Cannibal Surf Boy

Hi All,

Three and a half year old Bandit 6, with 24000 on the clock, has
suddenly decided that it's going to blow the "all electrics except the
ignition and front headlight" fuse whenever I switch the lights on.

Anyone have any suggestions where to start looking first or
recommendations for the best maintenance outfit in Bristol for solving
electrical problems? I'm not too hot on bike electrics.

1) I've inspected both handlebar switch units and nothing is obviously
amiss there
2) However, in the only thing vaguely related that's happened recently,
my flasher switch doesn't work (but I can't see anything wrong in the
switch itself) as of a couple of weeks ago; the full beam toggle switch
still works though!
3) The fuse that it blows appears to control all the auxiliary electrics
- sidelight, indicators, rear light, brake lights and everything in the
clocks; looking from the back of the bike, it's the 15 rated one second
from the right on the row nearest the front of the bike
4) I know Suzukis have a slightly weird circuit wrt the headlights,
battery and regulator but the fuse blows even when you move the light
switch to sidelight.

Any ideas? Short circuit of some sort? I thought it could be something
full-beam related but AFAICS the fact that moving the switch to
sidelight is enough to kill the fuse rules that out?

Cheers,

--
Rich | TWA#16
GSF600S Y2K, via GS550E, CB400N, MZTS125*2

Cannibal Surf Boy

Molly wrote:

> "Cannibal Surf Boy" <cannibalNOsurfSPAMboy@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in
> message news:6oH2c.18$4h5.4@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk...
>
>>Three and a half year old Bandit 6, with 24000 on the clock, has
>>suddenly decided that it's going to blow the "all electrics except the
>>ignition and front headlight" fuse whenever I switch the lights on.
>>
>>Anyone have any suggestions where to start looking first or
>>recommendations for the best maintenance outfit in Bristol for solving
>>electrical problems? I'm not too hot on bike electrics.
>
> Check the connectors inside the headlamp, it's not uncommon to have
> water in there which will corrode the connectors and create a short
> circuit.

Thanks, Molly. This would make sense, as it's ridden in all weathers
and parked outside (although usually covered).

As per sig, it's a half-faired one - having not really had any problems
with this bike and therefore being without the appropriate Haynes BoL,
anyone any pointers for the quickest way to access the headlight wiring
area? Detach the black part of the fairing, c/w screen?

Cheers,

--
Rich | TWA#16
GSF600S Y2K, via GS550E, CB400N, MZTS125*2

Martian

Cannibal Surf Boy wrote:
> Hi All,
[snip tale of leccy pain]

If the problem is not immediately apparent/diagnosable I would strongly
recommend getting another loom out of a breakers as the worst that could
happen is a crisped bike. They should be plentiful and cheap.


--
Martian:
"For a minute there, you bored me to death."
Bandit 600, TDR250 http://ukrm.net/BIKES/Yamaha/tdr250.html, MZ ETZ 125
martin dot smith nine zero three at ntlworld dot com

Cannibal Surf Boy

Martian wrote:

> Cannibal Surf Boy wrote:
>
>> Hi All,
>
> [snip tale of leccy pain]
>
> If the problem is not immediately apparent/diagnosable I would strongly
> recommend getting another loom out of a breakers as the worst that could
> happen is a crisped bike. They should be plentiful and cheap.

Yeah, I learnt that lesson the hard way with my GS. In a similarly
excruciating way to the "Don't let your mate try and remove the
alternator rotor with a big screwdriver and a hammer" lesson I learnt
with my 400 Stupor Dream ;-) (And if I'd just reloomed it when I first
got it, I'd have saved myself an awful lot of aggro.)

Tomorrow I shall be stripping it down to have a look at the
headlight/sidelight connectors first, when I can actually get some
fuses. Hopefully I won't need too many ;-)

Cheers,

--
Rich | TWA#16
GSF600S Y2K, via GS550E, CB400N, MZTS125*2