Steve Parry typed: Something I hadn't considered. Thanks. -- Rich B 1971 S2a 1995 XT600E 2003 ST1300 Pan European Oh, and a Ford Take out the obvious to email me.
OK, now you need to figure out why the battery voltage is not getting to the lights. I suspect that with the engine not running the lights will be dead. Sounds like a broken or corroded connection somewhere or maybe a fault in one of those damn magic regulator boxes. Is there a fuse box somewhere ?. Fuseholders are a common cause of bad connections.
If there's a short-circuit with high impedance somewhere else, the battery earthing may be crap. It's like a motorcycle to apply Sod's Law and contract two ailments simultaneously.
Rusty_Hinge typed: I'm assuming the battery earth is good, as the starter spins up as it should (and the engine runs well). It's only when I put the lights on that the fuse blows. There is only one fuse, and it's a clean connection. -- Rich B 1971 S2a 1995 XT600E 2003 ST1300 Pan European Oh, and a Ford Take out the obvious to email me.
me 2. I sometimes replace it with a fat bit of wire, then you can find the short by looking for smoke/sparks. but the bulb idea sounds safer.
Austin Shackles typed: Every day on Unsenet's a day at school, innit. -- Rich B 1971 S2a 1995 XT600E 2003 ST1300 Pan European Oh, and a Ford Take out the obvious to email me.
No it's not. It's not a very good lubricant, but it's better than nothing. Basically the solvents will evaporate off, while the 10%, or whatever, that's actually oil will remain in-situ. No harm in that as well, of course. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (b.rogers at ifrance.com) \`\ | /`/ `\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10 `\|/` `
Ace typed: I managed to get it home in daylight in the end. As I didn't know where the problem was, but that with a new fuse the bike would start and run, I managed to get home without using any lights - all hand signals, and no use of the brake That led to a couple of interesting overtakes. After a complete strip down of all the wiring, it looks as if it was a tiny little short in the lighting circuit. There are two bundles of wires that come up either side of the headlamp and are in contact with the metal headlamp mounting, which has a nice sharp edge. Thirteen years of big single vibration have left a lot of rubbing marks on the insulation and, although I couldn't find any bare wires in half an hour of prodding with a circuit tester, I felt sure that this was the problem. I've wrapped them in some tape and cable-tied them gently out of the way of any chassis metal, and it seems to have worked - bike now runs fine with lights on or off. I've also taken the opportunity to daub some ACF50 in all the connectors, reinforce a few other wires that were starting to fray, and generally clean the bits that are normally hidden and slather them in corrosion inhibitor. So not a total waste of a day. In fact, after a full service and a bit of love and attention, it's going like a good 'un. Thanks to all who offered advice. I think Mark Olson got there first - cheers Mark. -- Rich B 1971 S2a 1995 XT600E 2003 ST1300 Pan European Oh, and a Ford Take out the obvious to email me.
If you cunts paid any attention you'd have known about this fucking years ago. I don't know why the **** I bother...
