Electrical problems

[TarMack]

Looking for some help:

I bought a Hawk 250 last year. Changed oil, adjusted valves, bled brakes, stiffened forks, full exhaust, Nibi carb, beefier chain and sprockets... all before starting it. Got it working pretty well. 1200 miles on it. Went for a 6 hour adventure ride. Bike running great. Stop at mountain top for photos. 30 min later, turn on key and nothing. No lights. Found battery swollen. Bike did start and got me home.

New battery installed, no lights work. Bike runs. Any ideas???

Thanks,

Darin

[TominMO]

Check fuses, check electrical connector tightness throughout the harness.

[Crossbar]

Electric start work or did you have to kick start it?

[david3921]

Check voltage at the battery while running. Should be at 14 to 14.5v. If higher, than rec/reg is bad and frying your battery and maybe burnt out your lights if incandescent.

[TarMack]

Electric start works with new battery installed. No lights work. Lights are all LED.

[Thumper]

The fact that your electric starter button feeds power to the starter solenoid and the bike starts means that the main fuse is OK. The CDI is getting power with key on, and the starter relay is getting power from the starter button. So if I am interpreting your post right, your lights must be a separate issue.

Another way to say this is that power from the same circuit that powers the CDI, headlights and turn signal flasher unit are common (fused together on the main fuse). And it starts, so the main circuit is OK.

For the turn signals, the flasher unit is powered all the time when the key is on. The power goes out of the flasher unit to the turn signal control switch and power then goes to left or right turn signal led lights "power in" side, and the led lights are grounded on their second wiring lead.

So when the turn signal switch is in left position, The flasher passes power transiently (flashes) through the turn signal switch to front and rear turn signals (left). The front and rear turn signals usually have an independent ground but check the harness to see where they ground. So the flasher unit should be powered all the time when the key is on, and it passes power through the turn signal switch when you select left, or right turn signals. You can check that the flasher unit is getting power when you turn on the key. Then you can check the grounds. An ohmmeter can verify that the ground leads at the turn signal LEDs are grounded (or they won't work).

For the headlight, it is a similar story, but the headlight switch on the left controls should be powered when the key is on. And, the power passes through the on/off switch to the hi/lo beam selector. From the hi/lo selector, it powers the headlamp directly (hi or lo input, usually an H4 connector). The headlight has a ground lead that you can test for proper grounding with an ohmmeter. That would be the third pole on the H4 connector.

I think you probably have a bad ground on the lighting system, but you can check for input power (key on) at the flasher unit and in the multiwire plug that goes to the lighting control unit (handlebar lighting switch cluster). The turn signal switch (input) and the headlight switch should BOTH have 12V when the key is on.