Lost speedometer, head and tail lights, dash lights

[csheafer]

I hope some one can help.
Im on the road.
Just bought this bike from a friends wife who just died from a heart attack in michigan. Driving back to Neosho Mo.
Ive checked fuses, removed the cowlings, checked for loose or broken wires.
Can find anything wrong.
Please help.
Stranded in Mansfield Mo.

[misft]

Did you check for a broken wire in the ignition harness?

[csheafer]

Woke up early bugged about this and wondering what the ignition relay was and where... because that just makes sence that this would be the cause because none of the things work until after it starts.
I found behind the headlight wires with in line buss fuses... and ones popped.
Ill walk to a parts store this morning and replace it.
Surely, this is it.

[triton28]

To eliminate the obvious since this is a new to you vehicle, the standard light situation is the headlight and running lights do not become energized until after the engine stop switch is set to run and the starter button has been depressed.
If depressing the start button doesn't cause the lights to illuminate one possibility is the thin Yellow wire from the heavy starter cable, connected at the starter solenoid, has come apart or is corroded and needs cleaning/jumping. Follow the heavy battery cable from the LH, Positive terminal of the battery to the solenoid. It is this Yellow wire which initially energizes the headlight relay, upon depressing the starter button, by means of passing through a rectifier and then feeding the headlight relay as a Yellow/Blue wire.
There are 2 R/BL wires at the headlight relay, one from the fuse block and the 2nd goes from the headlight relay to the lighting. Possibly the Red/Blue wire from the fuse block to the relay has an open circuit, (bad connection ), most likely at the big 10 pin plastic connector. Follow the wires from the fuse block to the big 10 pin plastic connector down beside the LH side of the battery box. There may be arcing which has taken place at this connector, in which case the R/Bl wire may have corroded and broken or is just not making good contact within this connector.
If this does not seem to be the case and you suspect the headlight relay is bad you can always remove/substitute the HEADLIGHT relay: R/Bl; R/Bl; Bk/W; Y/Bl wires by using the ACCessory relay: W/Y; W/Y; Bl/W; and Bk/Y wires. Pay detailed, logged on a notepad attention to which terminal of the relay each wire goes to! This is IMPERATIVE as all the terminals look the same when one is having a problem. Use what appears to be a locking jog of the plastic skirt of the relay as a reference for the wire locations.
These old bikes have seen a lot of differing atmospheric conditions over the years and I find corroded connections to be the most common problem.
I hope this may help you get back up and running with lights, provided of course that there is a problem. As I stated originally, this is how the lights operate upon starting the engine and if in fact that is what you are seeing occur, that is normal.
Dave

[bikerking.biz]

The Voyager XII's were notorious for having the wire connection block to the ignition switch zip tied too tightly in place. This after a while, sometimes years, would lead to a broken wire or more in the block connection. Also, this connection is prone to oxidation of the connection pins, so a unplugging of that block connection, cleaning it very well, and then applying dielectric grease to the connection before plugging back in should cure that problem.

[csheafer]

So, I took a day on the road to tear down the bike to get at all the wiring and checked everything suggested.
Could not find anything. Checked and rechecked.
On a positive note, the radio has not worked for a long time and I found the wiring issue there and repaired it.
Since we had break lights and turn signals we continued our journey just day time driving.
Took only back roads and put 1200 miles on her. It was awesome.
Got home and sceduled it for the mechanic.
Thanks for all the help.
Learned a whole lot about this bike and look forward to learning more.

[Van Voyager]

Which model of Voyager?

[csheafer]

So... after our trip I took it to West 60 in Neosho.
Guess what?
10 pin connector!
I looked at that but did not find a thing but they said one of the wires burned out... how come I could not find that is beyound me.
Bike is fixed, runs like a champ.
Thanks for all the help.