Need ideas

[Monty]

Ok. I am having the problem with the headlight icon staying on my display, and getting the flashing red warning on my '83 Venture.

 

I started out with the headlight, and the battery flashing, because I just put a new battery on, and the terrible whine in my speedometer. I did the 1k ohm resistor fix, and took care of the battery icon...great fix, thanks.

 

I also removed the instrument panel and greased the speedo bushing with white lithium grease...works great...thanks.

 

I then resoldered all of the connections for the big white connector, plus a few more cold joints that I found.

 

After all of that, the only problem I still have, is the headlight icon, and flashing red light. All of my lights work fine.

 

Any more Ideas, before I get out the schematic, and pick the bike apart wire by wire?

[bongobobny]

Are BOTH of the tail light bulbs work? If one is out that will trigger the light alarm. The red light is flashing because of the light error indication...

[Monty]

Yes, both tail lights work...plus the led license plate frame. The error is in the headlight, not the taillight.

 

I am an electronics engineer, so if no one has any idea on here, then I need to dust off, and get to work finding it.

[Dano]

There are 2 light indicators, the big one for the headlight, the little one for the other lights. The LED brake light may be causing it, not enuff load on the circuit for the monitor. Put the regular bulb back in and see if that cures it.

 

Dan

[Monty]

But it is the large headlight indicator that is the problem, not the small taillight one, so the plate frame should not even affect it...it's on a different circuit.

[sgn]

Check through all of your grounds. There are a bunch of them.

 

When I took care of my cold joints, I also had a bit of a problem getting the large connector to the CMS seated into position. I think RandyA made the suggestion to add a wire tie as a strain relief to that harness and next time I am in mine I will add that.

 

I have done some repair work on boards before, (Been a few years) mine still showed a fault in the headlight so I opened it up again and found that I had not gotten a good job done on one of the pins, made that adjustment and all is now good.

 

Is your high and low beam indicator working on your dash, I also had a blown bulb for low beam and had to get that in before the blinking woulsd stop.

 

I find it amazing that these things work as well as they do after all these years!

 

Just tell everyone that "blinking red light" lets you know that you have reached the max speed on the speedometer - that will shut them up.

 

Steve

[Venturous Randy]

Could it be the Reserve Light Unit? I forget what it is, but there is some kind of warning to let you know your RSU is not working. It may be that the high beam indicator quits working.

Hey Steve, I opened up the clutch slave I got from you and it also had the square rubber insert that covers the hole where the bleeder it. KEWL!!!

RandyA

[scotty]

As I understand the system (in my limited Knowledge), The CMS is looking for a voltage drop to the headlight indicating that there is a good load. Lack of a voltage drop would set off the alarm. The reserve lighting unit then kicks in and turns on the other element. If low beam is out then high beam turns on irregardless of dimmer switch position.

There seem to be a lot of redundant backups, I guess the engineers didn't want you be in the dark.

On the upside its just a little red blinky light, how hard could that be to fix?

[capn eddie]

i changed tail light bulbs on my 87 and had the red warning light and changed the led bulbs back to regular bulbs and the light went out. your led plate light will cause the red light to come on. try unhooking your plate light and see if the light goes out.

[Monty]

I will try that today. Wouldn't that make the small taillight icon come on, instead of the large headlight icon?

 

I know my headlight is working on both high and low beam. The blue high beam indicator also works as intended. I've never seen the white one work.

[timgray]

LED tail lamps will set off an indicator that LOOKS like a headlight warning indicator. they have to have a load resistor added. I went nearly insane one weekend after upgrading my brake lights. Trying to figure out why my headlight indicator was on again.

 

The way the info center works is coils of wire around a magnetic reed switch. if there is not enough current flow to make a large enough magnetic field it will not close the reed switch and have the indicator on. I gave up on the LED tail upgrade and painted the reflector white inside the tail housing.

 

I have yet to dissect a Reserve lighting unit, I would love to get a schematic of one down on paper and figure out a repair procedure.

[Monty]

You say "LOOKS" like a headlight indicator.

Here is a pic of it. It IS the headlight indicator, not the taillight.

Nevertheless, I will try these suggestions when I get back home later today.

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/13thAFMonterey/Display2.jpg