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electrical problem

2K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  swifty2014 
#1 ·
My 2004 Shadow 750 Aero has always been totally reliable till today. When I hit the starter switch I heard a small click and neutral light went out(no cranking, just dead, no response to further starter sw or ignition sw.) After about half hour after checking fuses tried starter again and again click and neutral light is gone and all is dead. Battery charge is good.
Would greatly appreciate any suggestions.
 
#4 ·
Also @swifty2014's items should be checked, cuz your battery won't charge properly when the bike is running with loose/corroded terminals. I'd bet your headlight is awful dim, if lit at all, when you turn your switch on. Making sure it's on low beam will help reduce draw on the battery until you get the bike running. On many bikes, the cranking circuit cuts the light and accessories to allow the starter to hog the juice so the light goes off while cranking. If your connections are tight, my vote is for a dead cell in the battery.
 
#3 ·
Loose or corroded battery terminals or grounds could do that.
Or ignition switch contacts.
 
#6 ·
I think it may be time to pull the battery and go to your local parts store and have it load tested. Your tender likely only will give an indication of acceptable voltage, but you may, in effect have a 12-volt battery that doesn't have enough amperage to light a bulb. Just for kicks, if you have a 12v bulb and socket lying around, disconnect the temder and jumper the bulb across the battery terminals and see if it is producing enough juice to even light a bulb. Just a thought.. Or just take a piece of 18 ga. wire long enough to bridge the battery terminals and see if you get a resounding SNAP!/spark.. If not, your battery may have voltage, but too much internal resistance to put out any amps.
 
#7 ·
Also check your start switch, sometimes the contacts get corroded or burnt it can also affect your lights.
 
#8 ·
Best way to eliminate a battery as the cause of your woes is to jump it with a non running car battery. Then you can do all the testing you need to with no battery interference.
 
#9 ·
That's a good idea and work from there.


I had a battery that was reading 12 V but when cranking it dropped right off under 8 V. Your battery may show 12 V but not have enough power to actually crank the bike. I replaced my battery, problem solved. Thing was I could hear the starter struggling after a long ride so I knew something was wrong. Has your starter been struggling before this? If so battery is dying or it's not being charged right. Corroded battery terminals or bad ground can cause the problem.



I just cleaned my starter switch because my headlight stopped working. All the contacts were green and pretty well corroded, easy fix. I would take a look at those, it was all of a 15-20 minute job for me. Just watch out for the ball bearing when you open the switch. It's small don't let it roll away.


If all that checks out Time to look at the starter, etc. etc. There are only so many parts on a bike. It's not really that hard to figure out what's going on.
 
#11 ·
It's pretty weird with a battery sometimes. I did a lot of battery testing on cars with fancy machines. It always seemed liked the ones that read 12.8+ after a good charge were the ones that failed the load test after.
Good ones stayed close to 12.6.
 
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