See if you can figure this one out! Weird electrical/headlight gremlins..

rashad

Registered
Ok, so awhile back I was moving my bike into the fiance's garage, and when I turned the key to start it, noticed there was NO light on. Low beam, not working. I figured it was a burned bulb and called it a night.

Next morning, go to start it up and all is well and working with the low beam! It continued to work fine for a few months since...

Then I swapped bikes with my buddy, and followed him on his ZX-14(yeah I know, blasphemy!:rulez:). As I followed and admired my bike, I noticed something CRAZY....

The hotbodies LED tailights that came on the bike when I bought it were going nuts! I flipped up my visor, thinking it was a reflection or something, but nope. The tails are two circles, red in the middle, and yellow on each outside circle for the blinkers. The entire circle seemed to glow yellow intermittently. It would glow yellowish and then go back to red... he had no signals on..and it wouldnt even make sense if he did, because it was both sides and totally random.

I had my fiance' follow me home that night, to see them better in the dark, and she said they were blinking yellow randomly. I did it during the day and she said as SOON as I left her driveway they started doing it.
Heres the kicker:

I cannot get them to do it at all!! If I sit on the bike, jump up and down, move it, compress the forks, shake all the wires on the switch and the undertail wires directly.....nothing. As soon as the bike moves under power, its bananas.

So tonight I leave a picnic, and turn on the bike to warm it up, (had the high beam on during the day as usual), flip the low beam on and...NOTHING. Flip the switch back and forth and high beam works fine... I could not get the low beam to come back on no matter what I did.. I shook everything.. Im lost.

Are these two problems related? has anyone had any experience with something like this? I cant figure out how the lights will not do anything strange until im on the road, no matter how much I jump and shake the bike.....

HELP!:please::please::please:
 
just a guess but I would look at your grounds. It seems like one may be loose.
 
Could be a ground....

How are the lights wired?

Also, if you are using a trailer relay to even/change the voltage, that could be going bad.
 
How are they wired? Good question.... I saw the previous owner had crimped them but not taped them awhile back... so I completely wrapped them all up with electrical tape.

The undertail just plugs right in, so he must have just cut the factory plugs and spliced them?

Also this could be a knockoff undertail, I dunno.

Thing is, if it was just the leds... it wouldnt affect the headlight. Low beam didnt work this morning... Tried to fix it by going 150mph.... but didnt work.:whistle:
 
I had the same thing happen with my headlights. Both went out so i replaced both bulbs. I ran the bike around the block and it was fine until I went to leave for work the next morning and nothing again... I traced it back to a bad ground. It was loose.
 
i think she was trying to tell you something....cheater!!!
 
I wish I could remember. I just wiggled wires until it worked. The fix was temporary as my lights went out as I cranked it up this morning to go to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I agree it sounds like a ground.
I would check his crimp connections. If corrosion gets into the crimp connectors they can lose contact.
Worth a shot..
 
I just stepped outside to see if anything was loose. I turned on the key (didn't start the bike) and they work again. I didn't touch a thing. Bizarre.
What's going on?????
 
i think those hot bodie lights are very dim... i know 4-5 people with there undertails and u can barely see the lights at all, even when the brake light is on...do your self a favor and toss them for brighter ones and you will be less likely to get rear ended:thumbsup:
 
HIDs? or aftermarket electronics? (I see your sig but didnt know if there was more)

I have had crazy things happen when there is low voltage on the bike while running HIDs.
 
Check grounds like others have said.

I had an odd problem (much like yours). I had a flickering headlight, dim tail light, no rear turn signals...sometimes.

I traced it to the + terminal on the battery was damn near falling off. Not sure why the bike even started as loose at it was. Tightened it up and problem went away.

Good luck.
 
your blinker fluid is low. :laugh:

sorry I had to say it. Sounds like you've got some lose wirring or a dirty connection somewhere.
 
I DID just replace my starter clutch..again...and there is a ground that goes on that right side clutch cover...hmmm.... I will check that..

Also I will pull of the tape and double check all the connections there.. although that wouldnt explain the low beam going out..
 
Take off the seat and check the main battery first. Then lift the tank, there is a ground running just below the pump, those are the two easy ones.

I would take all the crimped wires off the undertail setup and solder them properly with shrink wrap. Start eliminating stuff until you find it...
 
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