RR-S owners, if something electrical stops working, check . . .

[danketchpel]

10 hours ago, Ben500RR-S said:

OMGosh!  The nightmare bundle of wires from Hades.  They've got crimped connections, all sorts of splices, 3 into 1, 2 into 1, as plain as day in your pictures.  The grounded wires didn't even get the benefit of a covering/shrink wrap, just left wide open to chafe/open up/ground out against another crucial component.  

Animal nests are far more orderly than what Beta has put together for us to modify/fix/repair/replace.  

First sign that I have issues with stuff not working, I'm not wasting time going in to find and repair anything-because it means that other things are going to go not long after, I will just drop the $130 for a new harness and replace the entire thing and be done with.  

 

The bundle disgusts me, can you tell?  

The problem with a new harness is that it will be the same rats nest as the old one, no progress, just a repeat of the same headaches. 

I think I'd rather strip it off the bike, tear it open and fix it properly. The one thing I'm seeing is undersized wires where it counts. Not all need to be beefy, but some do where they need to carry a decent current load. I'm 75% sure a huge part of the charging problem is due to undersized wires and the crappy connections. The balance is an undersized alternator for a EFI dual sport bike. It really should be 350-400w.

Edited November 5, 2018 by danketchpel

[Ben500RR-S]

1 hour ago, danketchpel said:

The problem with a new harness is that it will be the same rats nest as the old one, no progress, just a repeat of the same headaches. 

I think I'd rather strip it off the bike, tear it open and fix it properly. The one thing I'm seeing is undersized wires where it counts. Not all need to be beefy, but some do where they need to carry a decent current load. I'm 75% sure a huge part of the charging problem is due to undersized wires and the crappy connections. The balance is an undersized alternator for a EFI dual sport bike. It really should be 350-400w.

That is true.  I just suck at working with wires and the connectors but I do like the NTE heat shrink butt splices I had seen on the other thread.  

I'm grateful that you, and others, are troubleshooting this as I have a bad feeling that I'm going to have the same issues down the road.  

[Techee]

New to the Beta forum, coming from a Honda. 

I just purchased a used 2017 480RR.

Thanks guys, for doing all the tedious work on this issue. Right now my bike is running fine, but you have given me a winter project to get the preventative maintenance done!

 

[ibanez6224]

I'm having the same issue. Was searching google and came across this topic and made an account specifically to respond here. I'm having the same issue. I noticed my high beam has been flickering. I was planning on replacing it anyway, so I picked up a cyclops LED kit and sure enough, I have no low beam. Started pinching some of the wiring bundle and the low beam would flick on and off. High beam works just fine. It seems as though there's a fault somewhere in the wire bundle, I think I've isolated where it is, but like you mention with so many splices it's hard to be sure.

What was the part number on that replacement harness you picked up? I've got a 2018 350RR-S I'm having this problem with.

[Ben500RR-S]

I remember it being labeled as the Front Wiring Harness for Services.

If you are pinching and things start working/not working, the wires are compromised. If you take the time to open up the bundle, you will see the damaged wires, it is a cluster for sure.  

 

2 hours ago, ibanez6224 said:

I'm having the same issue. Was searching google and came across this topic and made an account specifically to respond here. I'm having the same issue. I noticed my high beam has been flickering. I was planning on replacing it anyway, so I picked up a cyclops LED kit and sure enough, I have no low beam. Started pinching some of the wiring bundle and the low beam would flick on and off. High beam works just fine. It seems as though there's a fault somewhere in the wire bundle, I think I've isolated where it is, but like you mention with so many splices it's hard to be sure.

What was the part number on that replacement harness you picked up? I've got a 2018 350RR-S I'm having this problem with.

 

[ibanez6224]

On 2/2/2019 at 11:38 AM, Ben500RR-S said:

I remember it being labeled as the Front Wiring Harness for Services.

If you are pinching and things start working/not working, the wires are compromised. If you take the time to open up the bundle, you will see the damaged wires, it is a cluster for sure.  

 

 

Reviving this thread. So I broke my wiring bundle open. I have no damaged wires, but I think I isolated the issue to one black wire in the center of the bundle that traces back to another bundle of wires. I honestly can't see where the issue might be so I'm sort of lost. The headlight just turns off completely when I'm at full steering lock to the left.

[Ben500RR-S]

2 hours ago, ibanez6224 said:

Reviving this thread. So I broke my wiring bundle open. I have no damaged wires, but I think I isolated the issue to one black wire in the center of the bundle that traces back to another bundle of wires. I honestly can't see where the issue might be so I'm sort of lost. The headlight just turns off completely when I'm at full steering lock to the left.

That is the nightmare that is the bundle of wires. They are so small and there are so many.  

The headlight was the first thing that had gone on and off on me last winter.  I'd pinch the bundle in places and the light would come on.  

It is truly a suck to have to spend $130 or whatever the new harness costs, then to take the time to replace it but in my case, because it was affecting battery charging, and directionals, I had to do it.  

The wire(s) could be damaged/pinched and as we don't have Superman's X-Ray vision, one just can't see that kind of damage as the vinyl coating/jacket looks intact.  

[ibanez6224]

1 minute ago, Ben500RR-S said:

That is the nightmare that is the bundle of wires. They are so small and there are so many.  

The headlight was the first thing that had gone on and off on me last winter.  I'd pinch the bundle in places and the light would come on.  

It is truly a suck to have to spend $130 or whatever the new harness costs, then to take the time to replace it but in my case, because it was affecting battery charging, and directionals, I had to do it.  

The wire(s) could be damaged/pinched and as we don't have Superman's X-Ray vision, one just can't see that kind of damage as the vinyl coating/jacket looks intact.  

So do you just suggest replacing the harness?

[MarantzManiac]

16 minutes ago, ibanez6224 said:

So do you just suggest replacing the harness?

yes!

[Ben500RR-S]

Have you checked the connections to the headlight/the headlight bulb?  You'd have to hope that it was something as simple as that. 

 

I remember the first time I had to go into my bundle/harness.  There were wires that were obviously damaged, and I fixed them but it only took until the summer or 2-3 months before other shyt started going wrong/not working/intermittent, the most important being the battery charging.  

I had replaced the harness, made sure that I gave the harness all the slack that I could around the steering stem-by the steering lock and after almost a year-I think I had done it this past August, the problem has not returned.  

[ibanez6224]

2 minutes ago, Ben500RR-S said:

me last winter.  I'd pinch th

 

4 minutes ago, Ben500RR-S said:

Have you checked the connections to the headlight/the headlight bulb?  You'd have to hope that it was something as simple as that. 

 

I remember the first time I had to go into my bundle/harness.  There were wires that were obviously damaged, and I fixed them but it only took until the summer or 2-3 months before other shyt started going wrong/not working/intermittent, the most important being the battery charging.  

I had replaced the harness, made sure that I gave the harness all the slack that I could around the steering stem-by the steering lock and after almost a year-I think I had done it this past August, the problem has not returned.  

I've checked the connections at the headlight. There's a section of the harness that is bent and I can push on it and the headlight will flicker. So I figured that the problem is in that section, but when I open it up, there's no visible damage to any wires, or any odd bends or pinches. So the problem has to exist behind the insulation, which sucks.

[ibanez6224]

9 minutes ago, Ben500RR-S said:

1 hour ago, Ben500RR-S said:

Have you checked the connections to the headlight/the headlight bulb?  You'd have to hope that it was something as simple as that. 

 

I remember the first time I had to go into my bundle/harness.  There were wires that were obviously damaged, and I fixed them but it only took until the summer or 2-3 months before other shyt started going wrong/not working/intermittent, the most important being the battery charging.  

I had replaced the harness, made sure that I gave the harness all the slack that I could around the steering stem-by the steering lock and after almost a year-I think I had done it this past August, the problem has not returned.  

 

Do you happen to know what replacement part you ordered? SKU number by chance?

[Ben500RR-S]

In the link below, go to the Electrical Equipment for the year/model of your Beta.  

 

It will be #18 Front Wire Harness for Services

 

http://partsfinder.onlinemicrofiche.com/betadealers/partsfinder.htm

Edited May 13, 2019 by Ben500RR-S

[Ben500RR-S]

When one thinks about it for a short second, there are no negatives to replacing the harness at all. 

 

1.  One verifies if the OEM harness is faulty/damaged.

2. One can grease/seal all the connectors when re-installing the new harness as it is NOT hard doing the swap.

3.  If the harness is good, one has a known, good, spare harness.    

[ibanez6224]

Welp, I think I found the issue. This is the same area where I pinch and the headlight flickers. On the upper side of the crimped bundle there's a wire loose that's almost pulled out of the crimp joint. Why is this crimped anyway?? Seems like it would be easier to solder this joint. 

I'm going to solder it up tonight and hopefully that fixes things. If not, I'll get a new harness.

[Ben500RR-S]

Do what you can to give all the slack you can to the area where the bundle gets tight going up the steering stem.  

Hopefully you can remedy that/those wires and never have a problem with them again.  

[ibanez6224]

Well, I tried. I still can't find the problem. I'm gonna have to place an order for the front wiring loom. I have a big 3 day ride coming up first week of June. Hopefully I can get it here in time. Gonna cost me $144.

Being honest, I've spent a ton more time maintaining and fixing issues on this bike than I've been riding it. Hopefully this is the last big issue.

[Ben500RR-S]

My battery and the charging system on my bike has been acting up, ever since this past winter.  I think I may/must have wires that are once again compromised in my front harness for services as I'm now wondering if the wires going wherever they need to be going are damaged somewhere in the loom.

 

This past winter, I'd start up my bike using the Weego JS12 and the bike started up just fine, no matter how cold it was/is, down to at least single digits F.  

Then, if I would ride a bit and shut the motor down not long into the snowbike ride, when I'd go to re-start, the battery would be dead and even kickstarting it would not get the bike to light but once hooked up to the Weego, all would work fine and once I had some run-time on the cold engine, for the rest of the ride the battery would charge and I would not need the jump pack for the remainder of the ride. 

 

Now, this past spring, as I would leave my headlight on and go for a short 4.5 mile ride to work, when I'd get out of work, the battery would not start the bike but thankfully , the kickstarter would work.  

 

Same with today when I was riding with my boy.  Headlight OFF the entire ride but even with  it off, somehow the battery was/is not getting charged and  I can only suspect that it is the wires in the harness, unless the stator is faulty but, when running, with no headlight on, I'm seeing from 13.6V to 13.8V on the voltmeter on the Voyager.  

 

Hmmmmmmmm.  

 

I did take some time to unclip almost every harness connection I could find and reconnect to see if something was loose or corroded but all was in place and had looked good. 

 

I might just have to replace the harness, again.