Hitchcocks Forum

Hi All, On a short run on my 96 Indian Bullet it kept stalling at the lights.
Looking to see what was up...the brake light was constantly on, due to a dodgy switch.
The juice required to light the brake light was causing the bike to stall when the revs were lowered. Is this normal?. Indicating is no issue, but surely a brake light on should not drain that much power that it stalls?. It has a new Battery that seems to charge ok.
Any improvements anyone can suggest??

This suggests that there is a heavy current drain when the light is on.There may be a short somewhere which is maybe the reason the switch failed. Check the current through the switch and make sure it is correct for the bulb you have fitted.

The switch and lever its housed in, are an Indian purchase ..to get the bike through its last MoT.
But it is naff quality.
I am after the reason why the bike would stall through loss of running charge when the brake or for that matter,any lamp is on when I am Idling ??!!

Does the bike have electronic ignition fitted? The older versions of these play up when the voltage drops only slightly, especially if your ignition timing is not correct in the first place or maybe the coil / plug are not up to scratch and will only fire the engine with the source voltage at the full 12v or is it 6V on your bike?. If it's a 6v system it is more likely that it could be an earth fault. If the ignition circuit is sharing an earth route with the lighting somewhere, then any extra current flowing across the high resistance earth fault will dramatically lower the voltage... this will also effect 12v systems but not as badly.