Flickering lights, grounding issue on headlight CA72.

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 2:27 am

D&D

All I can think of is that a connection somewhere is getting hot after a few seconds switched on. This is consistent with you adding more load and / or waiting longer for the problem to appear.

It's such a bizarre symptom, though. It is either a connection or component that gets hot and then somehow goes high-resistance and cuts the juice momentarily re-starting the cycle.

Good hunting.... !

G

deafanddiabetic wrote:So, tried a few things tonight.

I tried disconnecting the headlight ground and just running the tail light with a ground wire from battery frame connection to the tail light bracket. It would stay on fine until I pulled the brake lamp switch and then it would light for awhile and start it's flickering again.

Next, I disconnected the tail light and tail light switch and left the headlight plugged in.

The headlight did not flicker until I turned it onto high beam, then it began to flicker.

I tried running a ground wire from the headlight bulb socket straight to the battery frame ground as well and it didn't seem to make a difference.

I'm thinking of retracing all of my wiring to see what might not be connected correctly, for all intents and purposes it's connected everywhere as all functions are working correctly.

Well....sort of.

Brickyard · Post by **Brickyard** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:28 am

May we have a photo of:

Combination switch:

All harness wires running from aft to forward(5 photos, maybe?):

Fuse wiring:

Thanks.

-Brickyard

Brickyard · Post by **Brickyard** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:35 am

Oh, and your headlamp wiring

Brickyard wrote:May we have a photo of:

Combination switch:

All harness wires running from aft to forward(5 photos, maybe?):

Fuse wiring:

Thanks.

-Brickyard

Brickyard · Post by **Brickyard** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:39 am

Also, your ground cable going to your battery ground.

LOUD MOUSE · Post by **LOUD MOUSE** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 7:03 am

Rectifier wiring. .........lm

Brickyard wrote:Also, your ground cable going to your battery ground.

revlover · Post by **revlover** » Tue Nov 10, 2015 4:40 pm

Rhythmic flickering of lights makes me think capacitance might be involved. Is the rectifier stock or is it a modern rect/reg combo? Point type or electronic ignition? Does the symptom appear when the engine is not turning? We just need a few more clues and I'm sure we will figure it out very soon.

deafanddiabetic · Post by **deafanddiabetic** » Wed Nov 11, 2015 11:46 am

revlover wrote:Rhythmic flickering of lights makes me think capacitance might be involved. Is the rectifier stock or is it a modern rect/reg combo? Point type or electronic ignition? Does the symptom appear when the engine is not turning? We just need a few more clues and I'm sure we will figure it out very soon.

It is the original rectifier and points ignition. I have not ran the bike yet as it wouldn't run anyway due to the power flickering in and out. It does fire over just fine but that flickering effects the spark as well.

I may update to a newer rectifier, I just replaced one on a CL450 and it worked like a dream. It was also like $5.

I'll get this updated when I can get out to the garage. I just bought a house and will be moving in 45 days so things are a little crazy at the moment.

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Flickering lights, grounding issue on headlight CA72.