Passenger Intercom

[glider]

What was done to correct the problem with the battery and the terminal on the cable.

Highly unlikely in my experience that all these parts could go bad at once. More a problem with the proper diagnosis to begin with IMO. Seen it many times where they finally fix the problem by throwing enough parts at it and not by process of elimination if it were done right.
Have you checked all the grounds on all the main cables where they join the frame and engine as well as the pos cable on both ends?

 

[MississippiHog]

What was done to correct the problem with the battery and the terminal on the cable.

Highly unlikely in my experience that all these parts could go bad at once. More a problem with the proper diagnosis to begin with IMO. Seen it many times where they finally fix the problem by throwing enough parts at it and not by process of elimination if it were done right.
Have you checked all the grounds on all the main cables where they join the frame and engine as well as the pos cable on both ends?

POS attachments are all good. New Battery two days ago. Its solid.

They diagnosed the issues as they popped up. First the Starter relay, fuse then the System Relay. They did well to identify what was keeping the bike from running. However, once the last fuse on the ignition went belly up, the opted to keep it and dive deeper.

They did reattached a ground that was barley hanging on on the front end just under the speed and RPM readouts on the forks. Its was as I understand one of the main grounds. It was loose...

As I stated before clearly it was a cascade failure NOT ALL of these failed at once.

As I stated before, the symptoms first started when we have burned out two consecutive mic's on headsets on the passenger connections.

 

[glider]

As I stated before, the symptoms first started when we have burned out two consecutive mic's on headsets on the passenger connections.

Just a thought here, has anyone checked the output of the charging system to see if it is over the limits like a bad regulator overcharging the system?

 

[MississippiHog]

Just a thought here, has anyone checked the output of the charging system to see if it is over the limits like a bad regulator overcharging the system?

Yup, it was checked...no issues...

I think this is a matter of multiple failures because of the bad battery operating on low voltage.

 

[dangerdan]

After reading Gliders post about checking the charging system I came up with my own theory.

If the battery cable was loose on the bike and created sparks hot enough to melt the metal, is this not any different than trying to jump start a bike from a car battery with the cables arcing at the car battery. Remember this occured over a period of time as evident by the melted battery terminal.

I think the spikes/transient votage may have confused the charging system while this was happening and created votage spikes which blew the headsets and probably created a few other problems.

 

[MississippiHog]

After reading Gliders post about checking the charging system I came up with my own theory.

If the battery cable was loose on the bike and created sparks hot enough to melt the metal, is this not any different than trying to jump start a bike from a car battery with the cables arcing at the car battery. Remember this occured over a period of time as evident by the melted battery terminal.

I think the spikes/transient votage may have confused the charging system while this was happening and created votage spikes which blew the headsets and probably created a few other problems.

Well, I think you are close, the charging system is functioning and trying to account for the low voltage, but could not compensate for the spikes.

I think the low voltage damaged the relay's

But, understand the front intercom is not affected nor has it ever been affected. The radio/CB/Intercom are on the same circuit as the Starter and System Relay.

bizarre

 

[glider]

After reading Gliders post about checking the charging system I came up with my own theory.

If the battery cable was loose on the bike and created sparks hot enough to melt the metal, is this not any different than trying to jump start a bike from a car battery with the cables arcing at the car battery. Remember this occured over a period of time as evident by the melted battery terminal.

I think the spikes/transient votage may have confused the charging system while this was happening and created votage spikes which blew the headsets and probably created a few other problems.

I think you're onto something there Dan. I never got that deep into the thought process on that one.
On the battery terminal, don't think there would necessarily be sparks causing the meltdown however, the resistance while cranking in this case, as with any poor electrical circuit, is what heats things up and the melt down occurs then but I like the idea of the voltage spikes as you mentioned.
If you suspected a bad connection on any battery as being the problem and the engine doesn't crank, by holding the key in the start position for a few seconds and then carefully touching both battery terminals, the terminal with the poor electrical connection will be the hot one. Then you remove and clean both terminals anyway.

 

[dangerdan]

Looks like MississippiHog solved his problem. Only time will tell.

Dont forget to post if problem comes back

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

I think you're onto something there Dan. I never got that deep into the thought process on that one.
On the battery terminal, don't think there would necessarily be sparks causing the meltdown however, the resistance while cranking in this case, as with any poor electrical circuit, is what heats things up and the melt down occurs then but I like the idea of the voltage spikes as you mentioned.
If you suspected a bad connection on any battery as being the problem and the engine doesn't crank, by holding the key in the start position for a few seconds and then carefully touching both battery terminals, the terminal with the poor electrical connection will be the hot one. Then you remove and clean both terminals anyway.

What Glider is saying is a high resistance connection will get warm or hot to the touch...this could be at any of the thick battery/starter connections and ground connections...as temperature can be used a handy troubleshooting tool after running starter no longer than 5-7 seconds prior to disturbing anything to find the root cause, if one of the connections is very hot perform preventative disconnection, scraping all contact/connections and coating with dielectric grease to minimize corrosion on reassembly might mask the symptom, the problem would be solved in either case. :bigsmiley24:

 

[MississippiHog]

I think you're onto something there Dan. I never got that deep into the thought process on that one.
On the battery terminal, don't think there would necessarily be sparks causing the meltdown however, the resistance while cranking in this case, as with any poor electrical circuit, is what heats things up and the melt down occurs then but I like the idea of the voltage spikes as you mentioned.
If you suspected a bad connection on any battery as being the problem and the engine doesn't crank, by holding the key in the start position for a few seconds and then carefully touching both battery terminals, the terminal with the poor electrical connection will be the hot one. Then you remove and clean both terminals anyway.

Hmmm, come to think of it, the Ignition fuse that blew three times continues to get hot even after replacing the Starter and System Relay.

Still don't know the actual fix, the gods at the local Harley Shop are troubleshooting as we speak. Will know more tomorrow..