losing power on the road :(

[onizthegnome]

just bought a new lowbeam bulb today from autozone, its a sylvania H7 cool blue. everything was fine on the way home until the bike suddenly lost almost all power and the tach needle spun clockwise all the way past 14. the engine was clicking and i tried to downshift but i was still losing speed and couldnt get the engine to rev so i turned into a small road. i fiddled with everything and finally i flipped on the high beams and the bike regained all power. i rode home and tried to go back to low beam but everytime it would lose a good amount of power. i also just replaced the stock battery with one from walmart about 6 months ago. on top of that, ive been noticing the headlights flickering a bit at night. not sure if its because i spliced my integrated turn signals into the stock turn signal wires or if walmart has terrible batteries.

[onizthegnome]

apparently it might be tank venting problem or CDI??? i have a tank bag, i doubt that is causing any problems. *scratch head*

[onizthegnome]

well i have to leave for work, ill see what happens tonight and hopefully i dont stall while cornering.

[KELPHYN]

well if everything was fine before you changed the bulb, chances are it's the bulb.

[onizthegnome]

well, it did it again. ran fine for about 5 miles and then lost revving power and headlights dimmed to a bare minimum.

[dubojr1]

Sounds like you have an electrical issue. Change/remove that bulb immediately.

The high and low bulbs are the same. Try switching them around.

[DaBlue1]

Originally Posted by dubojr1

...Sounds like you have an electrical issue.

+1
Check your battery connections. http://www.ninjette.org/wiki/Battery

[onizthegnome]

whats weird is that it happened before i touched the bulbs, after i changed the battery, after installing brake light modulator, and after splicing turn signals into stock ones. i will find out the culprit soon!

[Custom Seat Creations]

Reverse what you did one step at a time to see which is causing the problem.

[alex.s]

you have a short in your low beam circuit

[onizthegnome]

Originally Posted by alex.s

you have a short in your low beam circuit

are you kidding or are you serious? lol

[onizthegnome]

after fiddling with various mods, i have concluded that the battery is a POS! it is now completely dead even after charging. lesson of the day: do not buy walmart batteries!

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by onizthegnome

after fiddling with various mods, i have concluded that the battery is a POS! it is now completely dead even after charging. lesson of the day: do not buy walmart batteries!

its easy to kill batteries with bad wiring and shorts. if its not a sealed battery make sure its filled still, if it is a sealed battery get a new one. then before putting it in, find the short in your electrical system and fix it. an obvious sign like "it works when one light is on and doesnt work when the other light is on" should not be overlooked. if you are cautious you might want to check the charging output of your stator and the output of your voltage regulator just to make sure they weren't damaged also

[onizthegnome]

Originally Posted by onizthegnome

after fiddling with various mods, i have concluded that the battery is a POS! it is now completely dead even after charging. lesson of the day: do not buy walmart batteries!

scratch that. the screws on the battery terminals were a bit loose. that is what was causing the loss of power. i think it needs some locktite haha.

[alex.s]

how were you charging the battery? with the bike or with a charger? the connections to the bike should not effect the charging of the battery when the bike is off and you are charging it with a charger.

[onizthegnome]

i have the charger hookups on top of the terminals. the screws are screwed on top allowing everything to contact but they were loose. my guess is that the vibrations shook the terminals enough to make the bike lose power while on the road.

what i dont get is why the high beams corrected it the first time i lost power on the road.
second time wasnt so lucky though.

[onizthegnome]

but yeah, i tightened them up good and went on a 50 mile ride. my bike is flawless now

[alex.s]

something doesn't make sense here. either the highbeams was a fluke or there is something wrong aside from the loose battery connection.

if the connection was loose, it should be the opposite. it is possible for a loose connection to provide a limited amount of power which when the brights were on was not enough to power the cdi or ignition coils properly. but for it to start working again when you start drawing more power by using the brights... that just doesn't make sense.

i am still convinced you have a short in your lowbeam headlight setup