Rode to work and back. And discovered...
1: my USB charger adaptor (plugs into a Powerlet BMW-style socket) was indicating anywhere between 0 and 8.5 volts to the socket and fluctuating wildly; on the previous ride three weeks ago it was rock steady in the 13.5-13.9 range...
2: On the ride home, I noticed that my left-side low beam didn't show up the reflection of my bike, when I was stopped behind another vehicle at a stop light. High beam shows, left doesn't. DAMN- these are virtually brand-new LED bulbs, installed partially to try to cure the bike of its expensive and unhealthy appetite for left side low beam Silverstar bulbs.
3: Once again, my phone (a relatively recent- less than two years old- but no-longer new Samsung model) has lost contact with the front FOBO TPMS sensor and stubbornly refuses to see it. The "solution", straight from FOBO, is to revive my older model phone (it still has the FOBO app on it), reset my FOBO service account to that device, re-establish contact with the phantom sensor, then revert my account to using the newer phone. Evidently there's something in the newer Samsung Bluetooth code that doesn't play nice with the FOBO firmware, or vice-versa. Argh.
When I got home I had a closer look at the headlight. I can see that the emitter is indeed putting out light but somehow it isn't getting put out the front of the lens assembly and onto the road as it ought to be. Near as I can recall it was operating normally at the end of my last ride- which I finished after sunset and, consequently, in the dark. At the very least I wasn't conscious of diminished illumination.
So now I get to strip the plastics off and go hunting for electrical gremlins. Oh joy. I can speculate on a couple possible causes, but don't have enough information yet to form any definite conclusions:
* the bike lives outdoors in the driveway, under a cover. I've had mice get into my cars when they were parked there so it's entirely possible they've also found their way to the wiring. This past winter it lived in an "outdoor" (i.e. fully-enclosed but not climate controlled) commercial storage shed. I have no doubt that a determined Mickey might have found its way out of the winter weather and into the shelter and comparative comfort of the recesses of the bike.
* The already marginal left-side headlight wiring may finally have given up the ghost. Happily I already have a replacement headlight wiring loom on hand, purchased before I made the decision to go LED.
* A ground fault may have developed in either the headlight circuit or the auxiliary circuit (added by me) that feeds the Powerlet socket (also added by me), or both. There's not enough information yet to determine whether these two issues are connected in more than a circumstantial way.
* It may be time to have a serious look at the 30 pin ground connector to see how it has fared the past 15 years.
* The wiring at the Powerlet socket may simply be loose. I disturbed it recently, adding a quick disconnect connector so that I didn't have to fiddle with the connections at the socket itself, every time I took the plastic off. It is also possible that the connectors I chose were too small for the job, though the only thing on that circuit is the USB charging port, charging my phone.
So, now I get to waste great riding weather this weekend, trouble-shooting.
1: my USB charger adaptor (plugs into a Powerlet BMW-style socket) was indicating anywhere between 0 and 8.5 volts to the socket and fluctuating wildly; on the previous ride three weeks ago it was rock steady in the 13.5-13.9 range...
2: On the ride home, I noticed that my left-side low beam didn't show up the reflection of my bike, when I was stopped behind another vehicle at a stop light. High beam shows, left doesn't. DAMN- these are virtually brand-new LED bulbs, installed partially to try to cure the bike of its expensive and unhealthy appetite for left side low beam Silverstar bulbs.
3: Once again, my phone (a relatively recent- less than two years old- but no-longer new Samsung model) has lost contact with the front FOBO TPMS sensor and stubbornly refuses to see it. The "solution", straight from FOBO, is to revive my older model phone (it still has the FOBO app on it), reset my FOBO service account to that device, re-establish contact with the phantom sensor, then revert my account to using the newer phone. Evidently there's something in the newer Samsung Bluetooth code that doesn't play nice with the FOBO firmware, or vice-versa. Argh.
When I got home I had a closer look at the headlight. I can see that the emitter is indeed putting out light but somehow it isn't getting put out the front of the lens assembly and onto the road as it ought to be. Near as I can recall it was operating normally at the end of my last ride- which I finished after sunset and, consequently, in the dark. At the very least I wasn't conscious of diminished illumination.
So now I get to strip the plastics off and go hunting for electrical gremlins. Oh joy. I can speculate on a couple possible causes, but don't have enough information yet to form any definite conclusions:
* the bike lives outdoors in the driveway, under a cover. I've had mice get into my cars when they were parked there so it's entirely possible they've also found their way to the wiring. This past winter it lived in an "outdoor" (i.e. fully-enclosed but not climate controlled) commercial storage shed. I have no doubt that a determined Mickey might have found its way out of the winter weather and into the shelter and comparative comfort of the recesses of the bike.
* The already marginal left-side headlight wiring may finally have given up the ghost. Happily I already have a replacement headlight wiring loom on hand, purchased before I made the decision to go LED.
* A ground fault may have developed in either the headlight circuit or the auxiliary circuit (added by me) that feeds the Powerlet socket (also added by me), or both. There's not enough information yet to determine whether these two issues are connected in more than a circumstantial way.
* It may be time to have a serious look at the 30 pin ground connector to see how it has fared the past 15 years.
* The wiring at the Powerlet socket may simply be loose. I disturbed it recently, adding a quick disconnect connector so that I didn't have to fiddle with the connections at the socket itself, every time I took the plastic off. It is also possible that the connectors I chose were too small for the job, though the only thing on that circuit is the USB charging port, charging my phone.
So, now I get to waste great riding weather this weekend, trouble-shooting.
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