[motocopter]

Today, I had the radio and shock settings, previously saved in the presets, all had reset while getting ready to head out for a ride. The radio was off and on as well. I switched off the key to "reboot" everything on the bike but, nothing came to life with the key in the "on" position. Rotated the key back to off-on-acc-on and nothing. Went into the house to drop off my helmet and jacket and when I return all power was back on (I left the key in the "on" position). Not able to duplicate the problem after moving some wire bundles, I rode off and stopped for gas. Same thing occured there except it was a good minute before power came back. Rode the bike home (5miles) without an issue. Presets remained. Eventually, I could duplicate the problem. A link to a video is here. I was expecting to see the radio quit - it continued to play.

What do you guys make of the voltage swing as seen on the gage? A meter to the battery only recorded down to 12.4-12.5vdc.

I did clean the negative terminal and cable but that was before this video. Since then, I found the positive side had some white, fluffy powdery stuff. The battery is still out.

This happened previously and I suspected that Garmin plugged into the acc socket was the problem. Then, I plugged my Blackberry into the aux audio and suspected that too. Those may be incorrect suspicions.

[URL=http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/ss159/Motocopter/2K5%20Goldwing/?action=view&current=DSCN1221.mp4][/URL]

 

[BladeRunner]

I know little about then1800's,but, on some 1200's the "contact base" was an issue. That's where the harness plugs into the bottom of the ignition switch. If you can get to it and wiggle it while the power is on..you may find a problem.
Another thing that may cause that is a cell going bad in your battery, by testing with a meter you may get enough voltage,but, to see if the battery is good it needs to be load tested.

 

[motocopter]

Update: I found the battery posts weren't allowing a good connection. The battery was replaced last year by the previous owner and it now appears the contruction didn't allow the cable terminals to line up correctly. The negative side had a thick brass washer to facilitate that cable lug to bolt up. The positive side had the same issue with a dirty lug. I removed the battery and put the Demel to the battery terminals to allow the cable lugs to properly seat.

Time will tell if this helps.