intermittent electrical fault

[Guest]

Hi all,

Yesterday on my ride home I had an intermittent electrical failure, bike was cutting out sporadically for about a half mile, then it smoothed out and ran fine the rest of the way home. I know it was electrical because the gauge cluster died along with it. I havent had a chance to poke around yet, my prime suspect is a loose connection somewhere. Any ideas on what it could be are welcome!

1100 ESD
Exceptionally well maintained
New agm battery this year
SSPB
New stator, series regulator, single point ground
Dyna green coils


Thanks in advance!

 

[Guest]

Obviously, the ignition was 'cutting out', along with the gauge cluster. Could you see whether any lights were compromised? If so, that would lead to something that affects all the circuits. I have not heard of any great faults with the SSPB, so I would check the integrity of the wires from the battery to the SSPB. Be sure to check the positive AND the negative wires.

 

[posplayr]

First thing I would check is that no wires pulled out of the 10 pin Molex that plugs into the SSPB. If you need to remove the Molex from the SSPB and give a slight tug (1/2 lbs) on each pigtail (individually) to make sure the fish hook on the contact is holding. It helps to zip tie all of them together then they tend to support each other.

 

[Guest]

yes, ignition cutting out too. I am planning on giving everything a good going over when I get home tonight. Thanks for the responses.

 

[Steve]

Also look to see if you can induce a failure. Sometimes you can pull or twist on one section of the harness and cause a 'failure'. Then you look at whatever moved to see if it might be loose somewhere. Could be a bare spot in the insulation that got dragged over the frame, could be tugging at a loose pin in a connector, but since more than one circuit seems to be affected, I would agree with phydeauxmutt that it is probably between the battery and the SSPB.

.

 

[Steve]

78 with a single fuse ?

Not sure if it still has a single fuse, but evidently you are not acquainted with some of the abbreviations that were mentioned. :-k

The "SSPB" is posplayr's Solid State Power Block. I know that each of the outlet circuits has some sort of circuit protection (fuse, circuit breaker, something), not sure what is on the input side.

Because there was more than one circuit affected, it was suggested that the problem might be before the SSPB.

.

 

[Guest]

heh, not a 78, that was my old bike. This is an 83 1100 es. sorry about the confusion....but I do have a blade fuse inline to the battery i will replace.

 

[Guest]

Initial investigation hasn't found anything drastically amiss, sspb looks good, all pins seem engaged. Wiring up to the fairing looks sound, I havent unwrapped anything but no chafing on the external sheath of the harness. Blade fuse LOOKS ok, but will get replaced tomorrow. Battery connections seem tight. Grounds seem tight, I will remove and clean them tomorrow, but they look ok. Handlebar switch disassembled, looks ok. No tests with a meter yet, but no fault either so.....

Heh, when it first happened i thought "oh $@!+ its an EMP" then "sunspots???" Jiggling the wires has not reproduced it, at least not just sitting in my garage. I don't THINK it should be the coils, they are new this spring and wouldnt account for losing the lights on the dash. I feel like if it was a trivial short (turn signal or horn wire?" it wouldn't affect the ignition, but maybe I am wrong?

 

[posplayr]

Initial investigation hasn't found anything drastically amiss, sspb looks good, all pins seem engaged. Wiring up to the fairing looks sound, I havent unwrapped anything but no chafing on the external sheath of the harness. Blade fuse LOOKS ok, but will get replaced tomorrow. Battery connections seem tight. Grounds seem tight, I will remove and clean them tomorrow, but they look ok. Handlebar switch disassembled, looks ok. No tests with a meter yet, but no fault either so.....

Heh, when it first happened i thought "oh $@!+ its an EMP" then "sunspots???" Jiggling the wires has not reproduced it, at least not just sitting in my garage. I don't THINK it should be the coils, they are new this spring and wouldnt account for losing the lights on the dash. I feel like if it was a trivial short (turn signal or horn wire?" it wouldn't affect the ignition, but maybe I am wrong?

If you wired the SSPB according to the directions, then the Coils/Igniter (IGN CIRCUIT) and Gauges (SIGNAL CIRCUIT) are on two different circuits. Unless those two channels had a simultaneous temporary failure, it is more likely that the short would be upstream of the SSPB. That is a direct connect to the battery through the inline fuse. Shorting one down steam of the SSPB would only effect that one channel.

 

[Redman]

Hey, Greg, didnt see this til now.
Any update?

Does sound like main power or main ground related.

When I say main; Maybe main main, or main to/from ignition switch.

Cant fix it if cant find it, and cant find it if it aint broke, so have to make it happen again. Wiggle tugg poke stuff.

Seems like you are well familiar with the bike, and understand things, and have troubleshooting skills. But would be glad to help.

.

 

[Guest]

Hey, Greg, didnt see this til now.
Any update?

Does sound like main power or main ground related.

When I say main; Maybe main main, or main to/from ignition switch.

Cant fix it if cant find it, and cant find it if it aint broke, so have to make it happen again. Wiggle tugg poke stuff.

Seems like you are well familiar with the bike, and understand things, and have troubleshooting skills. But would be glad to help.

.

Thanks Dave, I didn't find anything untoward in the wiring, we had a MINOR house fire last week thanks to the mother in law that has had us out of the house for the last week, it has disrupted my working on just about anything. I did find that the rubber pad under the battery had shifted out of position, not sure if that would cause any issues with regards to vibration or anything like that. Fuse has been replaced, connections all cleaned up and put back together, all my poking and prodding got no reaction from the bike. A mystery. I will update if I ever actually come up with anything, maybe I need one of those harley-style gremlin bells, or a visit to the blessing of the bikes or some other voodoo.

EDIT: as I am typing this, I have reminded myself of a quirk of this bike that I forgot about....the key can come out of the ignition slot while in the run position, I actually have a little leash on it to anchor it to the handlebar after losing a key during a ride. i wonder if a wonkey ignition switch could be causing a fault....hmmmm.....

 

[Steve]

EDIT: as I am typing this, I have reminded myself of a quirk of this bike that I forgot about....the key can come out of the ignition slot while in the run position, I actually have a little leash on it to anchor it to the handlebar after losing a key during a ride. i wonder if a wonkey ignition switch could be causing a fault....hmmmm.....

If the switch is worn enough for key removal, you KNOW that the electrical contacts below the key are most likely worn as well. Shouldn't take too long to remove the switch and remove the cover at the bottom to inspect and clean the contacts. I would re-assemble with some dielectric grease to keep water and other crud out.

.