Electrical Issue?

[chazglenn3]

Greetings!  I have noticed recently that when I use either the left or right turn signal that the opposite light dims slightly with each blink.  I am hoping this is not an oncoming spider bite.  Has anyone experienced this and if so what was the fix?

 

[chazglenn3]

Well, sifting through the forum I found the below thread of the same symptoms and it was deemed to be a normal voltage drop condition of the Gen II bike.  I was sitting behind a vehicle with some particularly shiny chrome on their tailgate and noticed it.  I'm sure it has always been that way and I just hadn't seen it.

Turn Signal Relay Going Bad? - Technical/Mechanical Problems - FJRForum

 

[Panman]

What happens if you bump the RPM's up? Both Carver and I had to go to a different harness for the voltage regulator as voltage was dropping thru stock harness loss.

 

[chazglenn3]

I'll have to try that and see, Kevin.  Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[mcatrophy]

Normal when engine at idle, more so if the brake light is on. Unless it's excessive, nothing to worry about. 

 

[infrared]

Greetings!  I have noticed recently that when I use either the left or right turn signal that the opposite light dims slightly with each blink.  I am hoping this is not an oncoming spider bite.  Has anyone experienced this and if so what was the fix?

Chazglenn3,

Without direct experience, except on other vehicles, first I would clean the battery terminals; I mean shiny-bright clean.  Battery cables have two ends, each.  Check the connection at the far end of each battery cable, too.  Otherwise, you may have a failing battery; most auto parts places can load-test a battery for free.  They will also have small "wire toothbrushes" with wooden handles, which do a nice job on small corroded pieces.

I did some minor surgery on my 2008 plastics, which wanted to block the easy removal of the battery.  Cutting away the intrusive fairing piece was easy, invisible, and made battery removal a snap.

 

[chazglenn3]

Thanks!  I will also take a look at the battery and cables.

 

[dcarver]

Keep us posted..

 

[chazglenn3]

Will do!  I'm fighting with an aggravated sciatic nerve currently, so it might be a few days before I can work on the bike.

 

[Panman]

Charles, when mine started acting up the first thing I noticed was the heated grips would shut down when I had the heated coat running. This would happen when my RPS dropped low but well above idle. I also noticed that the more the bike warmed up (long Ride) the more frequently the grips would shut down (Honda ST1300 heated grips) if I had the coat on. I was lucky that DC had just been doing his own investigation and I started running some tests with the bike sitting in the shop and found some significant voltage loss. Never did the bike experience running issues but still pissed me off as I liked being comfortable.

I like the suggestion to clean the Bat terminals 

 

[RossKean]

This was dcarver's thread when he had low voltage issues...

KrZy8 Gen2 - Charging Circuit - Technical/Mechanical Problems - FJRForum

 

[harper]

Charles-

I just replaced the battery on my '06. My old battery behaved well but it was at least 6 years old. It might even have been the original which would make it 15 years old. I didn't know all of its history. I'm going on a 4000-5000 mile ride this summer and didn't want to be surprised. To remove it, I took the black top panel off and disconnected ground terminals followed by positive terminals which is all easy. I looked at the battery and thought, "it would be really nice to have a handle to pull this straight out." I took some heavy twine (wire is NOT recommended for this) and screwed the terminals down onto it at both ends. I could easily pull up with the string with  one hand and pry the instrument panel out of the way with a screwdriver in the other hand. Putting the new one in required no handle and no prying...it just pushes the panel out of the way.

 

[fastpappy]

I used zip ties through the terminals. Made two loops pulled straight up no prying necessary easy peasy. Same for the installation.