Fried EHC?

[ktulu2oo9]

Hi all,
Some sad news today as my '04 Ridgeback seems chronically sick.
I had started it up to give it a tune before getting it set for its on road compliance. It was idling rather rough as it hasn't been tuned to our gas/conditions yet.. and then just died.

No power anywhere.. no lights on the EHC,

I've switched the battery for a new one we had, and replaced the circuit breaker with a new one from our local H-D shop.. and still nothing. I've checked all the connections and they seem fine..

I'm wondering if I've fried the EHC somehow.. but am unsure how to tell exactly.

I don't have a service manual just yet, and am very new to the electronics side of things... so any suggestions would be much appreciated. In the mean time I'm investigating the best I can.

Cheers!

 

[woodbutcher]

before you blame the EHC, make sure you check ALL the connections (especially the grounds/earths) and maybe even the switch. if it does come down to the EHC, you would be better off doing the "wire-plus" or the "PDM" swap-out.

 

[cdogg556]

Hey Grant, sorry to hear about the bike, there are many things that can be going on before I would say the EHC is fried, I just went through a major issue and come to find out that under the tank I found a connector that had come apart and was causing my bike to die. First things first and make sure that your battery that you are using is fully charged and the terminals are clean and tight, then it is just a matter of chasing down where the problem lies, you will need a wiring diagram for your year bike, I think they are on this site somewhere, I have one for a 05 and up, I think they are a bit different, do a search and you will find one, then just follow the power and get a 12v tester, when you turn the key on you can see if your EHC lights, (green and I think yellow) and your ignition light comes on, if not then something is up between your battery and your ignition, what you can do to check this is run a jumper wire from your battery to your ignition power wire and see if the light comes on then, (you will have 3 lights on your ignition, red, yellow and blue, only the red will come on when there is power to your ignition, the yellow and blue are indicators for each cylinder and will only light up while the bike is running), if after you run the jumper wire to the ignition and the red light comes on, then you will know the problem lies between your battery and your ignition, and the only thing between there is your EHC, you say you checked all your connections and they looked good, double and triple check! make sure the connections on the wiring harnesses that attach to the EHC are tight, one guy on here told me that the screws came loose on one of the harness connectors and that was his problem, don't be in a hurry and follow the wiring diagram and check everything, step by step, these bikes are extreamly tempermental when it comes to the electronics, I have had two issues so far and at first I thought both times it was the EHC, but both times it was just due to wires shorting out and connectors breaking, good luck Grant, there are much smarter people here than me that can give you some better advice, I just thought I let you know what happened to me, don't get discouraged, it will work out fine.

 

[BadBrad]

If you are sure the battery is good and your connections are tight, then see if you're getting power to the key switch. Then check with a meter to see if the key switch is sending power to the rest of the bike when turned on. Could be as simple as needing a new switch.

 

[ktulu2oo9]

Thanks for that guys, I'll have another really good go over the bike shortly and do as you've said, got a multimeter here which will help once I remember how to use it
Will let you know how it goes! :up:

 

[Nukeranger]

Oh, so you are not an electrical genius! Sorry to hear that because you are a the mercy of others if you can't troubleshoot electrical issues! Find a good BD friend to help you out and save a bunch of money (Stock up on beer).

 

[NascarNutCase]

Oh, so you are not an electrical genius! Sorry to hear that because you are a the mercy of others if you can't troubleshoot electrical issues! Find a good BD friend to help you out and save a bunch of money (Stock up on beer).

10-4 on the beer :roll::roll::roll::roll:

 

[Five Five]

10-4 on the beer :roll::roll::roll::roll:

Pete thats an amazing christmas tree in the pic of yours:up:

 

[ktulu2oo9]

Well, I've started going over the bike, checked all the connections again, along with the new battery. Have also tried to run the jumper wire from the battery, to the ignition power as cdogg556 suggested. Hooked up the wire, turned the key... and it's shorted the jumper wire right off the ignition wire..

Any suggestions? does this mean something in the EHC or a wire connecting ignition to EHC/battery is making contact between + and - ? as all the wires in the surrounding areas all look to be well connected and fine.

Cheers guys!

 

[Nukeranger]

I suggest you find out who put Pete's XMAS tree up because it looks amazing and not to mention it works electrically.:roll::roll::roll::roll:

Seriously, sorry to hear about your electrical issues. Sounds like some troubleshooting is in order.:bang::bang:

 

[cvegmond]

I had similar no power issues while the battery is fully charged.

The connections and wiring harness on the BDM is actually prwtty good. In all my troubleshooting, connections, plugs have never been the issue.

The EHC is in charge of all electrical flow on the bike. There is a lot that can go wrong with that module and it does fail in different ways with various owners.

I would suggest the Wire Plus kit with the new ignition switch. There are a number of upgrades to the bike functions with the Wire Plus EHC replacement. Reliability is the main reason.

If BDM had used Wire Plus instead of the EHC module, I think they might still be in business.

 

[woodbutcher]

before you blame the EHC, make sure you check ALL the connections (especially the grounds/earths) and maybe even the switch. if it does come down to the EHC, you would be better off doing the "wire-plus" or the "PDM" swap-out.

as i stated earlier, if it comes down to the EHC go with the WP, but make sure it is not something else first. if it is not the EHC, the WP won't fix the problem and you will still be stuck trying to figure out the problem. :2thumbs:

 

[wyatt580]

as i stated earlier, if it comes down to the EHC go with the WP, but make sure it is not something else first. if it is not the EHC, the WP won't fix the problem and you will still be stuck trying to figure out the problem. :2thumbs:

Hez right...need ta find the sorce... then spend money or get lucky and find the wire grounding out....