And no, the bike has not run since new harness was installed. My initial startup after I replaced harness resulted in the starter staying engaged, which burned up the starter before I could get the battery disconnected.
Gonna kill myself!
- Thread starter Snips
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And the EHC came directly from big dog. I believe I can mail it to them for testing. I’ll have to call the local dealership to see if they have the ability to test it.
Your EHC RIP should be connected directly to the battery with a 30amp inline fuse between. Should not be directly connected to the circuit breaker with VR connection. That’s bad mojo in my opinionJust finished a 14 hour work day. Will be investigating bike Sunday. Hopefully your info will guide me properly. Thanks for confirming that all functions go through EHC first.
Regarding my headlight: currently my key switch, is not just in the off position, it is disconnected. My battery negative cable that goes to the starter frame is disconnected from the battery. When I touch the EHC harness cable to the battery negative post, the headlight turns on.
Secondly, you did not misunderstand me regarding the CR’s. With the same scenario as above, while leaving the RIP harness negative wire disconnected, if I touch the ground cable coming from the starter frame to the negative terminal on the battery, the CR’s activate.
The main RIP harness is getting full time power from its wire that is connected to the circuit breaker. Left side of circuit breaker has a wire coming from the voltage regulator and the right side of circuit breaker has a double wire feeding the main harness along with a cable that leads up to the battery positive.
Hey mick. I’ll plan on that. I’m sure I’ll hear back from Mike as well. Do you happen to have an opinion on my post today at 12:23
Yes I do. Your EHC rip is faulty. Definitely needs to be sent back to BigDog. There is obviously something wrong with the starting circuit. I agree with Mike that your initial connection cooked the starter and luckily didn’t do more damage before you disconnected the battery.
Mikeinjersey
Well-Known Member
At least you are getting a new symptom. Keep the green wire disconnected but put a meter to ground so you can see what voltage is there. To get 12vdc on that wire ( which would operate the starter solenoid if connected) the EHC needs a signal from the start switch after the on/off sw had been selected. When you turn the key on you may have maybe 8vdc on that wire (normal)but when you hit the start switch it should jump to 12vdc and you should hear the CR's click at that time.
The start sw and the on/off are on the same PCB . If you have 12vdc on the green wire as soon as you turn the key on(not good) pull the right hand start control pcb and test it for possible shorts along with this PCB Testing procedure.
Ok. You got me back into the garage . I had taken the EHC out with the hopes of bringing it to a dealership this week to have it tested. I plugged it back in. When the earlier mentioned buzzing from the ignition module and activation of the CR’s was happening upon turning on the key, I actually had the RH control connector under the fuel tank….DISCONNECTED. It mentions in the installation instructions, that came with the harness, about a possible short that could appear in one of the PCB’s due to the system now being negatively grounded. Of course I wanted to isolate that possibility.
I just hooked up all wiring 100%, except for the green wire to starter. No issues yet……ignition module turns on and off with button as normal. Tested green wire to ground. No reading. Same test while pushing start button and read 12.4V. CR’s only activated while pushing start button. That’s good. Now I plug green into starter. No issues going on at all now with the key on or off. I don’t have the need, nor the balls to hit the start button with the green plugged into starter because there are still no answers or consistency to the ghostly issues taking place. I wish something would break and stay broken.
Mikeinjersey
Well-Known Member
Looking more promising. For now leave the green wire disconnected. Do the cr's click on and then off after 1 second when you hit start? Clicking off will be audible you can also stick your finger on them and feel . Additionally, while we are at it, With the key on select your rt and left turn signals at the same time to see if your emergency flashers come on. Also high and low beam.
By the way this system is and always has been negative ground. Not sure what they mean by "now being negatively grounded"
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Jersey Big Mike
100K mile club
Ok, here's what I'd do in the currrent situation if I was worried.
Get some spades connectors, some wire (same size as the green wire) and a little switch.
Make a harness that has a female spade on it that will go to the starter, wire that to one side of the switch
run 2 wires from the other side of the swith - One to a male spade connector that will connect to the green wire, the other you can use to monitor the state of the green wire (powered or now before start is pressed).
Crimp the wires on as shown in the circuit above -- Turn this switch OFF, turn on bike, if the voltmeter attached to this rig reads 0v as per your previous post, flip this switch and then hit run switch.
This is basically amodified version of a kill switch -- If needed we could add an LED instead of the voltmeter and you could leave this attached to the bike if you're really rellay worried about it.
Hope this helps.
Key on. High and low beam works. Emergency flashers work. CR’s only clicked once when start button was pushed and held. Of course they click off when I released the start button.
Looking more promising. For now leave the green wire disconnected. Do the cr's click on and then off after 1 second when you hit start? Clicking off will be audible you can also stick your finger on them and feel . Additionally, while we are at it, With the key on select your rt and left turn signals at the same time to see if your emergency flashers come on. Also high and low beam.
By the way this system is and always has been negative ground. Not sure what they mean by "now being negatively grounded"
Mikeinjersey
Well-Known Member
It sounds like you are ready to connect the wire and give it go. Be ready at the green wire to pull it off just is case it does not drop when you take your finger off the start button.
Does your EHC have fault lights like older Bikes? I have an 07 and when you turn it on it will sense a short or overcurrent and light the led for the relative circuit. Also the circuits are protected with a 20 amp internal solid state fuse which resets itself when the problem is removed.
Maybe you inadvertently fixed the problem and the solid state fuses are back in working order.
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Check out the picture I just sent of the paperwork that came with the RIP. It talks about the grounding. I need to get fuel tank back on and will definitely implement an inline kill switch just in case. (Starters are expensive). Unfortunately the new EHC has zero diagnostic lights on it whatsoever. I will be questioning BIG DOG about whether this new EHC has an internal, self resetting fuse. I did read in my shop manual that the original EHC is as you describe. I’ll check in, hopefully in the near future, with my findings.
Mikeinjersey
Well-Known Member
Sounds good, I look forward to what you come up with. Caution is always best. I read the sheet and the only important thing is that the pcb is not shorted to ground through one of those mounting screws.
To know for sure use the PCB test to start the bike. No pcb connected means no short possible. In the demonstration he shows how it is done. One pin is for the on/off and another pin cranks the starter.
Here’s the update Mike. There was nothing that I did on purpose that resolved the ghostly issues. The EHC is still functioning properly. All the harness connections were reconnected after applying a dab of dielectric grease to them. It took me quite a while to appropriately neaten and zip tie wires and connections to the backbone in order to get the fuel tank back on nicely. Not much room under there. While everything was apart, I polished up most of the bike. I purchased a simple on/off kill switch that I still need to put inline on the wire to the starter. I totally disassembled the carb for a good cleaning. New gas. Bike fired but had to readjust fuel, idle, and accelerator pump. Took bike for a good ride. Had to stop a couple times to fine tune carb but all seems to be good at the moment. Thanks to all who helped out in this process! I have another question that might get my balls busted. I’ll try to add a pic. I can’t put the right side, side panel back on. The EHC plug is in the way. I mounted the bracket (that came with the new harness kit) the same way that I saw in the big dog video. Maybe, on my k-9, the bracket and EHC needs to be spun to face the other direction. I’ll call big dog on Tuesday if nobody knows.
Does your ground cable go from the starter to the battery as mentioned above in the original post?
The bikes I've worked on had the ground going directly from battery to the frame.
Starter grounded itself through case when bolted down. Power cable (POS) from battery to starter, not negative.
I haven't viewed your wiring diagram, I was just wondering....
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My father in law was the original owner. He never touched the bike mechanically. When I removed the starter, the ground cable went directly from the battery to one of the bolts that holds the starter in place. That’s how I put it back.
Thanks, looks good!
I know my post on this pic was long. Did anyone read at the end where I asked if the EHC is in backwards? I realized yesterday that I can’t get that side cover back on with the EHC installed like it is now. I think I may have to turn it 180 degrees