The other day, I rolled into a motorcycle store to browse around after returning from about a hundred mile ride. Some came up to me and asked if I knew my bike was on, as the headlight was on. I was about to chuckle and tell him it couldn't be me, as I had the key in my hand. Turns out, the headlight, running light, and oil light were all on.

The engine ignition and starting circuits were off, and none of the turn signals did not work though, and, so the key shut off the motor and what not. I unpluged the ignition switch, and found no change.

I looked around in the area for shorts, and found none.

I ended up suspecting the regulator, so I swapped it out with one that didn't charge the bike, but did otherwise function. The lights functioned properly. I replaced the original regulator, and the lights again functioned normally. The problem seemed to have resolved itself.

Any ideas?

Hey, weren't you the one that did all that jumping of wires???

Lemme see if I can find something...

I can't figure it out WITHOUT taking my side covers off, so I'm gonna just say that the black/yellow wire that was pulled loose, was probably loose for this exact reason. If you can get an electrical diagram, trace the Blue wire coming from the turn signals - it should be on when the running lights are on. It goes into the junction box, but without taking my side covers off, I can't tell which pin number it is. Now that I think about it, this approach may be all wrong. The deal is that you are getting grounded in some manner through the regulator. So pulling the regulator is like turning off the switch. Once off, it stays off. Hmm... makes me think of the headlight... it's on a relay with a feedback circuit such that once it is triggered, it stays on, even if the yellow stator wire that triggered it goes off.

Confused yet?

Yeah, I've ordered a new regulator, and will install it when it gets here. And yes, I am the "wire jumper." Hopefully though, I've fixed the problem that has already claimed the lives of two regulators, and will not get a third. These things are getting to be expensive!