Hornet Electrics Problem

[MarkJ]

I've got a bit of a problem with my electrics on my Hornet 600 it seems!...

The guy that had the bike before me replaced the headlight with dual headlights (these, as far as I can tell) which was all fine and dandy, until I caught the passing light and it blew the 10amp fuse meaning I could only have sidelights on, even when I told it to use dipped/full. No problem I thought, so off I buggered to the local spares shop and got myself a 20amp fuse and bunged it in. All the lights including passing light worked fine so i was happy. I went on a few rides and no complaints from the electrics anywhere.

Until 2 days ago.

When I went out on Tuesday I warmed the bike up as normal with no lights on, then just as I'm about to ride off I put dipped lights on as I always do, but this time the tachometer drops down to 0 rpm and the backlight for the tachometer and speedometer stay off (when they should be on). So I turn the lights down a notch to sidelights and nothing happens. I then turn them down again to the Off position and the tachometer springs back to life!

Confused, I turn the bike off and on, thinking it will be sorted. Nope, still got the problem. So I went for a ride thinking it was maybe a low battery or something (it's been playing up) but the tachometer still dies when I turn the lights on.

After riding around for a good half hour I turn the lights on and the tachometer springs into life and the dial lights come on! Great I thought, until 5 minutes later when the needle keeps flicking between 0rpm and the current rpm whenever I go over bumps.

Anyway, I come to ride it today, hoping the problem will have gone away, but it hasn't. Does anybody have any ideas? I suppose I could try out the old 10amp fuse again, but the dials have actually worked when the lights have been on using the 20amp fuse.

Also, to add insult to injury, my front indicators don't work now. Back ones are fine, but front ones refuse to work!

None of the fuses are blown. The only things on the dials to not work are both back lights and the tachometer needle: the temp gauge, trip-meter, mileage-meter and speedo needle all work. Also the neutral/oil/indicator lights under the dials work too.

It seems like it's a wiring issue, with regards to the bumps, but I can't see how the lights can have any effect on the tachometer needle? Any help would be appreciated guys

[Guest]

[MarkJ]

The passing light being that trigger you can press to turn full beam on (for overtaking or something). When I pressed it, full beam came on for about a second, then it went back down to sidelights and I couldn't get anything more intense than sidelights. I took a look at the fuse for the headlights and it had blown (the wire inside had split).

I put a 20A fuse in because instead of having one bulb in the headlights, I now had two. So twice the current flow, twice the increase in the fuse (or something like that).

Where's the earth connection for the clocks? Near the battery, or near the clocks themselves?

[finpos]

Sounds like perhaps two problems - a short which blew your fuse, and a bad connection which is causing your intermittent lights etc. If you are lucky they may be in the same place. Unfortunately, the only way to track the problem down is with a multimeter and some patience, I'm guessing that is beyond your ken

One prime suspect you can look at, though, is the wiring where it passes through the shells of your aftermarket headlights - make sure the insulation on the wiring hasn't chaffed through on any sharp edges (a big old rubber grommit should be fitted).

finpos