Recent experience with electrics on NC39

[BlueTec]

Just thought I would share the following with you all.

I bought a 2002 SuperFour HyperVtec Spec II about two months ago. It has 18000 miles on the clock, appears to be pretty much original and in good order. The dealer fitted a new battery when I bought the bike. The bike has a DataTool System 3 alarm installed.

Not having previous experience of a SuperFour, or of a grey import, I am learning as I go along!

The bike is kept in my garage and the alarm is usually armed. However the price to pay for this is battery drain over a period of time, and sure enough about two weeks ago there was just enough jiz in the battery to start the bike. On that day I didn't go for a spin, and the next time I tried to start the bike, a few days later, the electrics were starting to lose the plot. Out with the multimeter and finding the battery was down to 9.5 Volts, it was time to recharge. I recharged and tested the battery (automatically) using an Optimate 3 charger. With the battery back in the bike (and the charging lead set (accessory supplied with the charger) connected to the battery terminals, for next time) normal operation was restored.

One thing I noticed before recharging the battery was that the two front indicator lamps were coming on (continuous) with Ignition ON, and this bugged me for a while. I suspected that the alarm control unit was the culprit or worse still the ignition switch. I spoke to the local DataTool technical people and they suggested that the two front indicator bulbs might be dual filament and that it would be normal (in Japan ??) for these lamps to be on continuously. I checked the bulbs this morning and sure enough they are dual filament. This feature is not required here in Ireland and may not be legal (something I would need to check) so one remedy would be to carefully break the power feed (cut the wire) to the unwanted filament. The relevant wiring is located in an around the headlamp assembly. Anyway I'm hoping this will work. Having the two front indicator lamps on continuously seems a bit odd, although I seem to remember seeing it somewhere else, perhaps Canada.

I also contacted DataTool in the UK and they suggested opening the alarm control box and disconnecting and reconnecting the circuit board. If this doesn't solve the problem then the "fault" lies elsewhere.

After all that, I notice that the fuel guage (electronic display) readout is quite unstable, maybe this is due to insufficient fuel in the tank. Also the right hand button (below the rev counter clock) doesn't seem to have any effect on either of the clocks. Presumably it controls the time clock? Does anyone know the procedure for setting the time clock?
The left hand button toggles between trip count and total miles.

[amorti]

Fuel gauges are for girls anyway.

Running lights seems a reasonable conclusion. Cut the wires, or better still just unplug them - not worth breaking things if you don't have to.

Datatool alarms are rubbish for draining batteries. The more times your battery hits rock bottom, the quicker it will die, as cells dry out or what have you, then the battery is no good.

[meno]

ye the wires are unpluggable inside the headlamp and at same time retaining other ones for normal operation... tis just standard bullet connectors.

[poshman1]

I have a vtec spec1 and Yep they are running lights and the garage you bought it from should have removed them prior to you buying the bike. My dials go all over the place when the battery is run down or flat. check the reg/rec is ok. I have a datatool s4 alarm on my firestorm and it has been no trouble since i had it fitted and i use it everyday all year round.


Clock procedure is as follows

Ignition on press both down
clocks will flash
left hand button for hour
right for mins
turn ignition off
job done

Right hand button changes trip and resets it if you hold it down left hand one does bugger all apart from the clock
hope this helps

[BlueTec]

Thanks for your help on the clock procedure.

On my bike the left hand clock/dial is the speedo', the right hand dial is the rev counter.
Each has a small button, below each dial. The left hand button changes/resets the trip (and toggles between trip and total)
The right one does nothing at the moment...no effect.
Pressing the two together has no effect. Perhaps something is amiss electrically....
I am assuming that the instrument cluster within the clock housing is one unit, with a circuit board holding everything
together electrically. I haven't yet dismantled anything to see if this is the case.
The clock works ok but is displaying a different time to the actual time of day, a minor matter really..