Electrical problem

Bit of a weird problem here. Turn on ignition key, lights are fine,
press starter and it buzzes a bit (solenoid) then all electrics die,
completely. But bike will still start on the kickstart...
And if you leave the bike for a while without loading the electrics the
power comes back on, but as soon as you touch touch the 'leccy start it
kills everything. Even sometimes putting on the lights loads it too much
and trips it. Something is breaking down under load?
Cant be the reg/rec or the CDI, because they have nothing to do with the
light circuit. In fact you can unplug the reg/rec and take it out the
equation.
And all the fuses are ok. Battery is fully charged.
The bike runs fine when I kickstart it, as do the lights, when it's
running, which means it's not getting juice from the battery..?
Everything just dies when I touch the starter button, but it can even do
it when I even put the lights on...
But it all comes back on 5 minutes later.. WTF is that all about?
I have checked the battery terminals and all the earths, they seem fine.
It must be a wiring problem 'cos there is no other components to break
down?
If it's a bad earth/connection it's the weirdest one I have come across,
it is like a component is breaking down under load, but WTF other
components are there on a simple bike like this?
It is an NX650 Dominator BTW.

 

I know you say the battery is fully charged, but this still sounds
exactly like a knackered battery to me - and it's no coincidence that
the problem is showing up just as it turns cold.
I'd buy a brand new battery and try again.

 

my SZR used to behave a bit like this - turned out to be a combination
of a bad earth on the CDI box, and the fucking side-stand switch
shorting out.

 

<snip>

Oh, yeah - I'd also check the earth strap, where it fastens to the
frame or engine.

 

Assuming the battery is ok, (have you stuck a headlamp bulb directly across
the battery terminals to check that the voltage holds up under load?), this
sounds like absolute classic bad connection somewhere in the wiring. Had the
same situation a couple of years ago with a mate's Kwak ZZR-600, and we
eventually tracked it down to a connector somewhere between the battery and
the ignition switch. The symptoms were pretty much identical to the one you
describe. A mate with a Kwak GT-550 eventually found a duff joint deep in
the wiring loom, (after a lot of swearing).

I can only suggest that you follow all the relevant wiring and dismantle
each and every connector or joint - do not assume that all is well with a
connection just because it looks superficially ok. Also, undo and
check/clean all earth connections. In the case of crimp tags, beware of
corrosion between the wire and the crimp - people often concentrate on the
connection between the tag and the terminal, forgetting to check if the wire
itself is actually a good contact. If in doubt, renew the crimp.

Not exactly earth-shattering advice, I know, but it's a pretty common
scenario.

Bye and good hunting from Rick

 

<TOG@toil>; <>; <>
wrote in message

Indeed, my van went a bit mad the other week when the earth strap was loose.
When you put the key in and turned it off the pwer went off, when you
completly removed the key all the idiot lights came on and it was ready to
start - except you couldn't as the key was in your hand. Repeat for a while
and then call the RAC.

 

Does sound like a dodgy earth to me. Specially the bit aboutthe lights
working
OK when the bikes running... vibration makes the dodgy connection
mechanically
touch. I'd check the connections again IIWY, not just at the terminals,
sometimes
(rarely mind) wires have been known to crack internally due to fatigue,
rubbing,
heat etc. JIMHO, clearly.

--
Alex
BMW R1150GS
DIAABTCOD#3 MSWF#4 UKRMFBC#6 Ibw#35 BOB#8
http://www.team-ukrm.co.uk
Windy's "little soldier"

 

Sounds like the main earth lead from the battery to the frame is
fubar'd.

 

John Munro says...

It's fucked, give ya five pahnd for it.

 

Wotcha.

Had a similar problem with an old XT 500 - the moment you put any
electrical load on it, the whole plot shut down, almost as if there were
a thermal fuse fitted. Leave it two minutes and everything came back
on.
Traced it to a badly corroded terminal inside one of those lovely multi
pin plugs ;-)
Try pulling a few connector blocks apart and see what manner of crap
lives inside 'em.

 

Bad earth to the battery.

 

Yeah the battery is fine.

this

Yeah it must be a connection somewhere breaking down under load, weird
tho.

Cheers.

 

Yeah, it must be.

 

Nope - it's what they do! Like I said, very common.

Rick

 

This completely fixed itself when I moved the earth strap from the frame
to the engine.

 

I'll get stuck into it this weekend..
Heh, I used to have an old XT500 too ;-)

cheers

 

TOG@toil, , wrote:

On battery woes...

Speaking of which, I <ahem> unintentionally left the ignition on park
the other morning and, after 4 or 5 hours, there wasn't enough juice
left to start the bike. Is that an unreasonably short time to drain the
battery?

I thought so but it was -5C at the time so I gave it the benefit of the
doubt.

 

Parking lights drawing about an amp and the battery (guess 15Ah or so)
at -5C being only 2/3 as good as normal. The battery might be on its
way out, see how it behaves after a long slow trickle charge.

 

Given that it's the original item, and is now close to 5 years old, it
wouldn't be surprising if it was on its last legs. I'll see how it
copes after the winter lay up.

 

My Duke's battery is on its (counts on fingers) eighth winter and still
seems fine. I can't believe it meself - I reckon the Good battery fairy
swaps it every six months for a new one.