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Intermittent dash lights

beans86

New member
Boy, I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome here. But I'm having an issue with my dash lights. If you recognize my handle, I just replaced my rotor. Everything seems to be fine in that regard. I had this issue before I took things apart. I know there's a crack in the wire running to the neutral switch. The neutral light had been intermittent since I got the bike. Could this cracked wire cause the dash to go out? I was freaked out to see the gen light glow dimly but it went out went I put the bike into gear. Does this make sense to anyone?

Thanks!
 
Sorry to say, I don't recognize your handle, why don't you put the model/year of bike you have in your signature line for us?

If the generator like goes out when you put the bike in gear, do you suppose that you might have the two wire switched somewhere?
 
I think that's better. When the lights are operating properly everything is hunky dory. My first post was on an iPad, maybe it was unclear. Basically I'm wondering if a bad neutral switch wire (I know for sure the wire is bad) can cause all idiot lights to be out. Come to think of it, this started after I was playing with the wire trying to get the neutral light to work, which it did.
 
It could be a mechanical problem with the neutral switch.

With ignition off and in neutral wiggle the shift lever a bit without changing gear. Again do this test in 1st and 2nd gear. Does the neutral light flicker while you are doing that?

If so the switch might be failing or, the washer under the switch has an incorrect thickness thus not giving a solid on/off.

If this test doesn't show a failing neutral switch, check the two wires coming off the switch. One is directly connected typically to ground on the gearbox. The other one ends in a connection in the headlight bulb.

/Guenther

Edit: Thanks to James' reply a correction - the test should be done with ignition ON and motor NOT running!
 
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Beano08, If I read your post correctly, you are wondering if a fault in the neutral light wiring will affect the other lighting and indicators in the instrument pod, yes? On a /6, I would say no, that circuit is dedicated to indicating that the transmission is in neutral. That is all it does. A wonky neutral light should not take out the other lights in the pod.

I like Geunther's idea of of manipulating the wires with the motor not running to see what happens. If it were me, I would try it with the key turned to "lights on" but the ignition off.
 
Boy, I hope I'm not wearing out my welcome here. But I'm having an issue with my dash lights. If you recognize my handle, I just replaced my rotor. Everything seems to be fine in that regard. I had this issue before I took things apart. I know there's a crack in the wire running to the neutral switch. The neutral light had been intermittent since I got the bike. Could this cracked wire cause the dash to go out? I was freaked out to see the gen light glow dimly but it went out went I put the bike into gear. Does this make sense to anyone?

Thanks!

When you replaced your rotor, did you unhook your negative battery cable before removing/installing the front cover? If not, you most likely shorted out the diode board. That can make your dash lights act wonky.
 
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Lets not forget!

The circuit board in the instrument pod is 40 years old and they were unreliable when they were new. If all your indicator/dash lights are blinking out or not working it could very well be the circuit board decided to fade away as the charging system was refreshed.
 
When you replaced your rotor, did you unhook your negative battery cable before removing/installing the front cover? If not, you most likely shorted out the diode board. That can make your dash lights act wonky.

I was very careful to unhook the cable every time. The bike is actually charging beautifully. Over 14 volts at 2-3k rpm. This looks unrelated

The circuit board in the instrument pod is 40 years old and they were unreliable when they were new. If all your indicator/dash lights are blinking out or not working it could very well be the circuit board decided to fade away as the charging system was refreshed.

Yeah that's my concern. Although the problem arose just before I even opened the cover up. Maybe it was just a coincidence. I opened up the headlight, everything looked pretty good in there. I've had my fill of electrical trouble shooting lately. How much are those LED boards? Are they hard to install?
 
I read somewhere (?) that someone (?) was making replacements for these boards. I think it said with LED lighting built in.

Anybody?
 
I installed the Katdash instrument light package. It was a simple process with good directions provided. I have had this LED kit for almost a year and am delighted with the improvement it provides in terms of lighting brightness and reliability.

I have recommended this upgrade to friends experiencing similar issues with their airhead instrument lighting and they are satisfied with the kit.

Customer support is very good should you experience any issues with this product.

I have no personal stake in this supplier, just a satisfied customer.
 
Katdash

I have installed two KATDASH units in my BMW RS and RT. They are easy to install. Just be careful when putting the instrument housing back together not to over tighten the screws holding things together. They are fragile and age makes them even more so.
I ended up replacing both housings with units from Sibenrock because the screw mounting bosses had broken out over the years of changing light bulbs as well as age and over-tightening. St.
 
Here is another recommendation for the Katdash replacement for the instrument cluster lights. Kat attended the recent celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 77RS bikes and she spent a good bit of time explaining her LED based replacement board. I found the instructions on her website to be very clear.

http://katdash.com/
 
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