1974 R60/6 electrical issue

[Tux2424]

I ran into an issue with my electrical system yesterday after owning my R60/6 for two days.

I was riding and when I would try to activate turn signals, the red gen light would flash (turn signals would not illuminate). The headlight worked fine. Horn activation caused flashing gen light too (horn would not sound).

After I got off the bike, headlight would work but turn signals, horn, starter, and been neutral light wouldn’t come on. When I kick started, neutral light would work but starter, signals, and horn wouldn’t work. Again, headlight worked.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XnzgHm9Jrew


Any ideas?

[Kurt in S.A.]

Welcome to the forum! My initial thought is that the alternator is not working. When you demand more current like the horn, signals, etc., that just loads up the circuit more. The red light shines when the voltage from the alternator and that from the battery are not equal. If the alternator is putting out 0v, then the other side of the light is at 12v or whatever the battery is.

What sort of voltages do you see from your voltmeter when measuring across the battery terminals? At idle it might be only 13v or so, but when revved up, it should be approaching 14v and higher.

Kurt in S.A.

[Tux2424]

Thanks for the reply! I bought a voltmeter A few days ago and it should be arriving tomorrow. I’ll hookup to the battery first.

[SteveD]

When we see a thread describing weird electrical stuff happening a common response is to check the earths involved.

[Tux2424]

All fixed! It was a fuse! Hope it doesn’t keep on happening.

[Airbear]

Well done, and welcome aboard.

I had the same weird stuff happening to my old dear very early in my airhead journey. Corrosion and loose spring holders caused what seemed like possession by evil spirits or (I suspected) the fuses had morphed into transistors.

A good move is to replace the original fuses with modern blade types. I made up some cables and piggy-backed them onto adjacent blades on the terminal board. Also makes them a lot more accessible.