johnny Posted July 27, 2011 Report Share Posted July 27, 2011 I've just got back from a week riding round France on my Triumph Speed Four and from day 3 I've had a little problem with the electrics. I went to start it in the morning and it fired up fine and idled fine, but the dash was flicking on and off - digital display and tacho turning off completely. I turned the ignition off and fired it back up and it was fine again. At the first fuel stop I went to start it up again and the all looked fine until I started it and then the dash went blank, ignition off and on again, came back on, and the bike is running fine. The bike idled and reved fine with the dead dash as well. However, if I leave the lights turned off the dash stays fine when firing it up, so this it what I did for the remainder of the trip and it got me back home perfectly. I've had the multimeter out today and the readings are: Across the battery with ignition off - 12.6v (battery only 3 months old) With ignition on (not fired up) and lights on - it drops rapidly and then settles at 11.85v At idle with lights off - 13.8v At idle with lights on - 13.5v Reving the engine - between 13.4v and 14v Now, with my limited knowledge that seems ok but why does the display keep going blank on startup? Also, once up and running the display never even flickers with the lights on or off. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've got tomorrow free to have a look at it but need some guidance with what to look at in particular. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonniB Posted July 28, 2011 Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 Doesn't seem like your battery holds a good enough charge, really should be around/over 13v just on it's own and it shouldn't drop so badly when ignition is turned on. Could be a short in the dashwiring, that gets better with lights on sounds like a bad earth in the dashwiring, then when the lights are on it grounds through the lights. But most of all, your battery seems weak and could be the only fault.., try swapping with a known good one and see if it helps. Ronni Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted July 28, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2011 Upon inspection today the connector between the alternator and r/r was almost completely melted, it crumbled in my hands. So I'm going to replace this with some butt connectors and heat shrink. If you search "stator connector burnt" in google it seems to be a very common problem with a lot of bikes. I'll let you know how I get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted July 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 So I've replaced the burnt out connector with some bullet connectors this morning and fired her up. Ignition off - 12.5v (needs a charge I think) Idle - 13.85, rising to 14.27 when warmed up Revs - between 13.5 and 14.28v However if I turn the lights on the display and tacho die bur the bike still runs fine. I can't see any breaks in the wiring so I'm going to open up the switchgear and give it a good clean. I'll report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny Posted July 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 Right then..... I've taken off the left hand switchgear and given it a blast with contact cleaner, I also made sure the dash plug was seated well and.......... everything is working as it should!!!! It seams the burnt out alternator plug was a bit of a red herring but worth fixing all the same. The problem seems to have been either a bit of crud in the switchgear or a poorly seated dash plug. Either way it seems to be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RonniB Posted July 29, 2011 Report Share Posted July 29, 2011 success, and good of you to report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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