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[Thack]

Michael: yep, those voltages are fine. It's a shame, really, because now we need to look deeper! While we are waiting for someone else to chime in and help, I'd be checking the various earthing points to make sure they are all clean and tight (including the battery terminals).

[Michael]

Cheers Jaffa... swapped over a slightly suspicious relay for a known good spare. Redid those voltage tests as you sufgested... this time 12.7v on the button with everything off. Well over 14v, touching on 14.9 to 15v at medium to high revs with no load. Full load at idle dropped to 12.5v or so (hirn, all lights, brakes and flashers). 14v roughly at idle. FYI no electric start, I disabled it years ago. I have a gel battery, 14Ah, probably 3 years old, maybe nearly 4. Vibrations arenot the cause of this fault, it would switch the relays pulling the brake with the engine not running whilst sitting at rest... and Sofia - zero cash and acampervan rebuild means my wee EFI will have to keep running for some time yet!!!

[Michael]

We willsee how it behaves tomorrow... might run a load of new earths from front to back if need be. Relay looked a bit rusty on one terminal (30) and another terminal had a slightly cracked spade connector, so chopped, replaced with good connectors and now we will see.

[Scalyback]

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Michael, do you...



Ride with the headlamp on, either main or dipped,



Did you buy it a new motovision headlamp bulb or something else around 55-60W



Have a standard filament (NOT LED) tail brake lamp



Have 10W or 23W flasher bulbs?



Have either a newish lead acid or gel battery, or a lithium-ion one?





You have an EFI right, if you have all those bulbs and your battery is getting a bit 'sick', then it may well run the head and tail lamp, but with the additional 25W brake light (2amps) it could be crossing the threshold where the available power is not enough to keep the EFI system running when braking? same with the indicator?


Everybody wants to be safe by having their lights on, and in your case, turning them off for a test will not necessarily (did i spell that right?) give you an answer, But if you usually ride with the headlamp on, then remove it, leave the headlamp shell pilot lamp in if you have one, Pocket the headlamp bulb and go for a bloody decent ride, either your normal route, or similar conditions where the bike fails.



If it runs correctly, then the issue may be...
low output from generator,


One of the three phase wires disconnected between generator and rectifier type thing, reducing the available power by one third per faulty wire


A loose or corroded connector that supplies power to the ECU or possibly one of the sensors which would act as a resistor and cause lower power level even at normal running, and certainly when using more power for lamps and things





If it still fails to run with the headlamp bulb out, then get some of that grippy stuff the weightlifters use, so you don't slip with that sledgehammer. (or as above, a wiring fault of some kind)





No, seriously though, if it gets fixed, then you can zoom off with glee, like the joyous guys below (photos courtesy of speed cameras).











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[Scalyback]

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Just read the posts above (page 2 syndrome) so maybe not the power consumption then.



Has anybody successfully disconnected the gearbox and welded pedals onto the front final chain sprocket?



would save using expensive fuel!

[Michael]

So how do I test tge output from the alternator properly? Resistance along head and tail earths is low... but front brake switch seems funny. Can anyone do me a huge favour and measure the resistance over the front brake switch when lever pulled and at rest. It should be v low when pulled, right?

[Scalyback]

Technically, the front brake switch is just a mechanical on/off switch,



should be under half an ohm closed and above 20M ohm open

[Michael]

Any ideas on how to remove the front brake switch... mine has 4-600 ohms closed... certainly must be contributing to the overall problem

[Michael]

We might have a resolution to all this... might, I say, might...




There was a slight nick in the insulation of one of the wires feeding one of the three fuses on the battery strap. Although I don't think this was related, as the wire in question was unlikely to contact the frame, it could be part of the problem. A few cm of insulation tape sorted that one. I will move the fuses and install waterproof blade fuses at some point, but not yet. Not until I am happy with everything.




The earths were all fine after I changed a connector on the rear light set, and sanded off the rust build up on the earthed bulb holder in the rear left flasher. Good conductivity and continuity to battery negative post all round now. Under around 1 Ohm resistance along all earthing points to the battery negative post too.




Front brake switch was kaput, and it was in fact this which was (ahem) 'tripping out', or rather switching off my power relay by acting as a series resistor. Up to 600 Ohms resistance across this, and even at a few milliamps current supply to the switch, this could easily use up a volt or so, thus not leaving enough voltage in the power relay to switch it (rated at 12 V). More realistically, it was chewing up a couple of volts when activated. I replaced the brake switch (it just pops out from the from, so the brake lever needs to be taken off) and now there are no more 'switching' problems... yet... I even rode in the rain yesterday, and no weird electrical things happened!




The main power relay, under the seat attached to a connector which is in turn attached to a bolt holding the ECU in place, also had quite a corroded '30' terminal and the standard wiring loom connector looked very ropey and water-damaged. Replaced the relay and the connector and wiring to it too.




During all the hunting around, I noticed slight chaffing on my speedo cable behind the headlamp, through the plastic outer sheath onto the metal sleeve beneath. A blown fuse when testing the new brake lights along with all the rest revealed a high beam problem... linked to this chaffing. The high beam feed on the headlamop itself had chaffed through both its silicone insulation and the speedo cable, and was shorting via the speedo cable when high beam was lit, vibration dependent! A bit of insulation and a crafty bend of the blade connector sorted this (for now). The only remaining problem I can identify at the moment is the high beam tell tale light intermittently works and doesn't. I assume there is a loose connector somewhere... or that the bulb holder has a poor/loose earth - will check this at some point.




At the moment, at least, my lights are bright, and work! And the bike is running well. Just posting all this so that anyone else with EFI electrical issues has something to follow! Hopefully it will be of use to someone... I will, of course, break down on the way home...