Why do I have a flashing brake light on the dash?

[Allen42]

Just disconnect one of the 'add-ons' at a time, and see what happens. :dontknow:

Mind you, now that you've told us about that 3rd Brake Light, even tho they're a pretty good quality item that usually works well without issues IF they're installed correctly & there's nothing already a bit dodgy in the rest of the Braking System &/or Power Supply, can you guess where MY money would be going??

Check out those 'IF' bits! :thumbup:

I'll have to wait until it happens again with some frequency. Hopefully not while on a roadtrip.

And I hafta ask, is your "..."cheap" Amazon gel battery..." rated at 350 cca with 21 a/h over 12 hrs MINIMUM, and has it been fully charged lately, by a proper charger, not just by a 'tender'??

FWIW, here's the battery: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V76AV00/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Snoking1127]

NO! But you might try using a clean probe of some sort to check that the floats, which are actually cylinders with a wedge-shaped top, aren't turned enough that despite the fluid level being high enough, the float/s isn't/aren't rising up enough to indicate that, cos the high side of the wedge on top is being caught under the edge of the fill tube?! :dontknow: Even if it's not that, it's better that your brake fluid is slightly overfull than even spot on, as we know from experience that some angles can make a 'full brake reservoir' still send a 'low level' warning, and that occurs way less often if your reservoir level is juust a touch high! Mind you, the wedged top thing is not all that likely, but I have seen it happen; and a few pokes with a clean probe to let the floats spin back into their correct orientation generally fixes those particular problems. :thumbup:

If it's not that, then you're most likely looking at those aforementioned micro-switch problems &/or a brake/tail-light not working properly; or possibly it's just a weak battery/battery connection causing the possibly dodgy/spurious messages that you're getting because there's just not enough quality power available at the particular moment one of the computers happens to be looking at the brakes for some reason?! Poor power supply; dodgy response to a computer; warning light on the dash; bike won't start; nothing else works!! :banghead: And you did say that all this started just after you added yet another power load onto the battery - have you tried disconnecting the video camera for a day or two to see if that makes any difference?? :dontknow:

Still, even brand new supposedly fully charged batteries can cause this sort of problem, especially if the terminals aren't clean & tight, &/or the earth connections on the other end aren't making a good connection! I had one where the battery lead to the lug on the end had been poorly connected at the factory - the lug was tightly secured onto a bright clean patch of metal on the frame, but the cable had a poor connection where it was inserted into the lug! :cus: I can tell you that wasn't an easy one to find, but it was a Battery/Earth connection issue, and not any of the other things the computers were identifying by their various codes!!

And I hafta ask, is your "..."cheap" Amazon gel battery..." rated at 350 cca with 21 a/h over 12 hrs MINIMUM, and has it been fully charged lately, by a proper charger, not just by a 'tender'?? :dontknow: These Spyder things of ours are EXTREMELY Power Hungry, and while other vehicles might get away with a slightly less capable battery/power supply, these WON'T! :lecturef_smilie: In fact, if your battery load tests at LESS than 12 volts EVER, then there's a good chance you'll have spurious 'errors' popping up that cause all sorts of grief & concern, UNTIL you replace the battery with a good, well charged battery with an appropriate spec level!! And beware, even brand new batteries can fail! :lecturef_smilie:

I had trouble this morning with my Grey AZ 2018 giving a flashing brake light. Brake fluid was a little low, but I think the issue was that the expanible diaphragm was the real issue. As it was fully extended, maybe going down it the camber(s) far enough to hold down the sensor flot.

 

[Allen42]

I figured out way to cause mine, and a reliable cure: If I do not set the parking brake before turning it off, and get the dreaded beep-beep; if the bike moves at all during this, the next startup will show the red flashing brake/alert light; but usually still work normally, but sometimes it won't start. If it won't actually start or go into gear, or the flashing doesn't stop, turning the bike off, with the parking brake set, and move the key at least 4-5 feet away from the ignition until the flashing stops, this will "reset" it without fail, at least on my 2019 RTL.

I finally put the pieces together after intentionally putting it into neutral to push the back back into the driveway manually; and the flashing alert happened again after that.