1150GSA gear indicator switch possibly/probably playing up?

[mspenz]

I'm beginning to think that I'm some sort of electrical Jonah! The RID failed and I replaced it the other day, everything worked perfectly well afterwards so I washed the bike....therein might lie the problem?

Went out for a wee run tonight and within a few miles the gear indicator would not show gear 6, it stays on 5, all the rest of the positions are ok and the RID displays full tank when it's full and the temperature rises and falls gradually as it should.
I've sprayed the gear switch with copious amounts of de-watering and ACF50 on the assumption that if water can get in then so can WD40 and the like, I'm going to leave it overnight to see if it helps matters any but if not...any suggestions?

Most of the other gear indicator problems I can find are with erratic displays but my one is only failing to display 6th gear, if I have to change the unit do I have to find a small child with small hands and advanced technical skills to do the task There ain't much room under there.

I had to extend the lead on the RID by soldering on the lead from my failed unit but made 100% sure that the wiring matched exactly so I don't think that there's anything wrong there.

Mike.

 

[kirby morgan]

I see in your last post #5, that you bought a second hand RID for R850, may well be the case the original bike was a 5 speed and not a newer 6 speed box.
Just a thought, but maybe worth contacting Motorworks and clarify. Just seems strange that all other functions on the RID are normal.

 

[mspenz]

That could be annoying if that is the case, the guy told me that all units are the same and the only thing that differs is the cable length!
I'll give them a call right away.

 

[mspenz]

The unit they sent is for the later R850rt which is a 6 speed according to the invoice, I have to get the part number off the back to double check but am pretty sure that it was the same as my original.
It may just be a faulty unit not showing 6th position for some reason and a nice gentleman said that they can easily send out another unit just to plug in for a quick simple check.

I'll take the RID out again at the weekend to double check the numbers anyway.

Thanks for your suggestion though, that would have been nice and easy...

Mike

 

[warmshed]

the sensing wire from the switch are yel/blk, yel/blue and yel/white. they put -ve connections to the gear indicator circuit. These wire just have combinatioins of -ve to give the display nuber. I cant find what combination gives what gear number. Does anyone have this info? You could just connect an earth to these wires in pairs and see what display you get. would prove out the wiring at least.

 

[fatnfast]

You said the new RID worked perfectly until you washed the bike. I take it that it did initially show the full complement of gears then? Assuming the connections you made are all still good, then I would, as you said, suspect the gear switch on the back of the gearbox. When mine finally gave up the ghost I was able to strip and clean it to get it working again. I used bathroom sealant to seal the rubber boot cover after it was cleaned. They can give a real variety of different displays when faulty, mine eventually said I was only ever in 3rd or 6th I think.

Removing it is not to difficult unless you still have a cat fitted or you have huge sausage fingers . It is just clipped in place. Use a ziptie to compress the clip arms to remove it (and refit). Trace the wires back to the connector. I found it easier to remove the starter cover to follow where it went. Good luck.

 

[mspenz]

Proud owner of large fingers!

Erm, now that I really think about it I can't remember if it did ever show 6th after being replaced, the more I think about it the less sure I am
I took it for a short run into work the next day but that's too slow and short to get beyond 5th but it's when I went out for a couple of hours in the evening that I noticed after a few miles (don't normally look too much at the gear indicator in the upper gears).

The gear switch runs to a separate plug under the tank and will then be connected through to the RID plug, I would imagine that because I am getting a perfect display from 1 to 5 the wiring and connections should all be good, unless 6 uses an entirely separate connection? If the circuit works as described by Warmshed above then the combinations of -ve wires will send a particular resistance signal (somehow?) through to the LCD display on the RID and in turn display the associated number of gear.
Could I have altered the resistance of the cable by soldering in a splice??

Changing into 6th doesn't even make the display flicker and it just shows a solid 5.

I'm going to go for a long run on Saturday and plan to take things apart again on Sunday, including the selector switch so at least I'll know where to look next....RID? I might struggle with my long sausage fingers though

Thanks for all the advice and information, appreciated.

 

[warmshed]

Its not the resistance that changes but combination of -ve on one or more of the three signal wires, yel/white, yel/blk & yel/blue. Its a simple 3 digit binary code. eg. wires 1&3, wires 2&3, wires 1&2, wire 1, wire 2, wire 3. As you can see there are 6 options, each displays a different position. gears 1-6 and when all three yellow/stripe wires are connected to -ve this then shows neutral (0).
This is how the K series (5 speed) do it as well.
The only combination not used in the 5 speed is wire 3 with -ve on its own, therefore logic would suggest this is used for the sixth gear display, which is just the yel/blue. It is doubtful that hey would have changed the signals to indicate 1-5 gears.

This is how the K series (5 speed) do it as well.

The 1200 uses a resistance plus speed to engine revs sensing too, a completely different method.

 

[mspenz]

Ok, but binary...
I sort of understand logic/truth gates but can't quite cope with binary!
I'll have a good look at things tomorrow and see if I can narrow it down a bit. Thanks for the input

 

[mspenz]

I've had mixed success!

Firstly removed the plug and lead for the gear selector switch, that was fun , damned wire winds it way through every small space imaginable between the plug and the switch but it does come out with the correct choice of swear words etc.

Taking the switch off wasn't quite so bad as I though it would be, I took the selector apart and everything looked ok with no corrosion but one of those pesky little brass pins was sitting very low compared to the other 2 so maybe not making a proper contact? I gave everything a good clean anyway and stretched all the springs a little to that the pins are now all the same level and sitting slightly higher than they were originally, put it all back together feeling quite smug, switched it on and....no gear display, only neutral.
Took the bloody thing off another 3 times thinking that I must have something in the wrong position inside but no joy....then I noticed the side stand down You have to take the side stand down for access, just remember to retract it again though!

Anyway, I now have 1,0,2,3,4,5 & E ???? wtf is E for? Could this still be a faulty display or does the RID unit on a R850RT display E (economy) when 6th gear is selected?

Bear in mind that everything worked ok until the original RID packed in so the lack of contact in the gear selector switch was just a coincidence and was about to cause a problem regardless.
The part numbers on both RID units are identical so could one still display E instead of 6?
Could it be that part of the LCD display is missing, but only for number 6 as 0 is ok as is 5

Mike.

 

[fatnfast]

I pretty sure E was used instead of 6 on earlier models. Sounds like it was the switch at the back of the box and you have fixed it.

 

[mspenz]

I pretty sure E was used instead of 6 on earlier models. Sounds like it was the switch at the back of the box and you have fixed it.

Well, I can live with E if that's the case

I've emailed Motorworks as well just to see what they think and it does show that not all RID units are the same after all

I'm happy though.

Mike.