Hi All,

Hoping to get some help with this because it has me stumped. We went to Sturgis this year and all was fine with the bike/radio. Got home and didn't turn the bike on for a few days. When I did turn in on the radio (AX-7000 came on but then rebooted, and I noticed the volt meter on the bike going way down into the negative, radio reboots, no sound of course front or rear - all amps in protection mode. So I start trying to trace things out.

I have an amp in the fairing and two in the tour pack. Power wire to the fairing is fused and getting 13.6 volts with the bike off (Braille lithium battery). Power wire to the tour pack also fused and getting 13.6 volts. Until I turn on the deck and it has a signal. Then it all goes out. I eliminate the rear setup from the system by disconnecting the remote wire that goes to the tour pack from the decks remote turn on.

Great - now I have music in the front. I decide though to apply power to one of the amps in the rear by connecting the main power to the main power wire running back to the tour pack and also connecting the remote wire to the same power wire. Amp starts up, goes into protection, voltage goes crazy. The other amp in the tour pack does the same thing.

Then I turn off the radio, and connect power and remote from both amps to the tour pack power wire - amps power up fine. Turn on radio, amps go into protection and voltage goes crazy. This is while the remote turn on wire from the deck is totally disconnected from the rear

It seems like everything is good until there's an audio signal going through the RCA's to the rear and then everything goes crazy. Would a short in one or more RCA cables cause this kind of issue? I'm going to end up taking off the tank and going through everything, but it's just weird. I also have DSP's in the front (DSR1) and rear (DSI-2). But in the last test the DSI-2 was not even powered up. I was just trying to get power to the amp by hooking up power and remote to 12V. Radio on - no go, radio off amp(s) power up ok.

Thanks for any ideas you may have!

 

The first thing to remember is that an amp is a voltage multiplier (no volts/input signal in means no volts/output signal out....more or less). Therefore it's not surprising that the amps are fine until the HU gets powered up as the amps aren't drawing much power until they have a signal to amplify.

Is this happening with just the HU power on and no source signal being output to the amps or does it only happen if you're trying to play music?

Are you seeing this issue both with the motor running and when the motor is shut off?

It sounds like your battery is not holding a charge. I'd start by testing the battery and then I'd look at the charging system (voltage regulator and stator). Do you have a service manual and electrical diagnostic manual for your Ultra?

 

Thanks! Going to get the battery tested, but I have a feeling that it's toast. Showing 10 volts and change, and when I put it on the charger the charger acts like nothing is connected to it. I have a spare (lead acid) battery so I think this weekend I'm going to go through all the wiring and see if I can find the short. I think it's unlikely that it's the amps themselves as they both exhibit the same behavior. Stator tested fine a few weeks ago (not an indication of current condition I know), and I replaced the voltage regulator prior to leaving for Sturgis.

 

Don't put too much effort into checking your wiring just yet. Wait until you put in a known good battery. Weird behavior happens when batteries are shot. Make sure to check the charging system on the bike as well but it's likely your battery. How old is the one you have now?

 

You're only at 10 something with a Braille?

 

Correct. I checked it again last night it had dropped to 8.6. Charger doesn't even see it's connected. I put it on a regular trickle charger for maybe 30 minutes and got it up to 9.6 but it wouldn't go any higher. I would have connected it to another battery to see if it would equalize but don't have another lithium laying around. To answer the other question that came up from hamah - battery was purchased in April of this year.

 

Gonna throw my spare battery in today and see what happens. Already started tearing into the wiring though . Time for summer clean-up I suppose.

 

Put the spare in - seems to be ok. I'm wondering now if the voltage drops I was seeing wasn't the floor dropping out on the Braille battery

 

Yes, that's what you saw. Braille is a very good battery and it's almost brand new. It should be covered under warranty if defective but you should check for a parasitic draw in your system. I had one (faulty speedo) that drained my LiFe lithium battery. One downside to these types of batteries is that if drained too far they may not be able to recover and are scrap...very expensive scrap.

 

Good point. I hadn't noticed any kind of unusual parasitic draw but then again I wasn't really measuring at the battery with the bike off. I'll work with Braille to resolve but I've already ordered a different battery - it's AGM hahaha .