What did you do with your ST1100/ST1300 today?

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.
 
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Picture of my collar[emoji849] needles to say I'm checking all of my hidden connections and bolts now....
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Put 3M protective film on the top side of white saddle bag door where my boot would mar it alot. Takes time to get on there without bubbles, wrinkles and finger smudges.

Kinda hard to see it, but thats kinda the point. Hope it doesnt yellow fast.

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Today (well over the past three days), decided to take on the clutch slave cylinder. Had a slow steady leak from when I bought it last July to when I stored it for winter. Over the winter the temp change must of made it worse because I ended up with a nice puddle of brake fluid under my bike, which made me realize I was just going to have to do it.

Thanks to all of the useful posts on here, of people who have taken this on, it took about 5.5 hours over three days. Just took my time and it was no hassle at all and nowhere near the PITA I thought it was going to be. Just need to change the oil, and the coolant and I am good to go for now.
 
Diagnosed the proximal cause of my LED headlight outage: abraded / damaged power pigtail. New bulbs on order, as I do not see this as a manufacturing problem and therefore no call for a warranty claim.

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Less clear result on my investigation into the voltage fluctuation as indicated by the digital voltage readout built into my el cheapo plug-in USB charging socket, though I have more data now:

  • With nothing plugged into the USB ports, voltage reads as expected (~13.5 V with engine running, 11.9 when on battery only. Steady in both cases.)
  • With the USB cable that stays with the bike plugged in but not connected to my phone, no change in indicated voltage.
  • With phone connected to the same USB cable, indicated voltage drops to anywhere between 6 and 9 volts and fluctuates rapidly. Phone indicates it is charging but clearly was not able to keep up on Thursday- by the time I got home after two hours of commuting, the battery was down to 10 percent of capacity. Phone does NOT complain of "slow charging".
  • Swapping out USB cables does not change the observed behavior.
  • Same behavior observed regardless of which of the two USB ports on the charger I connect to. Both are labeled 5V, 2.1 amp.
So, either there's summat askew with the charger (it's open to whatever weather seeps in through or under the cover when bike is not in use) or something hinky with the phone / phone battery (no issues indicated when charging using a standard 110 VAC wall wart charger), or I happen to have tested with three separate USB cables all of which are bad (seems highly unlikely).

Any suggestions as to how I might test the charger's integrity?
 
Ordered a lithium battery to replace the Yuasa that lasted <1 year (grrr). I've got lithium on my other bikes, it's great, and I shoulda never 'cheaped out' when the ST needed a new battery last year.

Other than that... Decent weather here (finally). Gonna go out for a ride and suck the little remaining life out of the Yuasa :)
 
[QUOTE="ibike2havefun, post: 2143762]

Any suggestions as to how I might test the charger's integrity?[/QUOTE]

So it sounds like u narrowed it down to the usb charger. Something similar happened on the tiger and caused an error code that cleared after changing the unit for another. It had wild fluctuation reading too.

You know the usb charger is properly connected at all points with no possibility of short or open.
(If using a lighter port check the connections.) It should not fluctuate that much, mine would only drop a fraction.
I would suggest it’s bad and the usb internals are malfunctioning.

On the ST I use a direct connection to the battery tender lead and route a usb and phone cable to meet the phone in the holder. It has no indicator so When testing it with a meter while ignition off the battery holds its charge with minimal fall off.



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I took my ST to get in a fight in Northern Cincinnati on a Saturday... afternoon

But at least I still got the bar right:237808
 
One more spring fix up completed. I re-assembled the front end, New PR-4 GT, installed the forks with the rebuilt Traxxion Dynamics cartridges. They had about 60 K on them since installed. The ride and handling was causing me some concern. It had been about 20K miles since an oil change, and inspection showed one of the plastic spacers was broken. I inspected and cleaned the brakes: replaces the fluid. I had already completed the rear with cleaning, greasing the splines, and cleaning and flushing the flushing the brake. My clutch fluid leak was fixed with a pair of new crush washers at the slave cylinder banjo bolt.

Yet to do: valve clearances, new hoses, and repair the driving lights.

Fortunately I have the two CB's to ride now that the weather is turning. I just need to get the ST in shape early enough to shake down before the NewSTOC / NATSTOC ride.

Jim
 
Son, Joe, showed up this morning to pick up his Valkyrie, so I decided to get the ST inspected with him.

I had a marker light out, next to the left headlight. Replaced it, but apparently missed the socket, and it was only in the rubber housing. After it got lost somewhere in the fairing, we went to AutoZone for another. Replaced it in the parking lot, and went to the local dealer for our annual inspection.
Sat on, and checked out the new ST1800.
Inspection done, we headed back home, and convinced Brenda to come along to lunch. I had to re-install the backrest, and then we were off.

We rode down to the Vanilla Bean, for lunch, and enjoyed being outside, dining and talking. Back home, for a total of 63 miles, round-trip.

Steve :04biker:

p.s. Dropped the ST 2x in the Bean's parking lot!! Gravel, and the wider new seat caused the first, and I parked it on a root, which had the bike near vertical
 
Well, I did about 200 miles in the Kentucky twisties, pulled off for a break, misjudged a slope, dumped the bike and broke a footpeg. After my buds quit laughing at me they helped me get it off the ground and then laughed at me some more. I need a new RH MCL Sporting Touring peg if anybody has one lying around.
 
Diagnosed the proximal cause of my LED headlight outage: abraded / damaged power pigtail. New bulbs on order, as I do not see this as a manufacturing problem and therefore no call for a warranty claim.

??? Question ???

Did the wires below the protective sheath get damaged? From those pictures it looks like just the nylon/poly got rubbed, it did it's job and protected the wires within.
 
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