Recent experience with electrics on NC39
Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:22 pm
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.
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.