Any idea on how to proceed with this Electrical Problem?

[nealperkins]

I have a 2016 F3L with a good battery.

This morning I attempted to start my machine and after the dash lit up for about 1 second. Then everything went dark. Maybe 20 seconds later, the fender lights blinked on and off with some sort of pattern.

I grabbed the manual and a light to inspect the fuses in the left side top box. All good. Then I turned the ignition again and all the normal lights appeared to be correct and I was able to reset the brake.

However, it would not start. And, there was a rhythmic clicking coming from that referenced fuse box. Question: Are those black boxes below the fuses relays? Because one, or more of them was the source of the clicking.
I tried to identify which one by touch, but they all ‘appeared’ vibrating, perhaps because of the same mounting.

Can you shed any light on how I should proceed? BTW, going to the dealership is NOT a good option for me (about 3 hours, one way).

Can you suggest how I should proceed?
Thanks!

[Peter Aawen]

You say you "have a 2016 F3L with a good battery" - what makes you say that??

I ask, cos it sounds very much like your battery just isn't up to the task of both starting the engine and running all the computers at the same time! I'd suggest that if you can, you put your battery on an appropriate charger for a goodly while (8 hours maybe?) and then try again, if possible taking volt meter readings before charge, after charge/before trying anything, after turning ignition on but before trying to start, then during start cranking, and after trying to start the engine &/or while it's running after start? Or failing being able to do that, take the battery out & get it to a battery shop/auto repair wherever you can get it load tested....

Whatever, what you've described really sounds like a battery problem, and these things are renowned for being power hungry battery users!

[Peteoz]

Neal, I agree completely with Peter, that these are bad battery symptoms…..the quick light up, the clicking, the odd blinking lights. I had exactly this, a couple of weeks ago. As he asks, how have you determined your battery is good? Have you run a multimeter on it while starting to determine the minimum voltage under load?

Pete

[Knizar]

If I were a BETTING man, "& I AM", the fellas from down under are correct! Get another battery! Battery cables & cable ends have been known to get badly corroded and not carry enough voltage to the starter, also check voltage at the starter. Good Luck Bill

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

If I were a BETTING man, "& I AM", the fellas from down under are correct! Get another battery! Bill

with others ....BUT ....before you do, make sure the connections on your Battery arefirmly connected .... if you don't have STAR washers on those terminals, put some on .... you can use a car battery to jump start, leave car motor off, that battery is way larger than the Spyders ...... good luck ... Mike

[Mikey]

Check BOTH ends of your ground cable!! Clean and tight!!!

[Rednaxs60]

The Spyder is a power hungry machine. If the battery is weak in any way, cell starting to go and such, issues happen. Have the battery load tested and the internal health determined. I use this battery tester, quite good for the price: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[2dogs]

If you have an OEM battery, you are pushing 6/7 years on it, and it's at or near the end of its life. Plus, you don't know how long that thing sat on a shelf before you got it. All the suggestions above are spot on. Good luck......

[BajaRon]

You can't be sure a battery is good without an appropriate load test. Just because it reads 12+volts, our your charger says it's fully charged, does not guarantee a good battery. As mentioned above. The Spyder is very electrically sensitive. Too much voltage drop at any point will send the computer into wacko land.

[nealperkins]

Well, I was really hoping it was the battery (2 years old, continuously on a trickle)
So, I jumped the Spyder from a running car. All the lights were certainly up full brightness but the starter would not turn. The clicking from the solenoid/relay went away but zero action on the starter, even after 5 minutes of running.
I didn't mention it but, I live in Fort Myers and several months ago we had 145 mph winds here...with 3.5 feet of storm surge. Even though the Spyder suffered no damage, there was certainly a lot of salt spray....evident everywhere. As I have used the Spyder several times since that salt can be a factor.
Bummer.

[Knizar]

Sorry to hear that, you thought there was no damage, but that is probably why you have trouble now! Check your insurance policy!

[Peter Aawen]

Well, I was really hoping it was the battery (2 years old, continuously on a trickle)
So, I jumped the Spyder from a running car. All the lights were certainly up full brightness but the starter would not turn. The clicking from the solenoid/relay went away but zero action on the starter, even after 5 minutes of running.
......

NOOO!! I hope you haven't destroyed anything important!! NEVER do that on a modern vehicle - see later; but first....

That bit can hide a failing battery, and isn't really a great idea if you want the best life from your Spyder/Ryker battery - you really should try to only hook it up to a battery maintainer (and NOT a trickle charger! ) only when you're not going to be riding for more than a week or two; and even if you are riding it more often than that, you should still try to make sure that you do at least 1 run per week that's at highway/open road speeds and lasts longer than an hour or so - cos running for about 30 mins or so like that is pretty much just enough charging from the onboard system to put back the charge used in just ONE start! More frequent shortish runs will be gradually depleting the battery's charge and stressing it over time; and simply leaving it connected to a 'trickle charger' and not a multi-cycle Battery Maintainer will be over-charging it and shortening its life too, if not destroying it outright within about the first 2-3 days!

Still, while it is sounding more like it might be something OTHER than your battery, I'd STILL strongly suggest that you get your existing battery checked & load tested properly; and if it won't maintain close to 12 volts under starting load, it is very likely there's not enough grunt left in it! These Spyder things REALLY ARE power hungry, and while anything better than about 10.5 volts under starting load USUALLY means a car type battery is still sorta OK, I've found with every Spyder that I've been asked to help get started, anything much less than 12 volts with the starter spinning is unlikely to get & keep it running for long!!

And you didn't tell us what year car you used when you tried to jump it - so if it was anything less than about 15 years old &/or if it's EURO 5 or 6 Emission compliant there's a good chance that you STILL never got enough grunt into the Spyder battery to get it started, even after 5 mins of running the car engine - cos modern cars have 'Smart Alternators' that rapidly recharge their battery immediately after starting (pumping in anything up to 18 volts, easily enough to kill a Spyder battery &/or its computers! Which is why you should NEVER try to jump start your Spyder from a RUNNING car!! ) and then they rapidly drop their output down to just enough to keep the car & its' accessories running.

So by doing what you did the way you did it (which might be fine on a pre-Euro 5/1990 car, but is not really safe for anything newer/with a computer/smart alternator ) when you tried to jump it, you could've either destroyed the Spyder battery completely &/or blown one or more of the computers internals (hopefully not, especially if you're still getting those clicks after you disconnected... ) or if you didn't connect the batteries before starting the car, then because of the way smart alternators work, you're more likely to have just done nothing at all to/for the Spyder battery, not even help charge it up!

So you could try connecting the car battery to the Spyder battery while the car is NOT RUNNING, then leave it connected and not running for a while in an attempt to share its charge a bit with your Spyder's battery before trying to start it again, still connected but STILL with the car not running.... only unless you've got really big fat heavy duty jumper leads, you might need to leave it connected for a good while beforehand (maybe an hour or so??) but if the Spyder battery has a dead short/any failed cells, doing that might just kill the car battery too!

OR you could get the Spyder battery load tested properly & see if it really does keep something close to 12 volts in it under starting loads, cos in my experience, anything much less than that really just won't hack the pace for a Spyder, ESPECIALLY if it's not a warm day &/or the battery has any failed cells....

Just Sayin'

Good Luck!!

[Jetfixer]

Follow Peter's advice above, but also be on the lookout for loose connections. Especially check for a loose ground on the frame behind the battery. You can see this ground through the left side wheel well. Also be alert to corroded terminals and wire lugs. I also believe from your description that you are in need of a new battery.