its raining!

[Winter]

What voltage should I get from the bikes charging circut? I would have guess about 13v?

I've removed the battery, and kick started the bike. I get 5v at the battery connectors at idle, and it drops to 1v with any RPM increase.

Headlights just kill the engine.

Do i need a new alternator / rectifier /something?

[Disco Dan]

Check the electrolite level in your battery. May need topping up with distilled water. Sounds like its not holding a charge. My old bike used to have a electrical fault and the battery had to be topped up almost weekly.

[Winter]

Check the electrolite level in your battery. May need topping up with distilled water. Sounds like its not holding a charge. My old bike used to have a electrical fault and the battery had to be topped up almost weekly.

Just did that, its halfway between the 'lower level' mark and the 'upper level' mark.

With the battery sitting on my bench, I can measure only 5v on the bike when its running. Don't you need to supply a 12v battery with more than 12v to charge it?

Am i right in assuming its not being charged properly?

[davereid]

Sounds like your bike has been running on the battery and the charging circuit is faulty. You should have about 12 to 13 volts on the battery when the bke is not running, and 13.8-14.5 when the bike is running at about 2000-3000 rpm. Lower than this means shes not charging. Reasons for not charging, assuming all connections tight :

1. Faulty battery
2. Faulty regulator
3. Faulty rectifier (often in the same box as the regulator)
4. Faulty stator
5. Faulty rotor (no magnetisim left - very uncommon)

[Winter]

Ok, Thans Davereid. Now i need to do a bit of research to find out what a stator / rotor is.

[xwhatsit]

What voltage should I get from the bikes charging circut? I would have guess about 13v?

I've removed the battery, and kick started the bike. I get 5v at the battery connectors at idle, and it drops to 1v with any RPM increase.

Headlights just kill the engine.

Do i need a new alternator / rectifier /something?

Whoah hang on... don't take the battery out. You run the risk of frying something without something else in place (I run a capacitor), and also you'll be getting strange results with a multimeter because the voltage regulator will not know what to do without a battery. That's what the reg does -- when the battery is charged it will cut out phases to limit voltage and not over-charge the battery.

Put the battery back in and check voltage across the terminals with it all wired up.



BTW: GSX250s have kick-starters? My estimation of the bike has just dramatically risen :D

[Winter]

I figured it was bad to do that, so I ran it only for long enough to put a meter across it.. Thanks for that I'll refrain from doing that in the future.

Yeah shes got a kick start as well as the electric start.

Great if i need to get a bit of a leg workout.

[bimotabob]

Hi

Start with the battery, determine whether it is in good order as it may indicate another problem.
If the battery is stuffed the voltage will be erratic and all kinds of chaos will happen.
You may well have a charging issue though if the battery is good - get it sorted pronto or the problem could cost more to sort.
If it's the reg/rect you may be able to get a 2nd hand one as many small Suzuki's use a common one (RGV250 is one)

No one likes being stranded.

Regards
BB

[Winter]

I've found something that looks cooked.

I believe it is the 'side stand diode'.

Attached are some grainy pics of it.

Two pins are pretty black, one is normal

greenly flux-like oxidation crap covers it.

Any thoughts on if this could be causing my problems?

[davereid]

The side stand diode is actually two diodes in one pack. Its there to allow the neutral switch or the sidestand switch to liven up the ignition interlock relay. If its not there, the bike will still go OK as long as the side stand is up. (Assuming the side stand switch and interlock relay are OK.) So as the bike runs, this is not your problem.

[Pancakes]

Does your battery get crystally build-up on either (or both) terminals?

[Winter]

Does your battery get crystally build-up on either (or both) terminals?

There was a little bit, but not an excessive amount, on the positive term i believe.

I've cleaned all that off now anyhow.

[surfer]

These dudes have given you a great place to start; the battery. With the battery in the bike and connected check the current across it with a multimeter. See Davereids comments for amount of volts.

If the battery fluid level is low top it up with distilled water. If the volt level of the battery is low charge it overnight on a trickle charge.

Then when you have proved that the battery is ok see Daverieds comments on where to start next.

If it is the battery and your battery is not holding a charge then you will need a new one. Sometimes you can spot a damged cell because it will look different to the other cells when you view the battery from the side.


Sounds like your bike has been running on the battery and the charging circuit is faulty. You should have about 12 to 13 volts on the battery when the bke is not running, and 13.8-14.5 when the bike is running at about 2000-3000 rpm. Lower than this means shes not charging. Reasons for not charging, assuming all connections tight :

1. Faulty battery
2. Faulty regulator
3. Faulty rectifier (often in the same box as the regulator)
4. Faulty stator
5. Faulty rotor (no magnetisim left - very uncommon)


Hi

Start with the battery, determine whether it is in good order as it may indicate another problem.
If the battery is stuffed the voltage will be erratic and all kinds of chaos will happen.
You may well have a charging issue though if the battery is good - get it sorted pronto or the problem could cost more to sort.
If it's the reg/rect you may be able to get a 2nd hand one as many small Suzuki's use a common one (RGV250 is one)

No one likes being stranded.

BB

[Winter]

thanks for your help so far guys.

I've discovered its an intermitant fault, and have found if i yank on a certain part of the wiring it will stop for a bit.

So now i just need to find somewhere there is a break.

[Winter]

Problem solved!

I dismantled the bike (fairings, tank etc), removed all the wiring, deloomed it all - that was some stiiicky crap, cleaned each of the wires individually with turps, re-soldered all the connections, re crimped all the crimps, then spent ages taping it all back together in one big pretty black loom.

Runs sweet now. I'm pretty certain it was a dry solder join on one of the earth splits.


Thanks everyone for your help and advice.

[gijoe1313]

Good work that man! How long did it take you to do all that? And did you take pictures?

[Winter]

Took two days, but I was working 9-5, so two evenings really.

I took a few snaps, I'll find them tomorrow or monday. It really is a massive mess when all those wires are not taped together!