Went to start the bike for a bit over the weekend, and noticed that both head lights were not working with key on or engine running. I shut the bike off, and jiggled the ignition key in the ignition switch, and the lights came on for a second. But they went back out. It seems I may have a defective ignition switch, but I did not have any time to dig into this more thoroughly. Any ideas my friends? Has anyone had an issue like this? Is this a common fault?

Thanks!

 

I've had the start switch stick and do this. If it doesn't return all the way, the relay won't restore power that it takes away during cranking.

 

+1 for above.

Been living with that for awhile. If you keep your headlight on high beam and your dash light says so you'll always know your lamp's on

 

seperate your lights from the ignition.
fit a Ring 'Smartcom' caravan relay - 12 volt
then you can start the bike and load is reduced, to the voltage comes up.
i had it on my 1000f, started the bikee warm at idle and the lights didn't come on straight away, a blip of the throttle and on they came.
lets you know your charging is ok too, and if charging fails, your lights turn off and give you enough juice to go on home.
clever little box.

 

Nice idea that.

 

That's how my Stratoliner works. The lights don't come on until it fires up.

I was thinking about an AUX Li battery and small inverter for camping. That would help keep the charge up while running and omit a battery switch. Its actually smaller than a battery switch.

How about this one.

 

Thanks for the ideas. I'm away on travel this week, but as soon as I get back I'll do some investigating.

When things were working, head lamps and high beam indicator would come on as soon as ignition switch was turned to ON. Now, head lamp and high beam indicator do NOT illuminate with ignition key on. So I'm thinking the ignition switch is acting up, as I see these indications before I even touch the Start Switch. But I will review in greater detail once I'm back home.

Thanks again!

 

I had similar with my old S3 Speed Triple on the bloody day it was being sold.
The guy took it for a test ride and came back only to tell me that the horn didn't work. We stripped the bike down to the bare frame pretty much, on my front garden (I would have walked away) and with a Fluke multimeter in hand the ignition switch had a sweet spot about a quarter of one position away from the latch point where the ignition should have been on where none of the electrics fed from the ignition had any power, lights, horn and other bits but turn it back just a little and it was fine!
He still bought it!!!

 

Read this again.

The point demon is trying to make is, the lights do come on when the IGN is switched to on. When you press the START button, the head light is disconnected as to send all power to the starter and not overload the battery with demand. When the START button is released, power is then restored to the headlamp. Both 74demon and wooferdog, in this thread, have stated that they are plagued with this condition.

I don't know if the START button can be taken apart to clean contacts but, I would definitely start looking there first. The IGN switch is on or off. If its running, I doubt its an IGN switch problem.

 

In my case, the start button was not returning all the way. A little wd40 and working it a few times solved the issue. Cheap and easy..... Just the way I like it!