electrical gremlins

[andym]

I'll have a poke around tomorrow to find out what is going on... but some electrical weirdness with the gpz today.... anyone else had this kind of trouble?

1) went to start it and found the rev counter wasn't working (or the volt meter), is it possible for the mechanism to ice up?

2) I stupidly stalled the bike at temporary lights (I didn't realise how heavy the clutch lever would be with cold hands, and didn't check I was in neutral before letting go), I went to restart the bike and got the flat battery splutter then clicks.... after about 10 minutes the bike started fine.

3) I indicated to turn left and the lights worked fine, I immediately went to turn right and got nothing (even though I check all the lights before going anywhere, and they had worked a few minutes before), several corners later they started working again

4) it's something I've never noticed before (probably because it hasn't been dark enough), but my headlight is dim and I have the full beam light on dim at all times (last time I'd wired the headlight the wrong way - full beam to dipped and dipped to full beam), I haven't messed around with the wires for a long time, so wondering if there is a problem elsewhere now?

Part of the problem could be most of the plugs are exposed to the elements, and I could either waterproof them properly or buy a bike cover... but I'm still in the test riding phase at the moment

[Wonko The Sane]

sounds like it could be a loose connection or a bad earth connection coming back to the battery.

[TUG]

When it comes to electrical problems, the best thing to do is just strip the bike, find all connections, check they are clean and making proper contact including the fuses, last but most important for me, most electrical problems i've had to solve has been broken wires at the headstock more common on smaller cc bikes but have done a few 600's with the same issue.
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Haz ER-5, innit!

[J.M.]

All symptoms of a low battery.

I'd check how your charging system is performing, so grab yourself a multimeter and get testing.

On my bike, I know that if my rev counter stops working... I've got about 1-2 miles to get home before the bike will cut out when stopping at a junction.
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2004 R1 & 2018 XSR900

[andym]

J.M. silly thing is the bike carried on without a hiccup for another 50 miles or so after it cut out, I'll be checking the connections tomorrow (today), weather permitting.

Tug, the bike has been in bits long enough, the loom has been stripped and checked/retaped, I have stuffed all the wires/plugs into the gap under the petrol tank, but I'd have thought that would cause a permanent problem... not just the odd hiccup

Black Sheep, that would explain the lights (maybe), everything else is fine...

I'll do a bit of testing tomorrow (today), and see what I find

[J.M.]

[andym]

Constant stop/start traffic J.M.

The bike has always done the lights dim/brighten when idling/revving, never paid much attention to it tbh, one thing that I have noticed though is just under 15v when revving, I don't know if that's slightly high or not (for the engine), I've done just over 150 miles (still testing), and apart from the troubles today (yesterday), it's been problem free for 100 or so, but the bike is exposed to the elements and a few plugs could be getting water in the top of them

[_Iain_]

[J.M.]