parking light trap

Parked the bike at work today and as it was raining I flicked the key to lock the steering and then off inside. When I came out 5 hours later I noticed the parking lights were on and very dim. Tried to start it but no joy it would not turn over on the starter.

I had to bump start it. Two points which may be of interest for future reference:
1. Be very careful when you lock the steering head as one extra movement of the key leaves the parking lights on.

2. The bike starts very easily on the bump even with a completely flat battery. Short low incline - wet road
- 4 klm/h on the speedo - second gear, bounce on the seat as you let the clutch out and away she fires.

Been there and done the same, although I was lucky enough to get a tip off from another employee so I got back to mine 20mins later. I'm thinking of disabling the parklight part of the switch if its possible

Me too

Difficult to disable as it runs thru the ign switch and also effects other stuff if I recall correcctly. I think it has an effect on the rear light even when once turned to "on" if you mess with it.

Best option if you don't want too much hassle is to remove the park light globes to reduce current draw if you forget and leave em on plus when ever you park the bike, get yourself into the habit of pressing the hazard light switch before locking the ign. Turn the key to "park" then back one click. If your hazards are flashing (easy to see compared to park lights) then you've left the ign switch in the wrong spot.
I still do it on my Vee and the mrs Wee as the ign switch is the same.

So do you think it is time for a new battery Aussie ? I would'nt think it should go flate after only 5 hours of very low wattage draw.

I did the same baqck in January. When I removed the battery to recharge it I couldn't believe how small it was I had expected something of normal height but the Bandit battery is a midget of a thing. I'm not surprised is has poor capacity. I like dhula's advice so I don't do it again.

dhula wrote:Difficult to disable as it runs thru the ign switch and also effects other stuff if I recall correcctly. I think it has an effect on the rear light even when once turned to "on" if you mess with it.

Best option if you don't want too much hassle is to remove the park light globes to reduce current draw if you forget and leave em on plus when ever you park the bike, get yourself into the habit of pressing the hazard light switch before locking the ign. Turn the key to "park" then back one click. If your hazards are flashing (easy to see compared to park lights) then you've left the ign switch in the wrong spot.
I still do it on my Vee and the mrs Wee as the ign switch is the same.

Already changed the front lights to Leds to reduce the current draw, might have to do the tail light as well. Problem for me is I work 12 hour shifts so I doubt the battery would survive anyhow.

So you don't think you can just disconnect the wire at the ignition switch?

Just get the "feel" of where lock is and you will know when its gone another stop.
I can't see how you can do it accidently. The park stop is a fair way past lock.

2wheelsagain wrote:Just get the "feel" of where lock is and you will know when its gone another stop.
I can't see how you can do it accidently. The park stop is a fair way past lock.

I've only done it once, I was in a hurry to get into work, twisted the key, didn't pay much attention to it. Since then I'm checking the lights are off before walking off.

I'd still prefer to eliminate the risk

so..whats go`n on here,as i`ve got a gen2, i dont know what your all talking about,

1-when you turn your ignition on, do your lights come automatically, (and i mean your main lights)or do you have to turn them on?

2-if they come on automatically,why do you need parkers?

i can only guess if you`ve got parkers,then you can turn the main light off?

mtbeerwah wrote:so..whats go`n on here,as i`ve got a gen2, i dont know what your all talking about,

1-when you turn your ignition on, do your lights come automatically, (and i mean your main lights)or do you have to turn them on?

2-if they come on automatically,why do you need parkers?

i can only guess if you`ve got parkers,then you can turn the main light off?

I don't know about your bike but later ones have Park-Lock-OFF-ON. If you turn the key to lock and go to far you will turn on the park lights, If you don't notice this you can flatten your battery.

Yep, I think it is kind of a rite of passage.. I had the bike a week and did it and it went flat overnight, which I thought was suprising anyway) but now I make sure they are off everytime.. I think you only do it once.

i figured that out by reading the post,that didn`t answer my question?

madmax wrote:

mtbeerwah wrote:so..whats go`n on here,as i`ve got a gen2, i dont know what your all talking about,

1-when you turn your ignition on, do your lights come automatically, (and i mean your main lights)or do you have to turn them on?

2-if they come on automatically,why do you need parkers?

i can only guess if you`ve got parkers,then you can turn the main light off?

I don't know about your bike but later ones have Park-Lock-OFF-ON. If you turn the key to lock and go to far you will turn on the park lights, If you don't notice this you can flatten your battery.

I can’t see the point but they are for illumination while parked curb side. Probably a mandatory thing in some obscure European hell hole.
Turn the ignition to “park” and everything is off except the tail light and the twin globes in the headlight.

Yes headlights automatically come on when ignition is “on”.

cheers

2wheelsagain wrote:Just get the "feel" of where lock is and you will know when its gone another stop.
I can't see how you can do it accidently. The park stop is a fair way past lock.

+1

LED park lights and an LED tail mean that mine will run ages without flattening the battery

LED park lights and an LED tail mean that mine will run ages without flattening the battery

kewwig wrote:LED park lights and an LED tail mean that mine will run ages without flattening the battery

I've been think of changing my tail light for the same reason

does that mean twice as long kewwig :-P

Looks like most here have done this. I left mine on because i got off bike on the right side and removed key with left hand instead of right.(don't normally do that). anyway thats my excuse.

madmax wrote:So you don't think you can just disconnect the wire at the ignition switch?

No, as the wire that comes out of the switch when it is in park is also the same wire used when the switch is in the ON position and it is used for a number of things like fuel pump, rear lights and so on.

You could take the switch apart and sort it by breaking the circuit (most likely a metal strip) inside the switch. I never tried this as I CBF going to that kind of trouble but I see no reason it won't work so long as you can get the ign switch back together properly.

Easier to do what I explained IMO.

I did the same thing in march locked the steering not thinking about the parking light, Lucky for me about 2 hours later a mate of mine parked next to me and noticed my bikes parking lights on and informed me that i had left the parkers on

Just returned from the garage to check how easy/hard it is to leave the lights on. When you set the steering lock you: depress the key and turn anticlockwise and when it is in the correct position the key pops up and you remove the key. But if you still have turning pressure on the key when it pops up there is a soft click which sets the parkers. If you are in a hurry or not thinking it would be easy to do.

The thing which surprised me most was the ease of bump starting - at walking pace and in second gear. I would be confident in my ability to bump start it on the flat with just my body weight applied to the seat. I feel a lot better now as I was always concerned about getting it going if I was on my own and on the flat.

Here is my solution to parking light woes.
Obtain a waterproof fuseholder and 10amp blade fuse.
Obtain two wire taps/power takeoffs (a squeeze on connector that allows you to add an extra wire to an exixting circuit. I consider soldering a much better solution but these products will do a similar job if soldering is not an option.

Hopefully, the diagram is pretty self explanatory.



The modification is done on the cable between the ignition switch and the six pin connector just below.
For the less experienced it may be simpler to remove the ignition switch from the bike and work on the bench.
It may be necessary to remove a little of the sheath covering the six wires between the switch and the connector.

If anyone can see any flaw in these details please feel free to comment - I'm very hard to offend

Actually, there is a far better solution as suggested by others here.
1. Fit LED globes to park light, tail light and license plate light.
2. Make sure battery is less than 2 years old, otherwise replace it.
3. Use a "smart charger/battery tender" to ensure your battery is fully charged.