Mother truckin' electrics!

[motorbyclist]

looked at the plug that earths the starterbutton/killswitch etc?

might be a broken wire somewhere.... if we could somehow have a multimeter attached to all wires when it next cuts out...

[idb]

Well firstly I have chucked a new battery in so we can rule that one out at least! All the contacts that are visible from the battery to the dash have been checked and cleaned. Main earth is fine.

So it comes down to the connections all around the dash, or the crimps that you talk of... Are these where the wires are joined? Damn it's annoying, it's not as if I can muck around and then say voila it's fixed, because the problem is intermittent!

Grrrr...

PS : Does the fact that it's only cut out when lights have been on full beam, mean that it must be in the circuitry involving high beam?

It's all the fun of intermittent electrical faults.

If you have a poor connection somewhere it will cause a high resistance.
The greater the current passing through that connection the greater the voltage dropped across it...in other words there is less voltage available for the rest of the bike, such as the ignition.

If you add extra load such as a high beam it may mean that the voltage drop across the connection is too great to allow the ignition to operate.

Another way of testing using a multimeter would be to measure voltage across connections.
Test across the battery terminals without the bike running and you should get 12v or thereabouts.
Turn the light onto full beam, indicator on, stop light on and test from the negative terminal to the frame.
There should be no voltage reading, wriggle the wire a little to see if this changes.
Do the same on the positive from the battery terminal to the main fuse.
Then from the main fuse to the fuse box.

A high resistance joint will show a voltage reading.
A good joint will have minimal or none.

Have fun testing across as many connections as you can but they would be the first ones I would try. Make sure you gently work the joints a little as you test them.

[woodybee]

It's all the fun of intermittent electrical faults.

If you have a poor connection somewhere it will cause a high resistance.
The greater the current passing through that connection the greater the voltage dropped across it...in other words there is less voltage available for the rest of the bike, such as the ignition.

If you add extra load such as a high beam it may mean that the voltage drop across the connection is too great to allow the ignition to operate.

Another way of testing using a multimeter would be to measure voltage across connections.
Test across the battery terminals without the bike running and you should get 12v or thereabouts.
Turn the light onto full beam, indicator on, stop light on and test from the negative terminal to the frame.
There should be no voltage reading, wriggle the wire a little to see if this changes.
Do the same on the positive from the battery terminal to the main fuse.
Then from the main fuse to the fuse box.

A high resistance joint will show a voltage reading.
A good joint will have minimal or none.

Have fun testing across as many connections as you can but they would be the first ones I would try. Make sure you gently work the joints a little as you test them.

OOOOOOOO, IDB you are such a bright spark!! Such a clever lad, your taste in knowledge and the finer things in life is just impecable

[avgas]

Check you battery is the right battery. I didn't and now after replacing the whole charging system and getting the bike all sorted im ALOT poorer ($2K)

[marty]

We did all the contacts with contact cleaner last time (from memory)

this action, without re-protecting the contacts with crc or similar, can dry out the contacts and joints, causing dry corrosion.

the aircraft industry uses anti-corrosion product on electrical connections to prevent water ingress. you should re-protect any places you clean with contact cleaner

[Ragingrob]

Cheers for the advice everyone, may take another look at things this Friday.

Went for a quick ride SH16 today was a good 2 hours all up and had no problems at all... The one thing I did differently was only ride on low beam rather than full like usual.

[motorbyclist]

still won't help you (or the next owner) next time you need high beam at night....

my thinking is if the electrical system somehow can't take the load of high beams, in a few months time the bike will be cutting out every time you hit the indicators......

[Ragingrob]

Hmmm, well maybe friday at Stephens I can attack it with the multimeter, with the guidance of others haha!

[munterk6]

Cheers for the advice everyone, may take another look at things this Friday.

Went for a quick ride SH16 today was a good 2 hours all up and had no problems at all... The one thing I did differently was only ride on low beam rather than full like usual.

Are you trying to piss off oncoming traffic? Or is this a "safety" idea of yours?
Dont worry, other motorists can detect low beam, ya dont need to blind people to grab there attention

[inlinefour]

OK, what fits these symptoms?! :

Bike runs mint as.
No loss of power at all when accelerating.
Handled a few hundred k ride last weekend amazingly.
Cuts out once every few weeks whilst riding...

Today heading home motorway from town to Karaka, indicated to head off at offramp and I noticed the dash lights were quite dim, got halfway up offramp and indicated to turn right whilst slowing down and bike cuts out completely. Turn key off and on, dash lights on but dim, no starter at all. If I turned lights on, dash dims out completely.

So... Push fucking bike up offramp hill, turn right out of offramp and push bike up fucking bridge where there is no room but the lane. Jump on bike, run down hill, bump starts fine and runs fine. Lights full beam, dash lights bright, starter works easy, all good!

Get home and battery measures fully charged, regulator fault finding says charging system is all sweet...

Hmmm... Well I've put the battery on charge anyway... Is it possible that the battery is just getting old and gives up for a few mins at a time?

P.S. This whole cutting out thing has happened for the past say 4 months, but has only happened like 6 times or so... And whenever we check the electrics it says it's all good and not to worry lol and then throws a hissy fit when finally I think everything is perfect!

Sooo... Battery? Help me out!

sounds like a fooked voltage regulator, very common with some Hondas, I've been caught out once and once again on a sucksaki.