Cut out in rain?

[Jay64]

Has anyone had an issue with their bike cutting out in the rain? I was riding in a really bad thunderstorm, got soaked from head to toe. Was in it for almost an hour, then the bike suddenly cut out on the interstate. Stock charge wires burned out so I had wired in an aftermarket charger. When the bike charges in this way, if it is turned off the SOC meter will not go up. I had remembered this halfway through the charge, so when the batteries were full SOC showed 50%. I figured I could ride until it got to zero, then I would have "about" that much distance to go still. Bike SOC went to zero and about a mile later the bike shut off. I pushed it to an offramp that had an over pass to give a break from the rain. While I was there I checked voltage and it was about 40% still remaining. that indicated it should still have some range left. I tried to restart it and it worked. So I rode it the rest of the way home on surface streets limping along at 30 mph just to see how close I could get to home. It made it the rest of the way. I had previously rode the bike with the SOC at zero, but it was at zero at the start of the trip. So I don't know if maybe the bike cut out because the soc went to zero (usually EM cut out by LVC and not what is displayed, but I'm not sure of all the functions of the brammo. I heard afterwards that the previous owner had problems with the bike in the rain. Has anyone else experienced similar issues in the rain. It is curious if the rain itself caused it that it ran for an hour in the rain, and then restarted and continued to ride in the rain.

[HadesOmega]

I haven't heard of any in the rain but I have heard of people power washing their bike and they sprayed the kill switch and it caused the bike to not startup.

[jazz999]

Where is the kill switch located?

[Jay64]

Handle bar?

[Jay64]

It was interesting that when I turned the bike off and checked everything out, then turned it back on it started right up. I was able to ride it about 13 more miles in the rain after that. I would think if it was because water had got into something it wouldn't start back up till it dried out, and further rain would make it happen again.

I was just riding it today and it was riding fine, dry day, in the 70s. I came to a stop at a light. When I went to go again, the bike had cut off while I was sitting and I had a red triangle flashing. I was in an intersection in rush hour traffic, so I quickly pushed the bike towards the curb to let traffic pass. As I was pushing the bike, I cycled the kill switch off and on and then hit the start button and it started right up and I was able to get on my way. All happened really quickly, was able to cycle it in the amount of time that only one car passed me. If I was riding while this happened I definitely would have been able to carry speed while coasting, cycle the bike, and get back under way without having to stop or slow down significantly. Now that I know it cycles like this I will be prepared to just do that the next time it happens. But it would be good to know if there is something causing this that can be fixed to prevent it from happening again, or at least not very often.

[HadesOmega]

Sorry yes the handle bar one

It could something up with the switch might want to replace it or open it up and spray some contact cleaner on it and some silicon lube.

[Shinysideup]

I've had water be a problem twice:

First, a semi passed me in a low spot on the freeway and sent a wall of water over me and the bike. Bike cut out. Wiggling the plastic multi-wire connector behind the headlight allowed the bike to restart. My fix: blow the connector out with compressed air, spray in contact cleaner, plug wires back in, fill voids with dielectric grease, wrap the whole mess in vinyl electrical tape. No problems since.

Also had water enter the "throttle" assembly. Didn't kill the bike but resulted in no go when twisting throttle and then sudden VERY forceful takeoff. Scary. Happened about a block away from dealer where tech blew out the assembly and sprayed contact cleaner. I sealed up the seam in the assembly with a strip of vinyl electrical tape. No problems since.

OTOH, you may have just had an electrical gremlin. I've had the bike shut off a couple of times under hard acceleration. Started up again just afterward, once while rolling on the freeway with my holding the clutch in, turning the run switch off and back on again, and pressing the START button. Sure wish this bike a 4-way flashers!

[Jay64]

I rode it a few blocks today and a few times when I got off the throttle the red triangle would start flashing. When I got back on the throttle it went away and the bike would drive.