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Sagebrush posted:I'm a bit confused. Is this right: The front and rear blinkers are never in series; that would mean that blowing a bulb takes out both blinkers on that side, which is something I've never seen any bike being wired to do. He has blown a fuse or multiple fuses by being a dumbass and shorting wires together. The electrical system is designed with the impedance of the front blinker bulbs in mind. When you take those out and short the wires together it's doing the same thing as a short circuit. The fuses blow to protect the circuits from further damage due to the short. Un-short your wires, then replace your blown fuses, then put some bloody indicators on your bike.
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May 10, 2014 22:49
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boo posted:Reporting back, just in case anyone was interested. Apparently, the air filter boots were slightly separated from the carburetors, and was causing the bike to run extremely rich. All is re-attached, and bike runs great now. Thanks for all the suggestions. A leak letting extra air into your engine should be making it run leaner, not richer... 
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May 10, 2014 22:53
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Snowdens Secret posted:Don't test resistance with the engine running. If there -is- any, you'll blow your multimeter fuse. Yeah, I should have said "check your multimeter has an easily-replaced fuse" - although I'd guess resistance high enough to allow 10A across the meter would probably be enough to just stop the bike working, or at least have pretty massive other symptoms (dimming/flickering lights, etc). As an idle question - why do my lights (and most car and bike tail lights) seem to flicker in my helmet cam? At first I was worried that there was something seriously wrong with my reg/rec causing voltage drops or something, but like I say most car tail lights seem to do it too and that it's not rev-related at all, which I'd expect if it were that. It's only in bright light (when presumably the shutter speed is very fast), and it's much more noticeable when the camera's running at 30fps rather than 60. I'm not worried about it, I'm just intrigued.
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May 10, 2014 23:27
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The lights aren't actually constantly bright, they flicker brighter-dimmer at high frequencies because of the alternator constantly over- and under-shooting the voltage limit. Your eyes/brain make this into a constant light. When your camera is in a lower FPS mode, some frames catch the lights being brighter and some dimmer. On higher FPS settings this is less noticeable because of a more 'average' spread of frames across the brighter-dimmer events, if you get what I mean. Same reason CRT monitors/televisions look like balls when you're looking at them on video. I'm willing to bet that if you flicked your lights on with your engine switched off, the effect wouldn't be there because the light is running of a continuous (decaying) voltage from the battery.
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May 10, 2014 23:33
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LEDs? That all do it, I believe its because cameras pick up their pulsing which the human eye doesn't.
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May 10, 2014 23:35
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LED's do it too, but for different reasons. You see the effect with incandescent bulbs as well.
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May 10, 2014 23:47
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A reg /rec running off a three-phase AC signal at several thousand hertz (I.e. your RPM) should have no problem maintaining fairly constant DC voltage. I'm not sure what the specs are for AC leakage but I don't think it's much - AC is pretty bad for batteries - and the frequency should be way too high to be perceptible. CRTs flicker because it's a phosphor beam tracing horizontal lines across the screen 24 - 30 times a second. The human eye doesn't sample fast enough to catch this but a camera scanning its sensor (or running film and a shutter) at a very close frequency will pick up the interference. You can see the same thing cutting slits in a sheet of paper and then waving it between your eyes and the screen. That's a completely different thing than what twisto is describing. It sounds like something to do with the (probably CCD) sensor scanning wonkily, and it's probably bright light while at high gain (evening riding etc.) A quick check would be to see if the percieved flicker frequency changes when you rev the engine - if it stays constant it's definitely just an artifact of the camera sensor. (Alternately if it looks the same for cars obviously idling at different frequencies.)
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May 11, 2014 00:05
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I'm basing this on the fact that I have been able to visibly see a flicker in the headlights of every bike I've ever owned. I was using the CRT thing as a way of making an example, I realise the principles aren't the same.
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May 11, 2014 01:18
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Snowdens Secret posted:A reg /rec running off a three-phase AC signal at several thousand hertz (I.e. your RPM) should have no problem maintaining fairly constant DC voltage. I'm not sure what the specs are for AC leakage but I don't think it's much - AC is pretty bad for batteries - and the frequency should be way too high to be perceptible. It doesn't matter how fast the frequency is, if it is some ratio of the shutter speed of the camera, it will cause flickering on the recording. The fact that automotive headlights flicker because of the AC nature of the power generation (alternators) is a long known thing; the reason deer get paralysed by headlights is because they (unlike humans, who have better colour perception but much poorer sensitivity to luminance fluctuations) can perceive the flickering and it hypnotizes their primitive brains.
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May 11, 2014 01:53
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So why are spotlights so effective at jacking deer then?
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May 11, 2014 02:22
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EX250 Type R posted:jacking deer Dude you got some weird hobbies.
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May 11, 2014 02:34
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You can stun deer with a DC battery flashlight, they're just really dumb. LEDs flicker, sometimes noticeably, because they're on PWM circuits for brightness control and are turning on/off. Again, if the flickering was some function of an AC carrier on the DC line it would by definition change with engine revs. The odds of it being some conveniently visible multiple of the (low and fixed, for video) camera scan are low. I still think it's a side effect of that particular camera, hunting its auto gain / sensitivity or something. Slavvy, you're seeing the bike vibrating.
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May 11, 2014 02:43
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Snowdens Secret posted:Slavvy, you're seeing the bike vibrating. I'm pretty sure Slavvy doesn't ride an SV650. 
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May 11, 2014 03:05
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Sagebrush posted:I'm a bit confused. Is this right: It's actually not just the rears but also the braking indicators, the speedometer backlight, the neutral gear indicator and the engine mounted lights that I have in the engine casing since I do a lot of night-time riding. If it was just the blinkers I could do with just hand signals until I could get things set back up but with the rest of the lighting system out of commission, the bike being my only transport at the moment and money being very tight it's a rather concerning situation. It's worth noting that the entire lighting system was working fine up until the time that I removed the remains of the front blinkers and cut down the wires. The exception to this seems to only be in the running lights. The head low and high runs fine as does the rear running light, it's just the brake light and LED flasher on the back that doesn't come on there. ArbitraryTA fucked around with this message at 05:38 on May 11, 2014 |
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May 11, 2014 05:35
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Get a wiring diagram for your bike. I'm willing to bet all those lights run off the same fuse, which is blowing because of your cut wires (or another short possibly caused by the crash or some related repair, but most likely because of your cut wires), and the other working lights run on a different circuit.
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May 11, 2014 05:41
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Snowdens Secret posted:A reg /rec running off a three-phase AC signal at several thousand hertz (I.e. your RPM) should have no problem maintaining fairly constant DC voltage. I'm not sure what the specs are for AC leakage but I don't think it's much - AC is pretty bad for batteries - and the frequency should be way too high to be perceptible. No, like I say, it's much more noticeable in bright light - even an overcast stops it, and it doesn't change frequency with revs. I *think* the lights in the panel are LEDs and I'm fairly sure that it's LED tail lights that show the flicker too (I've deleted the video now and we've not had enough sunny days since I got the thing to build up a decent sample size...). Next time I see it I'll chuck it up on Youtube - like I say it's nothing I'm worried about, it's just intriguing me.
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May 11, 2014 10:09
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When I built my LED tail light for the Enfield, I put in both a larger and a smaller capacitor in the circuit to stop flicker. Some new cars with LED tail lights do it properly, but I can easily spot the ones with the laziest engineers, as their brake lights will flicker as they move across my vision at night. Kind of like first-generation LED christmas lights.
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May 11, 2014 10:23
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Slavvy posted:The front and rear blinkers are never in series; that would mean that blowing a bulb takes out both blinkers on that side, which is something I've never seen any bike being wired to do. He has blown a fuse or multiple fuses by being a dumbass and shorting wires together. I could be talking about something else here, but when the connectors to my rear blinker get disconnected on my 92 XLR Baja (replaced it after a lowside in January, really need to borrow some crimpers from work and fix the connection properly), the front one will no longer blink, just stays solid.
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May 11, 2014 13:23
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goddamnedtwisto posted:No, like I say, it's much more noticeable in bright light - even an overcast stops it, and it doesn't change frequency with revs. I *think* the lights in the panel are LEDs and I'm fairly sure that it's LED tail lights that show the flicker too (I've deleted the video now and we've not had enough sunny days since I got the thing to build up a decent sample size...). You'll definitely see it in LEDs often because as someone mentioned before, they tend to use PWM for controlling their brightness. You will probably be able to perceive it yourself too if you flick your eyeballs around rapidly.
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May 11, 2014 14:18
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More futzing... jiggled every wire I could get my hands on for like a half hour with the bike idling, but nothing happened. Resistance between the negative terminal of the battery and the other end of the earth strap was 15.8. What should I do next?
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May 11, 2014 18:11
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15.8 ohms? That's super high. It should be somewhere close to 0 or thereabouts. Make sure the leads are touching a relatively clean surface where you're measuring. If it really is 15.8 ohms you've got a problem. I'd start by removing the negative terminal from the battery and the frame to clean the contact surfaces and then recheck. If it's still super high then your ground strap/wire is cooked and will need to be replaced.
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May 11, 2014 18:26
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And that was just one lead on the negative battery terminal and the other lead on the point where the ground lead bolts onto the frame? Yeah, that's definitely high and points at a bad connection or corrosion or something. Luckily, if that's all it is it's easy to fix with sandpaper and a wire brush because it's literally just a wire with a bad connection.
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May 11, 2014 18:31
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Bad connection/corrosion on just the earth strap, right? I touched it the bolt that holds the ground in place, would that mess anything up? I also touched it to the engine block and it was 15.3, is that still a negative wire problem?
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May 11, 2014 18:39
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M42 posted:Bad connection/corrosion on just the earth strap, right? I touched it the bolt that holds the ground in place, would that mess anything up? I also touched it to the engine block and it was 15.3, is that still a negative wire problem? Almost certainly. Get your nail file and contact cleaner out (make sure the bike's switched off before spraying it around...) then vaseline up the connectors and bolt head when you put it back together.
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May 11, 2014 18:45
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Well basically if you touched both the leads together, you should read zero resistance (well not really cause it's not a superconductor but it's within the error range) at the meter, as long as your meter is working correctly. You can use the meter to measure resistance across any segment of the circuit, and by doing so you can find the problem. Try unbolting the battery cable at both ends and just measuring the resistance of it directly. If you get 15 ohms or whatever then the cable itself is your problem and needs to be replaced. Otherwise (if the cable reads no resistance), the problem is likely to be on one of the bolts, either the one connecting to the battery or the one connecting to the frame. It is possible that just unbolting them and putting them back in will strip off enough corrosion that when they're reattached you'll measure the proper resistance. However, this would also imply that you should scrub the bolt flanges with a small wire brush and fine sandpaper to make sure it doesn't happen again. The reason you're getting lower resistance at the engine is probably because you had a better connection between the probe tip and the bike there. Sometimes corrosion on a bolt can be so bad that the energy can't even get through the outside. In this case, try scratching the point you're testing with the tip of the probe a little bit to break through any junk before taking the reading.
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May 11, 2014 18:54
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Thanks a ton for the advice and patience guys, it's really helpful. I'll measure the wire separately and clean it up and see if that changes anything. Hopefully that'll be it for the electrical problems.
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May 11, 2014 19:14
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Starting that valve job, Z3n. Haven't even popped the cover yet: 
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May 11, 2014 20:43
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Anyone have tips for removing the bolts securing my brake discs? They're soft as poo poo and I'd rather not strip or round them.
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May 12, 2014 16:56
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Use penetrating lubricant and an appropriately sized wrench or socket extension.
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May 12, 2014 16:59
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Put the socket (which should be sharp and new, not half rounded and old) in the hole and give it a whack with a hammer to shock the threads loose. Then while you're unscrewing them make absolutely sure you're pushing straight down with no crooked force.
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May 12, 2014 18:08
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Safety Dance posted:Use penetrating lubricant and an appropriately sized wrench or socket extension. that's what she said
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May 12, 2014 19:01
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Don't forget thread locker
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May 12, 2014 20:38
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nsaP posted:Don't forget thread locker Sagebrush posted:that's what she said
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May 12, 2014 21:12
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Anyone have experience here with 'Bikemaster' brand turn signals? I need a set of front and rear signals to not only get my Oldwing legal and safe to ride on the street (as it sits, it's missing the fronts entirely and the rear left is busted off, the right rear is the only signal it has), but also to test the blinker circuit and make sure it works; right now the sole blinker does not light, and I have no idea if its because the relay is not switching because the other lights are missing or of there's other issues with the wiring. Was thinking of getting two pair of these: http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/44753/i/bikemaster-arrow-head-led-turn-signals They're not going to be permanent replacements; I'll find something nicer later, right now I just want something with decent visibility that won't crap out two weeks after I put them on. Anyone?
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May 13, 2014 04:26
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So here is the situation: - my brake lights don't go on - both of the bulbs are new - both of the bulbs are the correct type - when I probe the contacts inside the taillight sockets with my multimeter, there is voltage on the primary filament pin when the bike is on, and voltage on the secondary when the brake lever is applied - when the bulbs are plugged in, the taillights work fine, but the brake lights don't light up So, basically, why the gently caress don't my brake lights go on when the bulbs are fine and the sockets work perfectly? 
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May 13, 2014 04:53
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Rear brake light switch, check its adjustment.
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May 13, 2014 04:59
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HotCanadianChick posted:Anyone have experience here with 'Bikemaster' brand turn signals? I need a set of front and rear signals to not only get my Oldwing legal and safe to ride on the street (as it sits, it's missing the fronts entirely and the rear left is busted off, the right rear is the only signal it has), but also to test the blinker circuit and make sure it works; right now the sole blinker does not light, and I have no idea if its because the relay is not switching because the other lights are missing or of there's other issues with the wiring.
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May 13, 2014 05:05
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clutchpuck posted:Rear brake light switch, check its adjustment. Oookay, but what am I looking for and why would that cause the bulbs to not light up when there's voltage at the socket?
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May 13, 2014 07:45
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Bulb is burnt out? Bulb is dimensionally incorrect? Bulb has some sort of nonconductive coating on its contacts?
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May 13, 2014 13:36
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Sagebrush posted:Oookay, but what am I looking for and why would that cause the bulbs to not light up when there's voltage at the socket? Disconnect the circuit for that light and measure the resistance to ground of each wire and continuity between the terminals of the light. If you've got high resistance, you'll get voltage with no load, but as soon as you put the bulb in, all your current is gonna get sapped by the resistance and you won't have enough juice to light the light.
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May 13, 2014 14:36
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