Rebel Electrical System....

[GearJammer]

Am assuming that the electrical system on the 450cc Rebel is similar to the 250cc, being a "minimal replacement" type system ?

Have an intermittent short somewhere's that I'll have to track down. After letting the bike sit for a couple of months & then getting back to it, noticed that the headlight would sometimes come on with the key in the "On" position, sometimes the headlight wouldn't come on, but the taillight would always be on as it's supposed to with key in "On" position. Charged the battery & got it up over 12V, but admittedly it probably could have been left on the charger for a bit longer.

Fired the bike up yesterday, no headlight on, but bike ran great. When I got back after putting approx. 60 miles on it, most at 55-60 mph, noticed that the headlight was now on.

What I noticed about the short was that it seems to be relative to the position of the front-end, if turned in a certain direction, it would either "kill" the bike if running or not catch when pushing the starter button. (It died on me one time yesterday when making a slight turn where I had to turn the handlebars. My landlord jokingly told me a few weeks ago "Just don't make any turns", LMAO! It fired right up again yesterday & keep on going)

Initially, I'd thought the short might be between the headlight & the headlight switch or the hi/lo switch. Now, after seeing that the headlight was on after the ride, I'm thinking that the ride probably charged the electrical system back up to full charge & the headlight was/is now functioning properly.

Also, when I first got this bike, the Kill Switch wasn't working & that didn't bother me, as I'd like to pare down the wiring anyways & would be eliminating the Kill Switch & using the key to turn off the bike. But now I'm wondering if the short is in the ignition wiring portion (and not the headlight area) Thankfully, the short doesn't seem to be doing any damage at all, it simply either kills the bike or prevents it from starting. If I turn the handlebars...bingo...she'll fire up. Think I'll open up the Kill Switch housing & see what's going on in there, LOL!

[cTc]

It kinda sounds to me like the contacts on the ignition might be cruddy. But I am not familiar with 450's, it could be that or a soldered lead may be about to break somewhere and turning the bars causes it to pull enough to lose connection.

I hate electrical problems for the time they take to finda and fix.

Keep us posted on the finds to the problem.

Later

[GearJammer]

In agreement with you, CTC, there's a real good chance that it's something inside the Starter Button/Kill Switch housing. Kinda reminds me of the name of that rock band "Kill Switch Engaged", LMAO!!! Might not get to it immediately as it's intermittent & rare, but definitely will keep everyone posted when I find out what's going on.

Electrical problems can be a real pain as you've mentioned (tho' this one may turn out to be relatively simple to locate *fingers crossed*)

That's one reason I like bare bone choppers, 12-14 wires max. The Rebel has that "spaghetti wiring"which makes it that much harder to chase down electrical probs.

[cTc]

that rock band "Kill Switch Engaged

Now your speakin me language. Saw them in 03 at ozzfest in ATL, and I knew then they would be a great band. In fact thats whats in the cd player in the truck and the shop. Its rare to find good driving and working music in one group. :twisted:

Later

[GearJammer]

Up-date on intermittent headlight:

Before starting to chase down the intermittent headlight prob, the front brake light switch, kill switch & hi-beam indicator lights were not working.

Bought a spray can of electrical connection cleaner at Radio Shack, opened up both left & right hand control housings & used the spray cleaner. This got the kill switch to work again :D

Swapped the 2 connectors for the front brake light switch that are located outside the brake master cylinder. Someone had inadvertantly removed them & put them back on the wrong way. The simple swap did the trick & now the front brake light switch is working again.

Removed the indicator light panel on the front of the handlebars & discovered that the hi-beam indicator lamp had burned out. "Borrowed" a lamp from one of the turn signal indicators (I don't run turn signals), put it in the hi-beam indicator socket & got that working again.

The headlight is still intermittent & have been trying to chase it down without success thus far. My landlord also rides & knows quite a bit about electronics. He explained that it's an "intermittent open" & not a "short" (if it was a short, then it would be draining the battery and/or toasting fuses, which it's not) Intermittent opens are usually found at either end of a wire & can be either a feed wire or a ground wire. They can also develop at funky electrical snap connectors or, in some cases, at places where wiring takes a sharp turn around metal brackets & such.

Opened up the headlight shell, checked & cleaned all connections. Opened up the junction box & sprayed it with electrical cleaner as well. Un-snapped the connector related to the headlight wiring at the voltage regulator & cleaned those up also. About the only component that I haven't gone into to check yet is the ignition switch & still have an intermittent headlight, which obviously restricts the riding of this bike to day rides for the time being. Since I've got a working taillight & brake light, decided to disable the headlight by pulling the headlight fuse so that it's not randomly flickering on & off & drawing the wrong type of attention....*ahem* :wink:

When I decide to try chasing the problem down again, will simply replace the headlight fuse while checking thiings out.