Hitchcocks Forum

I'm used to having an ammeter, and my 2015 Classic doesn't have one - there's simply an ignition light.

I'm also used to driving my bike with the headlight on, as less alert car drivers (and there are a lot around my way) will hopefully find it more difficult not to see me.

However: while the ignition light is off once I've started the bike, it lights up when I turn on the lights (even when travelling at speed) - and even lights up when I turn the sidelights on. Which I assume means the battery is discharging .....

Is this normal, or am I missing something?

The light should go out after starting the engine). There is probably a loose connection on the battery, alternator problem, a bad Earth/chassis ground connection, or a problem with the charging relay. I would go for a loose wire somewhere, but get an automotive electrician to test the battery first, usually they don`t charge for this service.

As per Leon, check the batt terminals for security and tightness, also check the electrolyte level before getting the batt tested..

Sounds like you may have a duff cell which a free check will soon identify..

The battery light on my 2015 continental glows on tick over when on main beam but a few revs and it goes out ,all conections and battery are fine.

There is a weak spot with the battery terminals and the electrical connectors generally. Do check the battery negative/ground terminal is intact and its brass strip is not splitting across; the ECU has its own black ground wire here. There are several eyelet grounding points to the frame to be checked, some are well-hidden on the seat tube near the engine mount. I think there is a ground in the casquette (I've done work in there) but a big ground wire then runs back to under the seat as the steering head bearings are not good conductors. The oem spade connectors are thin and have a tendency to corrode but they are well crimped on, pull them apart and push back together to clean them. The insides of the casquette are very congested, it is very easy to get a wire-off in there, and to lacerate your hand fixing it.



The red lamp in the MIL cluster is fed directly from the ECU, it is not a conventional charge lamp. It should go out and stay off once the ECU has booted up i.e. switch on, wait for the fuel pump to finish and by then it should have extinguished. This can take 3-5 seconds; do not attempt to start until it has gone out. If it is still flickering I suggest a grounding fault to the ECU, its black wire to the battery. The ECU has its own fuse, so I suggest checking all the fuses and the back of the fuse cluster connections too; the fuses can corrode (powdery white aluminium) which will make them high resistance and not provide correct supply to the ECU. The other two lamps in the MIL are illumination and low-fuel. The fuses are car-type but there are two sizes of blade fuses, both are cheap as chips.

Afterthought - I've had a faulty bulb in the MIL cluster. The oem bulbs do bot fit well, they can be very loose. One of them blew in a manner that took out the fuse and the bike died, in the process it managed to blow the other two bulbs. The MIL cluster simply slides up out of the casquette, I used plastic bicycle tyre levers to assist (handy non-scratch levers but useless for bicycle tyres), silicone squirt oil to ease it back in. Replace all the MIL bulbs.

ACF50

Electrolube



No, seriously, all the connectors really need to make them work is to pull them apart and push them back together again, this scrapes oxide off. Same applies to the fuses and most of the ill-fitting bulbs except I would throw them away and start again with good ones. The fuses are aluminium strips, it corrodes very readily, mine oem were all white and powdery. Some of the oem bulbs were so ill-fitting that they could fall out of their sockets, or turn and so short them out.

After reading all this I think I will stick with my 350 Classic from 05. So much easier!.
Regards Ray.

Bogie, probably - but these connector issues on the EFIs are mostly teething, once they're sorted they don't tend to reoccur. The red lamp in the MIL is not connected to the voltage regulator but to the ECU, it flashes for faults, it does not indicate low charge current like a traditional ignition warning lamp.