K5 SVS No ignition

[fizzwheel]

Right. Liz's bike popped its main fuse on the way home from work a week or so ago. She changed the main fuse herself at the side of the road after the RAC turned up to "Recover" her home, another story..

Bike ran fine for the rest of the run home ( 60 miles or so ) then has been sat in the garage for two weeks due to the weather.

I've had the bike out this afternoon to put the side panels back on, check oil, etc etc as she wanted to take it to work tomorrow.

Flicked ignition on to put bike back into garage and the thing is dead. No headlights, nothing on the dash, no fuel pump prime whizz noises. Nowt.

I've checked the main fuse and the 10amp ignition fuse and they are fine. I've checked the battery terminals and everything is nicely done up tight.

I've got the bike on the Optimate now so I can rule out whether its simply and flat as a pancake battery.

Anything else I need to check ? I'm also concerned about why it blew its main 30amp fuse in the first place. I'm guessing rubbing cables on the subframe somwhere is the most likely possible cause and could also be related to the problem we have now.

The hotgrips which are direct wired to the battery have power.

Thoughts, advice or ridicule welcome

Cheers

Fizz

[fizzwheel]

Panic ye not.

Been on the optimate for a couple of hours, turn on ignition now and the headlights glow like a lit cigarette end. So flat battery at fault I think.

I'll leave it on the optimate.

Typical woman, ride the thing then let the man sort everything else out!!! Glad you've sorted it though.

[yorkie_chris]

Yes, but...

If the live had shorted to earth then this could have popped the fuse, and this is where your battery has drained to while its been sat.

I'd check the wiring for shorts all the same.

Chris

Hi Fizz ,

I hope that the Rac did not let Liz down ... as you know I am a Patrol and I am aware that some of my colleagues get in a bit of a fright when they have to attend a bike and eer on the side of caution and get them recovered home or to the bike shop .

Whatever happened ....sorry

Caz.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I'd check the wiring for shorts all the same.

I had a quick poke around in the usual places and I cant see anything obvious, so if it is a short its hidden away.

Of course its entirely possible that the hot grips got left on and as they are direct fed of the battery thats whats flattened it.

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by caz650s

Hi Fizz ,

I hope that the Rac did not let Liz down ... as you know I am a Patrol and I am aware that some of my colleagues get in a bit of a fright when they have to attend a bike and eer on the side of caution and get them recovered home or to the bike shop .

Whatever happened ....sorry

Caz.

Yes they did.

3 hours to get to a stranded female at the side of the road. When they did turn up they turned up with a low loader and no tools and were going to recover her home.

Liz got the driver to shine the spot light onto the bike and she changed the main fuse herself. He said he had been told by control to recover her and not bother attempting to fix the bike.

It wasnt an RAC patrol it was a local guy working on behalf of the RAC.

Not the best result, but these things happen I guess. No harm done and she got home eventually.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Yes they did.

3 hours to get to a stranded female at the side of the road. When they did turn up they turned up with a low loader and no tools and were going to recover her home.

Liz got the driver to shine the spot light onto the bike and she changed the main fuse herself. He said he had been told by control to recover her and not bother attempting to fix the bike.

It wasnt an RAC patrol it was a local guy working on behalf of the RAC.

Not the best result, but these things happen I guess. No harm done and she got home eventually.

Thats really bad 3 HOURS!!!, doesn't really give me much faith in them!

Over the years I've had breakdown cover from Green Flag, RAC and AA, plus the network of independents that Carole Nash sometimes use. None of them has ever taken more than 45 minutes to get to me, but the last lot that came out (Independants from North Walsham in Norfolk) took 30 minutes to send one bloke out with a low-loader to recover my lightly crashed Bandit 600.

When he arrived the cops (both of whom were bikers themselves) were still checking it over and refused to let him drag it up the low loader with a winch on its good side, it was on the centre stand when he got to it. He wouldn't turn it over once it was on its side and said "it's f*cked anyway, what does it matter" - actually, it only cost me 20 quid and a new set of suspension dogbones to put it back on the road with no trace of damage. God knows how much damage he'd have done to the undamaged side dragging it up the load bed and on the 130 mile trip back here.

Bless the coppers, they called another company and arranged for them to recover it back to Bedford with a specialist vehicle, with Auntie Carole's go ahead. Naturally I told Carole Nash that I wasn't happy about the way their recovery firm dealt with it.

[jambo]

Wire the hot grips in through a relay so they can't be on with the ignition off.

I've not yet needed recovery for myself, but 4 hours waiting in Brighton with Raf once meant I got home to see the dawn and go to bed. Thank God that was summer....

Jambo