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Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 6:05 am
by riceburner
Anyone seen this?
Pull the bike out of the garage one morning and the electricals are dead, until about 30 seconds later, after a few kicks of the sidestand and waggles of the steering.
Ah-ha you all think..... wires near the headstock. Obvious.
BUT - the problem does NOT reoccur once the electrics have come back on! No amount of steering head waggling or kick-stand flicking will cause the cutout to re-occur.
Even stopping for fuel and switching off, then back on again does NOT re-show the failure - everything works first time.
Until the bike is cold again.
So - a wire that only needs to connect once on startup and then is irrelevant until the bike is cold again?
Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:17 am
by sweatmark
riceburner wrote:
Pull the bike out of the garage one morning and the electricals are dead, until about 30 seconds later, after a few kicks of the sidestand and waggles of the steering.
?
Description of "electricals are dead" would help troubleshooting, but I will jump to an unwarranted conclusion: possible problem with the Load Relief relay (K9120).
Guess No.2 would be power wiring problem in the harness bundle under battery tray, or grounds.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=636907
Long topic thread, but documents a specific R1150** wiring susceptibility and dead electrics issue.
Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:30 am
by riceburner
'Electrical are dead' = no power to anything - no starter, no instrument lights, no response to any inputs.
Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 11:36 am
by sweatmark
riceburner wrote:'Electrical are dead' = no power to anything - no starter, no instrument lights, no response to any inputs.
... And consider the ignition key switch.
Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:16 am
by riceburner
sweatmark wrote:riceburner wrote:'Electrical are dead' = no power to anything - no starter, no instrument lights, no response to any inputs.
... And consider the ignition key switch.
Agreed - but curious as how that would be affected by steering head movment. The wiring to the switch yes, but the switch itself?
I'll take a good look at it all the same*
* when I get a chance....

Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:25 am
by kirby
Your climate is wet!!! I would clean all the contacts on the relays/fuzes, and any connectors that are under the front that you can pull apart and clean (with the tank off) including the big one to the ECU.
mike
Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Wed Apr 29, 2015 6:15 pm
by sweatmark
riceburner wrote:sweatmark wrote:riceburner wrote:'Electrical are dead' = no power to anything - no starter, no instrument lights, no response to any inputs.
... And consider the ignition key switch.
Agreed - but curious as how that would be affected by steering head movment. The wiring to the switch yes, but the switch itself?
Yes, the switch itself. Like Kirby says, you (and I) live in soggy climate, so there's a chance that the key switch innards have been contaminated.
1. When bike is cold (per your original post), turn key "ON".
2. Instrument lights and brake light (non-ABS R1150**) should be operable, via power through key switch and Fuse 1.
3. If instruments and brake circuits illuminate, but other components remain powerless (like I feel sometimes), then my guess is the load relief relay.
4. If instrument & brake lights & all else dead, then key switch.
5. Else there's a primary power wire that's sketchy: sizzle, smoke, fire.
Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 7:53 am
by riceburner
Found the issue (eventually)
Also rather annoyingly found the horn wires had gone right at the connector:
I discovered that the ignition switch itself is a replacable part, so ordered one from Motorworks. Called them this morning about the horn connector and they're adding a cutoff from a 2nd hand loom to the order. I HIGHLY recommend them!

Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Tue May 05, 2015 10:44 am
by sweatmark
Glad you're getting it sorted!
Thanks for tip on Motorworks. In USA, Beemer Boneyard is first option but used parts availability is sometimes limited.
My luck with eBay used parts has been crap - money wasted on stuff in shoddy, unusable condition.
Re: Odd Elecrical fault
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 6:04 am
by riceburner
sweatmark wrote:Glad you're getting it sorted!
Thanks for tip on Motorworks. In USA, Beemer Boneyard is first option but used parts availability is sometimes limited.
My luck with eBay used parts has been crap - money wasted on stuff in shoddy, unusable condition.
Should be turning up today.

(that's ordered Monday evening online, and the order amended over the phone Tuesday morning to add the 2nd hand horn connection ).