Mother truckin' electrics!

[klyong82]

I think the battery is YTX7L-BS from the top of my head

[HungusMaximist]

I think the battery is YTX7L-BS from the top of my head

You just had to add that in..

[FROSTY:Me]

I agree totally with the earth thing.
With it being a bit erratic a couple of things i'd be investigating. 1) All battery connections. Then follow the positive lead to the starter solenoid. --flip the rubber boot off the top and check the nuts there arent loose.
Also. id be tracing my wiring looking for sharpish kinks--You may have a wire broken inside.-areas of most concern are places wires are constantly being kinked back n forwards--Ignition wires. as well as wires that could have been munched in a crash.
Another thought is to check the condition of the plug from your ignition switch

[motorbyclist]

I'm gonna test my battery with a proper tester today putting a load on it etc and see what it comes up with, so hopefully it'll be able to rule out the battery.

Yeah does sound like I should check the earths, now that's a matter of finding them, I dunno where the ones up by the dash are actually located?

actually, come to think of it my gsx250 had a similar problem with the same plug. that was under the tank, on the viffer it's on the right hand side under the fairings

just follow the wires from the handle bars

[Ragingrob]

Have a new battery ordered for Monday, we will see if that makes any difference but at least I'll be able to rule it out if it still stuffs up!

[Ragingrob]

So after getting a new battery....

My bike has had no problems, well no noticable problems... Have been riding around lots, full headlights on, starts first time pretty easy, kinda annoying having no choke but just need to throttle a bit to help it warm up.

This arvo after riding home from uni I parked in driveway then had some lunch then went to move it up to garage, the starter sounded a bit weaker than usual, it still started however but sounded slightly dull. Had to go coach, just got home now and measured batt which read only 11.6V ?!

Now my thoughts are : Either the battery needs a bit more of a first charge kinda thing, or the reg/rec is still suspect! Did a quick test from memory which again pointed to the charging system being fine, but will confirm that in the morning...

Don't REALLY wanna pay out even 150 for a new reg from Red Baron or whatever, but if the batt gets even lower I'm thinking it'd be a good option to finally rule it out! But yeah will go through that troubleshooting test AGAIN in the morning see what it reckons.

Your thoughts? Any chance it's just a new battery kinda symptom which needs a bit more of a kick in terms of a first charge?

[idb]

Have ya checked out ya circuit as suggested?
Could be something simple.
For example if your earth isn't good it won't charge properly.

[Ragingrob]

Well I've tried to check out as much as I know how to... Don't really know where to start with these earths sorry... Have made sure the main earth from battery is bolted on nice and cleanly but don't know where to go from there!

[Squiggles]

It'll take removing of the fairings to check the rest, well, the tank minimum, but you wont be able to access those at the front easily without removing the fairings

With them off we can trace all the wires, clean them up etc

[Ragingrob]

Hmmm well I guess I could spend a while at yours then lol. Got a big tennis match 10am so dunno what time I'll head in but yeah... Hmmm... ... Fairings all off huh? This is gonna make me wanna spray them all completely nicely and everything though , so that there's no more rainbow hiding inside my bike! Hmmmm.... I wonder....

[motorbyclist]

bah, just park at the uphill side of carparks from now on and she'll be sweet

[vagrant]

You might also check the terminal block where the wires run from the ignition barrel to the wiring loom. On my fireblade, its under the right hand fairing, next to the fuse box.
I had a similar problem, intermittent cutting out, and lights dimming. The terminals in the plug were corroded, and causing increased resistance, hence the lights dimming out and there not being enough power to keep the the engine running.
I found mine when it started to smoke and melted the the connector block.
In retrospec, it was a place I should have looked earlier, as all the electrical circuits run thru there. No ignition on, no lights, indicator, starter motor or spark.

[Ragingrob]

OK, so at the Uni spanner night last weekend I had all the fairings off and searched around but could not find any earths up near the ignition or around the dash. What we did find was a loose-ish headlight so we put that back in place and checked the wiring was secure. Other than that we didn't know what to do, so I painted my bike, you may have seen.

Well today electrics played with me again. Cruising along St Heliers Bay rd and come up to some lights, into neutral and stop, have a look down at dash and the neutral light seems a bit dim then suddenly bike starts to cut out, I manage to save it by revving slightly and turn my headlights off. Continue riding just to my mates down the road and turn lights on full and indicate etc etc but it doesn't cut out so I thought sweet no worries and turn bike off.

5mins later hop on bike and turn ignition on, push starter and once again nothing happens, dash lights just dim. Bump started it fine and kept headlights on low beam and went for a 30min ride all is good, starts fine and all too as usual.

Soooo, this is what the symptoms are i.e. Cuts out when :

Headlights have always been on full beam when it's cut out.

Slowing down to a stop and revs drop back to idle.

Sometimes whilst indicating AND high beam.

Once cut out it wont electric start, but AS SOON AS it's been bump started I can turn off and it starts perfectly fine again.

I don't get it ...

Any new suggestions OR anyone who knows where the earths are located and lives in Auckland??

Cheers everyone!!!

[idb]

My money's on a bad connection somewhere.
It could be earth or the positive.
Since you lose everything I would expect that it'll be a major connection like battery connection, connection in or out of the main fuse, connection of the positive lead from the main fuse into the fuse box (assuming they are separate, they are on mine), main earth to the frame (find that by following the negative wire from the battery).

Also the crimp connections on the main leads might be worth a look too. The connections of the lugs to the battery or frame or terminals might be OK but the cable just might be coming apart within the lugs.
If they are soldered connections they are definitely worth a look.

The only other possibility I can think of is that the battery is internally breaking down giving you intermittent supply. I don't know much about this but I understand that it does happen.

[Ragingrob]

My money's on a bad connection somewhere.
It could be earth or the positive.
Since you lose everything I would expect that it'll be a major connection like battery connection, connection in or out of the main fuse, connection of the positive lead from the main fuse into the fuse box (assuming they are separate, they are on mine), main earth to the frame (find that by following the negative wire from the battery).

Also the crimp connections on the main leads might be worth a look too. The connections of the lugs to the battery or frame or terminals might be OK but the cable just might be coming apart within the lugs.
If they are soldered connections they are definitely worth a look.

The only other possibility I can think of is that the battery is internally breaking down giving you intermittent supply. I don't know much about this but I understand that it does happen.

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?