bike died today, electrical problems
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Joined: Jan 2007
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From: along the shore of Mishigami
Check the connections at the ignition switch under the seat. Buy a main circuit breaker for a few bucks. When CBs get hot they are more prone to open plus age is another consideration.
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Joined: Sep 2016
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From: San Diego CA
quick update, i found a short in the headlight and one in a rear turn signal. who ever had it before be used wire nuts on the headlight bucket :|. battery is sitting on the charger, i actually got the starter to click a couple times so we will see what happens once i have a charged battery
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Joined: Dec 2012
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From: Texas
A bad ignition switch will not cause the voltage reading across the battery terminals to be low...a short somewhere will.
A low voltage reading across a known good battery after it is installed indicates a current draw somewhere significant enough to pull down the battery. If the drop is large enough, there will be smoke and or charred wires and or melted terminals somewhere. If the battery volts are dropping when you turn on the switch, you need to find and fix whatever is causing that to happen before digging any further and it ain't gonna be the switch.
I was seeing this same thing with a defective new battery...could not find anything wrong with the battery or system but the failure kept happening randomly...that drove me nuckingfutts until I finally decided to go ahead and replace the new battery because I could not find anything else wrong...have had no problems since.
A low voltage reading across a known good battery after it is installed indicates a current draw somewhere significant enough to pull down the battery. If the drop is large enough, there will be smoke and or charred wires and or melted terminals somewhere. If the battery volts are dropping when you turn on the switch, you need to find and fix whatever is causing that to happen before digging any further and it ain't gonna be the switch.
I was seeing this same thing with a defective new battery...could not find anything wrong with the battery or system but the failure kept happening randomly...that drove me nuckingfutts until I finally decided to go ahead and replace the new battery because I could not find anything else wrong...have had no problems since.
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