Tach working sporadically, stalled and horn sounded

[Twisted]

Hey guys took the bike into work today and took it out for a lunchtime ride with my buddy. At one point I got on it pretty good and all the sudden my tach quit working. At the end of the day I started it up and it seemed like the tach was back but as I pulled out the bike died, the turn signals started flashing and the horn kept beeping. I turned the key off and rolled the bike to the side. It fired right back up and everything was fine exempt, no tach. Rode it back hope about 12 miles, shut it down, started it back up and the tach is working again.

Any ideas? Thinking loose wire or conection? Ground to starter is good (had that issue a couple weeks ago), and all battery conection are good. Would like to figure it out before taking it back out, anyone else have this issue? At first just thought the tach died but when it shut down with the flashers as horn going, got me a little worried.

Bikes an 05 Chopper I got a year ago, has 10,000 miles and don't think any electical upgrades.

Any help would be appreciated

Twisted



Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Twisted]

After searching through countless posts, I have a few ideas. Let me know if I forgot anything..
Clean battery terminals and wires
Although my battery seems good, seems like a big culprit, so I'll look more into that.
Start going threw connections and wires clean and dielectric and look for rubbing wires
Look for tightly wire tied wires( saw that a few times in posts)


If anyone has other things to look for let me know. Gonna start with the battery connections and battery itself and go from there.I hate electrical issues!!! Seeing as it happened when I really got on it, I'm guessing vibration shook something loose, but the horn/ flashers/ stall happened at parking lot speeds.

 

[BBChopper]

Battery and or connections,

 

[Twisted]

Thanks, was just messing around with it running and realized my licence plate light was coming on and off when I reved it up, along with the tach going crazy. Took the plate off and moved the wires with the key on and the horn went off and flashers came on. Just pulled the light and the red wire broke off the board. Thinking it was broke or loose and causing a short.
Battery still may be an issue but I'll fix this and move on from there.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Twisted]

Last night I removed the tag light as both red and black ended up snapping off when I was checking it out. Taped up the wires for now till I can get back in there and re solder them and fired it up and seems like the tach is working as it should for now. Gonna take it to work again and see what happens.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[bearman]

keep us posted

 

[Twisted]

So far so good. Took it in to work this morning, and everything is working as it should, think the plate light was shorting out and caused the stall, horn and flashers issue. Tach is working again so hopefully that does it.

For some reason though my multimeter was reading 12.4 at the battery with the bike off and 12.8 with it running, which I know is sopposed to be 14.4 or so. Don't know if my meter is screwy or something else. But it runs and starts fine. I'll have to look more into it tonight. I do usually keep it on a tender, I'll have to leave it off for a few days and see.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[bearman]

.... my multimeter was reading 12.4 at the battery with the bike off and 12.8 with it running, ......

Mine is about the same at idle and doesn't come up to around 14v until it is about 2500 rpms for a few seconds. It definately does not go up imediately as the rpms go up. Its kinda like the Voltage regulator has to think about it a little while. Tested mine beside TapioK's K9 about a year and a half ago. His was higher at idle and went up imediately with the rpms. He burned up 2 batteries in the next few days before replacing the whole charging system. Mine is still kicking.

 

[Twisted]

That's good news, I'll have to rev mine up for a while and see if the voltage comes up. Thanks for the info!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Twisted]

So that was the issue, short in the tag light. Everythings working great now. Gonna try to re solder the wires today.

 

[cdogg556]

So far so good. Took it in to work this morning, and everything is working as it should, think the plate light was shorting out and caused the stall, horn and flashers issue. Tach is working again so hopefully that does it.

For some reason though my multimeter was reading 12.4 at the battery with the bike off and 12.8 with it running, which I know is sopposed to be 14.4 or so. Don't know if my meter is screwy or something else. But it runs and starts fine. I'll have to look more into it tonight. I do usually keep it on a tender, I'll have to leave it off for a few days and see.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

That's what mine was reading right before I went out and burned up the VR, and I mean that literally! It was on fire!

If it ain't reading past 12.8 when you rev it up then something ain't right, keep an eye on the VR!

 

[Twisted]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll take a better look into it as I didn't keep it reved to see if it would come up.

Otherwise everything's working as it should. I soldered the wires back to the LED board for the tag light. I ended up having to bridge the last led with some solder because when I hooked it back up I had 2 solid leds and 2 that would flicker on and off. Must have been something wrong with the last led, cause after jumping it the other 3 stay on solid. 3 is good enough for me.


Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Ohmster]

When you say it was flickering I assume it was like a strobe light constantly flashing. That occurs when the diode is at the end of it's functional life. It doesn't have enough initial contact with the ends in close enough proximity to one another to stay on constantly so it rapidly jumps across and illuminates. However it cannot maintain the constant light output with the distance so it goes out. Then enough current is there to jump across again and it illuminates creating a strobe effect.

As for the charging system, it is normal to see around 13.2 vdc at idle and upward to 14.2 vdc at higher RPM's. I would be more concerned if your charging system is staying down at the 12.8 vdc range at idle compared to in the low 13's. Also don't get concerned about seeing low 14's. Anything 15 vdc or higher would be a red flag for sure and would cause me to do a continuity check of the voltage regulator and begin to consider a replacement.

 

[Twisted]

When you say it was flickering I assume it was like a strobe light constantly flashing. That occurs when the diode is at the end of it's functional life. It doesn't have enough initial contact with the ends in close enough proximity to one another to stay on constantly so it rapidly jumps across and illuminates. However it cannot maintain the constant light output with the distance so it goes out. Then enough current is there to jump across again and it illuminates creating a strobe effect.

As for the charging system, it is normal to see around 13.2 vdc at idle and upward to 14.2 vdc at higher RPM's. I would be more concerned if your charging system is staying down at the 12.8 vdc range at idle compared to in the low 13's. Also don't get concerned about seeing low 14's. Anything 15 vdc or higher would be a red flag for sure and would cause me to do a continuity check of the voltage regulator and begin to consider a replacement.

Your right on with the led, I had first 2 constant and the 3rd and 4th acting like a strobe. Now when I jumped the 3rd led, both the third and 4th went out. By jumping the 4th, the 3rd stayed constant and the 4th was out. So I ended up just bridging the 4th with some solder, and I have 3 constant. Thats fine right, seemed to do the trick!

Now as for the charging system...I just got home, I took the bike to work this morning, it sat for 8 hours, and rode it home, about 12 miles each way. Heres what I have right now after the bike sat for about an hour,
Battery with the bike shut off, 12.5v
At battery with bike running at 1000 rpm 12.6v
At battery with bike running at 1500 rpm 13.4v
at battery with bike running at 2000-3500 rpm 13.7v
Battery 30 seconds after bike shut back down 12.7v

So far I've never had a starting issue even if I kept if off the tender for a week, so seems like its working, although the numbers say different. Whats your opinion?

 

[Ohmster]

You might have a little bit of sulfate build up going on in your battery but as long as it's starting the bike fine with no issues I wouldn't worry about it at this time. Your charging system is operating perfectly fine. Your battery will always show a little higher right after the bike has been running or it has been on a charger. If checking true voltage or doing a load test on it you should wait an hour after the bike has been running or an hour after it's off a charger to get an accurate reading.

 

[Sven]

Test 1... 12.7v at the batt says the VR might kick off that high of a charge, don't know? Now, switch to high beam, hold the brakes light on, let it idle and now did the VR kick up to 14v say? Then the VR and stator are putting out fine.

Test 2... Bike off, key on, high beam on w/brake light engaged, let the current draw down on the battery. Start the bike, check the VR popping out a 14v, then again, VR and stator are functioning fine.

 

[Twisted]

You might have a little bit of sulfate build up going on in your battery but as long as it's starting the bike fine with no issues I wouldn't worry about it at this time. Your charging system is operating perfectly fine. Your battery will always show a little higher right after the bike has been running or it has been on a charger. If checking true voltage or doing a load test on it you should wait an hour after the bike has been running or an hour after it's off a charger to get an accurate reading.

Excellent, thanks for the help!

 

[Twisted]

Test 1... 12.7v at the batt says the VR might kick off that high of a charge, don't know? Now, switch to high beam, hold the brakes light on, let it idle and now did the VR kick up to 14v say? Then the VR and stator are putting out fine.

Test 2... Bike off, key on, high beam on w/brake light engaged, let the current draw down on the battery. Start the bike, check the VR popping out a 14v, then again, VR and stator are functioning fine.

Sven,
I'll try that out and see what happens