[Zville]

I am sure someone will tell me “I could have told you that” but here goes. My wife and I recently took a 6 day ride with a friend. About half way through my friend asks me if I am using my turn signals because he knows I always do. Yes, I say. He tells they are not working. We test and find that none of the turn signals were working and the hazard lights didn’t work either. None of the turn lights on the front or back flash and the dash indicators don’t come on. The next morning the turn signals are working again. They work for about 2 hours, then nothing again. They didn’t work again the rest of the trip so I used hand signals.

Once home I began tearing the bike apart to look at bulbs, test diodes and relays and generally check connections etc. I put a meter on the battery and it read 11.96V. I put the battery on charge with the Battery Tender but it wouldn’t come up to green. Testing the turn signals still got no response. Then I noticed that I had my PIA type lights on when the key was turned on. So, I turned the lights off, let the Tender do its job a little while and the signals worked. Actually the hazard lights would work before the turn signals would. But if I let them run just a minute or so they would quit again. I finally got the battery up to 12.75V.

I took the battery to the local Honda dealer and he did a load test and said the battery was showing decent voltage but was basically toast. I ordered a new battery, installed it and have gone for a couple of rides. All is well.

The moral is to check the easy stuff first. If I had done the load test first I might have saved myself a lot of trouble. I just found it really weird that the only thing(s) affected by the dying battery were the hazard and turn signal lights. Everything else worked including the PIA lights and the heated seat for my wife. The bike started fine, ran fine and gave me no other problems. Hopefully if someone else loses just the hazards and turn signals they will check the battery first. It might save some time.

 

[apes115]

Thanks for posting-Who woulda thunk?But like you said its always best to check the easiest[and cheapest]things first.

 

[Harry Robinson]

Seems like a lot of electrical problems with our Wings, always tracks back to a problem with the battery.
Glad it wasn't worse.

 

[Bulldog]

After dealing with Dozens and dozens of Batteries and electrical problems, I have come to a simple conclusion.

Tighten the battery bolts with a socket and ratchet to get them tight. (You don't have to kill them, but they need to be tighter than just with a screwdriver).

Make sure that the battery bolt is the correct length for your application (different lengths are available). If the bolt is too long, it can bottom out on the backside of the battery post channel provided. (This usually occurs when folks have added many accessory terminal connectors directly to the battery).

If you do have a big glob of extra wires going to the battery, it is helpful if you place a flat washer on the battery bolt before you string it through the wire connectors. This will help allow for the bolt to be tightened without spinning the wire connectors during tightening.

Merry Christmas to all

Bulldog

 

[MS_Winger]

While many times replacing the battery will fix problems like this, you may want to check the connectors under the seat. I had the same symptoms as you, but replacing the battery didn't correct it. I read somewhere that a ground wire in these connectors will sometimes get corroded and have a bad connection and may even burn. That was the case with mine. I had to re-wire my connector by bypassing the ground pin and making a jumper wire to complete the ground connection(this ground is used for the tail lights and turn signals). After doing this, I had no more problems. I might mention that my symptoms would come and go for a time but eventually it was a solid failure. I hope this helps you or anyone else that might be having problems with the turn signals and tail lights. The symptoms can be very confusing.

 

[Zville]

While many times replacing the battery will fix problems like this, you may want to check the connectors under the seat. I had the same symptoms as you, but replacing the battery didn't correct it. I read somewhere that a ground wire in these connectors will sometimes get corroded and have a bad connection and may even burn. That was the case with mine. I had to re-wire my connector by bypassing the ground pin and making a jumper wire to complete the ground connection(this ground is used for the tail lights and turn signals). After doing this, I had no more problems. I might mention that my symptoms would come and go for a time but eventually it was a solid failure. I hope this helps you or anyone else that might be having problems with the turn signals and tail lights. The symptoms can be very confusing.

Thanks for the tip. I plan to keep a close eye on lots of things to see if the problem was limited to just the bad battery. It seemed odd to me that the battery was able to stay just low enough to not allow the signals to work but high enough that it allowed the bike to start and run everything else. I feel lucky we didn't get stranded somewhere while making a stop.

 

[2WheelNut]

Seems really strange to me that a bike that has a battery that is strong enough to start, would be too weak to run a flasher relay.

I'm not saying it's impossible, just doesn't sound right to me.

I'm sure replacing the battery was a good thing and apparently fixed it but I wonder if you somehow fixed the real problem when you were changing the battery. Maybe a relay was stuck or a wire was loose and removing the old battery and reinstalling from scratch solved it.

Regardless...I'll tuck this away as a future possibility and thanks for sharing.

 

[MS_Winger]

Thanks for the tip. I plan to keep a close eye on lots of things to see if the problem was limited to just the bad battery. It seemed odd to me that the battery was able to stay just low enough to not allow the signals to work but high enough that it allowed the bike to start and run everything else. I feel lucky we didn't get stranded somewhere while making a stop.

Just a suggestion, before you go on any long trips, you might want to remove your seat and take a look-see at those large connectors in the black boots to see if you can spot any sign of over-heated connections. The white plastic will turn brown, and maybe even black. If you see that, carefully determine which pin is heating up and cut the wire on both sides of the connector. Then, splice a short piece of wire to the 2 cut wires, thus, bypassing the connector. I know this doesn't sound like a very neat fix, but it's a lot cheaper than a new wiring harness. They just didn't make the connector pin nor the wire size big enough to handle that much current in that ground wire. Note: The total current for ALL of the lights on the rear of the bike goes through this wire. And if you've added some lights, there's even more of a load. So, it's no wonder this sometimes happens. Good luck and safe riding.

 

[LarryM]

To add to this little discovery, I will give a tip that every smart electronics technician follows.

No matter what the problem, the first thing you check is the power supply. (In this case the battery). Electronics devices do strange things when the power supply isn't working properly, and it doesn't always make sense.

 

[GoldWingrGreg]

To add to this little discovery, I will give a tip that every smart electronics technician follows.

No matter what the problem, the first thing you check is the power supply. (In this case the battery). Electronics devices do strange things when the power supply isn't working properly, and it doesn't always make sense.

:agree: ... Alway start at the battery and the connection.

I've even had a couple of them start the bike fine but when coming to a start they will surge from 500-800rpm. They sound like they are running out of gas (or searching for an idle). And that is what they are doing .... searching for an idle, because at that instant of time, when the idle control circut in the ECM needed voltage, the amount it needed was not there. However, everything else will appear fine.

 

[laen]

After dealing with Dozens and dozens of Batteries and electrical problems, I have come to a simple conclusion.

Tighten the battery bolts with a socket and ratchet to get them tight. (You don't have to kill them, but they need to be tighter than just with a screwdriver).

Make sure that the battery bolt is the correct length for your application (different lengths are available). If the bolt is too long, it can bottom out on the backside of the battery post channel provided. (This usually occurs when folks have added many accessory terminal connectors directly to the battery).

If you do have a big glob of extra wires going to the battery, it is helpful if you place a flat washer on the battery bolt before you string it through the wire connectors. This will help allow for the bolt to be tightened without spinning the wire connectors during tightening.

Merry Christmas to all

Bulldog

Good ideas

 

[Bob oldwinger]

As the saying goes, when you hear hoofbeats think of horses not zebras. Check the obvious and easy stuff first.
Bob

 

[RogerC]

Battery first, second, check ground wires and third, check fuses. Seems like many electrical problems are cured by resolving the battery or grounds.

 

[Zville]

Seems really strange to me that a bike that has a battery that is strong enough to start, would be too weak to run a flasher relay.

I'm not saying it's impossible, just doesn't sound right to me.

I'm sure replacing the battery was a good thing and apparently fixed it but I wonder if you somehow fixed the real problem when you were changing the battery. Maybe a relay was stuck or a wire was loose and removing the old battery and reinstalling from scratch solved it.

Regardless...I'll tuck this away as a future possibility and thanks for sharing.

It was really strange to me as well. I had tightened the battery connections while checking things out but that didn't change anything. The lights were not working when I removed the old battery and they worked perfectly once the new battery was installed. It is possible that something did get reset or made a better connection while wiring the new battery. I hate electrical problems and I have no background in electrical matters so I will count my blessings that things are working now and check the connections that have been suggested in this thread.

 

[Lloyd B]

Electrical problems

My experience with automotive electrical repair, has shown that at least 9 out of 10 electrical problems will be poor grounds, after you check the battery and it's cables, check grounds.

 

[Tinwacker]

My friend 2002 wing has a signal issue as well . They work today and wont work tomorrow, They work perfect when they work but when they aren't there is nothing there . I have checked the plug under the seat. Had the handle bar switch out and in my hands. Cleaned everything, CHecked relays and grounds all seem to be well but I still have the problem. We have a Battery coming tomorrow. Boy it would be nice if that was the issue, But of course I had to go the hard way first. I suspect the connection under the Rt glove box. It looked perfect when I took it apart. If Battery does not fix I will go there next. I'll keep all posted

 

[Bucfan11]

Once the bike is started, would it not have 14 volts if the alt. is working?

 

[DDL]

digital volt meters

Why you may get a bike to crank with a bad battery..... It has to do with being electronic controlled fuel injection. The computer will not do anything to fire up if voltage is below 9.5v. The battery is just low enough to drop to the "no run" voltage, but as soon as you think it should be running and let go of the starter button, the battery bounces back enough to let the ECM fire up and the still spinning engine fires up too with us none the wiser about "not starting". Another potential item about having a bad battery and not getting an engine running volt reading near 13.6+ volts..... The bad battery being voltage "sucker" keeping the voltage low trying to charge its problem cell(s). It is really much better to have actual numbers for a volt meter than stepped LED's or the almost useless "idiot light". The actual numbers can show you patterns between 12 and 14 volts coupled with when you used the trickle charger hinting at pending doom of battery or alternator. I will be needing a new battery (again) soon. I think that the battery Honda went with in 2009+ (I think) is not as good of a battery that shipped with the earlier ones. I got Honda to replace the first one, but this one is not bad enough to "prove" yet. I have had too many times of lower than usual volts running and many times of being beeped at for "low" voltage when starting. My radar detector has a good built-in volt meter except it gives "low" or "high" instead of numbers when that alarm is triggered. I have a Kury volt meter with the staged LED's, but it is crap. It is the 5th one I've had where some LED's die after a while. I am waiting for EC's digital volt meter to come out of back order.

 

[BGBLK06]

Agreed.
I like knowing precisely what my charging system is doing. I picked this gauge up from Summit Racing five or six years ago. It's very easy to read even when in direct sunlight.

Kurt