Posted by L.A.B. on 8/2/2009, 1:30 pm, in reply to "Strange electrical fault"
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<<If I turn on the left indicators sparks jump from the keys to the handlebar. This has happened in the past but seemed to go away when I tidied up the wiring in the ignition switch housing some years ago. Any ideas where the problem might be - I assume its possibly an earth fault?>>
From what you have said, the problem no longer occurs, however the only explanation I can come up with, is that the wire to the indicator warning bulb from the left side indicator circuit was somehow touching against the inside of the 'E' model warning light housing?
As the 'E' warning light housing and instrument pods are theoretically electrically isolated from earth by the the pod mounting rubbers.
Any leaking indicator current would then pass through the ignition switch casing and jump to earth when the keys touched any other earthed part of the machine.
Why left and not right?
It's important to know exactly how the warning bulb is wired to understand this:
Both indicator circuits connect to the warning bulb by a separate wire, which is why the problem only appeared to happen when the left indicators were flashing, as the indicator warning bulb does not connect to earth in the normal way, the warning bulb is simply connected between the two indicator circuits, so current passing through the warning bulb changes direction according to which set of indicators are flashing, the left side indicator circuit acts as the warning light's earth return when the right indicators are flashing, and vice versa, so there would be no spark when the right side indicators were flashing as the 'left' warning bulb wire would then be acting as the earth return side so = no spark.
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