NC23(K) Electrical Mystery - Long Post
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 2:46 pm
Hi everyone,
I've recently been experiencing an electrical issue that so far I haven't been able to identify. This might be a bit of a long post as I want to give the best background I can, but I'll try and keep it concise.
The overall problem is that the bike randomly loses the whole electrical system, but it's not something I can reproduce, or attribute any particular circumstances to. It just happens. Here are all of the scenarios where it has happened:
1) On a mountain road on a hot day, stuck behind a lorry. Engine temp was rising but not into the red. Eventually find some space to get moving, and out of nowhere everything cuts out.
Manage to roll into a layby. Starter button produces nothing whatsoever. Turn bike off thinking I'm stranded. Come back a few minutes later in hope, everything magically works again. No issue for rest of the day, other start-ups are strong and normal.
2) On an open road, good speed, normal temps. Catching up to a friend who had pulled over. I stop so we can discuss where to go next (engine off). He sets off, I go to start, and nothing. Same as no.1 I wait for a while, everything suddenly comes back. Nothing else for rest of the day.
3) Going along a highspeed country road, finish an overtake and settle down to a cruising speed. Electrical system suddenly goes haywire, dials are all over the place, engine is sputtering. After a few moment everything recovers and I carry on, no more issues.
4) Last night, I get home from a friends in the city. Short trip at night. Pull up to garage door, slowing down to mount the curb as it's underground, bike cuts out. The difference here, is that as I press the starter, I'm getting an odd crackling sound from the lower right side of me. Starter isn't turning.
Get it into the garage and leave it for a while. Eventually the starter begins to turn, but is acting like it's working with a weak battery. Stick it on charge and go home.
After the 3rd occasion, I had decided it was time to go through as many of the electrical connectors I could, cleaning out with contact cleaner. Battery is new this year and has a trickle charger. Cables are connected firmly to the terminals. Bike has never blown a fuse.
I found that the 3-way connector from the alternator to the loom had begun to burn and melt inside - not sure on the cause.
As I live in Bulgaria, it was hard to actually find a replacement part, or the parts to build a replacement connector. I intend to do this, but as a stop gap measure, I removed the old connector halves, stripped the wires back a bit, and soldered them together and insulated. I know not an ideal fix, but I intend to do properly when I can.
Now, I haven't yet been able to check the charging current as I am waiting for a friend to lend me a multimeter, so I'll update that when I can.
But, given that last night was similar to the previous times, I am unsure if this is just relating to a battery charging fault, especially as it has always previously recovered normally.
To me this seems like a failing electrical component somewhere else, bad earth, or maybe some kind of short. I've not done much with electrics though, so I'm prepared to be wrong here.
Any thoughts are appreciated at this point. Thanks!
I've recently been experiencing an electrical issue that so far I haven't been able to identify. This might be a bit of a long post as I want to give the best background I can, but I'll try and keep it concise.
The overall problem is that the bike randomly loses the whole electrical system, but it's not something I can reproduce, or attribute any particular circumstances to. It just happens. Here are all of the scenarios where it has happened:
1) On a mountain road on a hot day, stuck behind a lorry. Engine temp was rising but not into the red. Eventually find some space to get moving, and out of nowhere everything cuts out.
Manage to roll into a layby. Starter button produces nothing whatsoever. Turn bike off thinking I'm stranded. Come back a few minutes later in hope, everything magically works again. No issue for rest of the day, other start-ups are strong and normal.
2) On an open road, good speed, normal temps. Catching up to a friend who had pulled over. I stop so we can discuss where to go next (engine off). He sets off, I go to start, and nothing. Same as no.1 I wait for a while, everything suddenly comes back. Nothing else for rest of the day.
3) Going along a highspeed country road, finish an overtake and settle down to a cruising speed. Electrical system suddenly goes haywire, dials are all over the place, engine is sputtering. After a few moment everything recovers and I carry on, no more issues.
4) Last night, I get home from a friends in the city. Short trip at night. Pull up to garage door, slowing down to mount the curb as it's underground, bike cuts out. The difference here, is that as I press the starter, I'm getting an odd crackling sound from the lower right side of me. Starter isn't turning.
Get it into the garage and leave it for a while. Eventually the starter begins to turn, but is acting like it's working with a weak battery. Stick it on charge and go home.
After the 3rd occasion, I had decided it was time to go through as many of the electrical connectors I could, cleaning out with contact cleaner. Battery is new this year and has a trickle charger. Cables are connected firmly to the terminals. Bike has never blown a fuse.
I found that the 3-way connector from the alternator to the loom had begun to burn and melt inside - not sure on the cause.
As I live in Bulgaria, it was hard to actually find a replacement part, or the parts to build a replacement connector. I intend to do this, but as a stop gap measure, I removed the old connector halves, stripped the wires back a bit, and soldered them together and insulated. I know not an ideal fix, but I intend to do properly when I can.
Now, I haven't yet been able to check the charging current as I am waiting for a friend to lend me a multimeter, so I'll update that when I can.
But, given that last night was similar to the previous times, I am unsure if this is just relating to a battery charging fault, especially as it has always previously recovered normally.
To me this seems like a failing electrical component somewhere else, bad earth, or maybe some kind of short. I've not done much with electrics though, so I'm prepared to be wrong here.
Any thoughts are appreciated at this point. Thanks!