New battery and blinker

Hey XJers,
I needed to get a new battery and everything seems fine I just have one minor question that I'm curious about. Before I put in the new battery I could test my blinkers while the bike was in neutral without the engine running. Now I can only check my left blinkers when the engine is running and the right blinkers won't come on. When I put the bike in gear and roll a few feet the right blinkers will start working and then when I cruise a little further to a stop and shift into neutral, the blinkers are working fine. Is this normal? I feel like it is but, I just want to double check since it wasn't happening before.
Thanks

 

As I've only had my bike 2 weeks, I'm certainly no expert, however given my recent experience with blinkers, he's my thoughts:

1) Check the fuses - my blinker problem ended up to be fuses, and I only found out after the fuse contacts fried themselves and I was left with no eletrical system, and thus no starting or anything.

2) Make double sure you got the right battery for the bike - a battery with not enough juice can keep the signals (and other stuff) from working

3) Check the signal terminal contacts in the signal switch. 2 phillips screws removes the switch assembly, and inside you'll see how moving the switch moves the contacts. The contacts should be straight (no bends in them) - they get bent from going from a right signal directly to a left signal without first cancelling the signals by pushing straight in on the button (you do know that you HAVE to push straight in on the button to cancel the signals don't you? I didn't at first, and bent my contacts).

 

Blinkers won't work unless the battery is in good condition or low on volts.

New battery's require charging. Most bike battery's come dry and the acid is added by shop before sale which only gives it a nominal charge.

Did you or the shop charge the battery before putting it in?

If not, then charge it up. Blinkers should blink without the engine running on a fully charged battery.

Best way to charge is go for an hour long ride. :wink: Much more fun than watching a charger.

 

Sounds cool. I changed it so it wasn't fully charged up probably. I'll take it out tonight for a ride tonight and that should do the trick. Thanks for the help.

 

"(you do know that you HAVE to push straight in on the button to cancel the signals don't you? I didn't at first, and bent my contacts)."

Man, it would have been nice to read this BEFORE I started messing with my bike. I REALLY hope that I haven't messed up my contacts. I switched that sucker back and forth at least 10 times before figuring out how to cancel the darn things. I really need an owners manual on this thing.

 

My signals did the same thing with a bad ground issue. Of course if the ground wire is bad it'll behave just like a low battery. I'll chime in with - give it a week of riding then investigate!

 

I'm not too worried about it, I think it's the battery thing. My blinkers work when they need to so that's what matters. See you all on the road.

 

PBR, drop by this weekend and we'll look over your electrical system. I've PM'd you my number.

 

It's back. . . . I just rode my bike to work about 30 minutes stop and go traffic today and about 2 hours later I try to start my bike. I click it to neutral the light came on, everything normal, I turned the choke open (could be where the problem lies), it cranked for a second and then went dead. I tried again starting, turning on and off, key out and in, choke in, rolling the bike. It won't show the neutral light now and doesn't crank at all. The only response is the tail light is on. This is really similar to what happened before and I switched out the battery. All the fuses look good. It's been running strong with the new battery and I've put about 200 miles on it. Everything looks fine and it's been starting right up last night I noticed how bright the lights were. What could be my problem? Alternator? Wires seem fine, I checked all those last time. It'll hopefully just start up when I need to get out of here but, it'll be nice to have some clues while I'm standing next to my dead bike.
Many thanks.

 

Due to an unrelated problem, I changed out my fuse box. If you have a poor connection, you can lose the turn signals, computer, neutral light or all of these. Did that last night and when I fixed the connection for the last fuse, all is well again.

 

Oops, I forgot to mention that the main fuse will kill every thing. Check the connections at that main fuse.

 

I was checking out a thread on getting a new fuse box and I think I'll do that whenever I get to the shop again. The one I have looks original. Everything looked good when I checked it today. Which one is the main fuse and what would I be looking for out of the ordinary?
Thanks

 

Your main should be the 20 amp fuse located closest to the harness entering the fuse box. You would look for any signs of corrosion or dull patches on the metal (it's corrosion starting up). If your of a mind PBR, you can pick up a fuse block and I'll help you install it this weekend. Saturday is looking good. Still interested in those turn signals, bring them along. We can play electronics for the day if you like.

 

I got it going and it looked like the wire coming off the positive on the battery was touching the frame causing a short, I thought. 10 minutes later it died going on to the freeway. Me and my room mate messed around with it for two hours and with no volt meter, wiring diagram, or knowlege of motorcycles we couldn't fix it. We're guessing it's something with the wires coming off the on/off/switch. The main fuse works and the rest look fine. It's like it's turned off and we can't turn back on. I'm going to let it sit for a few days while I deal with some other crap. It might be time to call in the shop.
Thanks for the help.

 

Did you check for loose or corroded negative/earth connections. One to the frame and one to the engine.

 

It's interesting you brought that up. I did see this loose wire by the negative side of the battery. It kinda gets bundled with the negative battery wire and it's got an "0" shape thing on it. The wire was just kinda hanging there. It wasn't the wire that goes on to the battery, that wire was attached. Alot of stuff looked corroded after we started unplugging stuff. I'll check my manual and see what's up with the negative/earth connections. Thanks goon.