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Cruiser
Posts: 161
Albuquerque NM | So last night I was at work, and it started to rain, not a deluge, but a steady rain for about 45 minutes. When it lightened up enough that I was ready to warm the bike up including the grips and seat I found that there was an obvious electrical short. The lights on the dash were flickering, I could hear the solenoid attempting to engage and the windshield was trying to move up and down on its own. But it was not doing it smoothly very jerky in its movements, also the light on the radio stayed on for a bit after I turned the key off, approximately 10 seconds.
I have had my bike sit out in the rain before, and while I'm not fond of doing it I've never had a problem because of it. If anyone has any suggestions about switches that sometimes have problems after seeing water, please let me know. Otherwise I guess I will just have to take the switches on both sides apart and pack some dielectric grease in them so this is less likely to be a problem later.
Thanks |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | put it in the dryer on low - delicates for about 30 minutes... never had any major issues and mine is an outside bike. Rode in the pouring rain on numereous occassions. Sure, if water gets in the wrong places, it will act like that. you're on it with the dielectric grease.
Edited by varyder 2014-03-05 5:37 PM
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Cruiser
Posts: 161
Albuquerque NM | Thanks varyder, it looks like the battery took a dump during the process so once it dries out I'll be going and getting another battery. My friend and I took a good look at, (he's an ASE master for automotive). He thinks I had a perfect storm brew of a battery that was just about to short internally, rapid temperature change, and a small amount of a moisture short in one of the switches. His suspicion is that if I had only suffered from one or two of those I would have been okay, and not have towed it home.
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| gr8punkin - 2014-03-05 10:44 AM So last night I was at work, and it started to rain, not a deluge, but a steady rain for about 45 minutes. When it lightened up enough that I was ready to warm the bike up including the grips and seat I found that there was an obvious electrical short. The lights on the dash were flickering, I could hear the solenoid attempting to engage and the windshield was trying to move up and down on its own. But it was not doing it smoothly very jerky in its movements, also the light on the radio stayed on for a bit after I turned the key off, approximately 10 seconds. I have had my bike sit out in the rain before, and while I'm not fond of doing it I've never had a problem because of it. If anyone has any suggestions about switches that sometimes have problems after seeing water, please let me know. Otherwise I guess I will just have to take the switches on both sides apart and pack some dielectric grease in them so this is less likely to be a problem later. Thanks What Year do you have did you put a wrench on battery bolts and see if there tights Please add your year and model all the time |
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Cruiser
Posts: 161
Albuquerque NM | Very true Johnny I should have added that it's on 08 Tour, but checking those cables was the very first thing that I did. Earlier today I put my charger on the bike and turned the key everything powered up like it should, but you could watch the voltage rise and fall as the charger cycled. Sure sign the battery jumped ship.
I'm guessing that my battery died, and I erroneously gave the credit to switches rather than the real problem.
My plan is to change the battery, then was the water spots off making sure to wash one section of switches followed by powering the bike up. If the symptoms repeat then I know what switches I need to seal, and if they don't then it was just a bad time for the battery to go away.
If anyone else has had a similar problem please let me know, otherwise I'll keep you guys posted. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1350
| 6 years on a bike battery isn't bad. Do you keep her on a battery tender?
I remember the '99s having the low light come on cause water got into sending unit. Quick fix was to silicone the hole in it.
Also check your ground to frame connection. Just because. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 161
Albuquerque NM | Well it looks like Murphy bit me at just the right time for me to blame something else, new battery and a thorough washing everything seems okay. When I got the old battery out I pulled the caps off the cells and you could easily see that it had shorted out internally. Fortunately everything seems to be working okay. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 804
Perry Hall, MD | Hope that any future fixes are as easy. Just stinks when that kind of problem happens when you're trying to get back home rather than heading out. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 804
Perry Hall, MD | Hope that any future fixes are as easy. Just stinks when that kind of problem happens when you're trying to get back home rather than heading out. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 804
Perry Hall, MD | Hope that any future fixes are as easy. Just stinks when that kind of problem happens when you're trying to get back home rather than heading out. |
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Rain shut my vision down