Hello all, my lovely 'new' bike has died on me

[Jonathan Cheeseman]

Firstly, I'd like to say hello to everyone here. I am a new Goldwing owner in the UK (that is new to ownership, not the owner of a new Goldwing!) and I've been looking around for a good forum to join. This seems like a first class site and I'm very happy to now be part of it.
However, I am far from happy to have to introduce myself by appealing for help with a failure on my lovely new machine.

The bike is a 2014 Nav/Airbag model with 18k miles on the clock, I've owned it since February this year and I am (mostly) thrilled with it .
A few weeks ago my wife & I were due to go away on an overnight trip but hit a problem before we even left our driveway. I fired the bike up and drove it out of the garage to park on the driveway just fine, and then switched it off. With the luggage packed we climed aboard, turned the key and went to start up. Nothing happened. Just nothing, it was as though the battery had dumped all its charge. I plugged the battery back into the tender and could see that the voltage was very low - around 5 volts as I recall I left it on the tender for a long time until the volts were back around 11.5 and tried to start upo. The volts instantly dropped to around 4 and stayed there.
I'm no electrician but it appeared that the battery (maybe the original one from 2014?) had simply stopped working. We went away by car instead....
I bought and installed a new battery and everything worked great again. We've used the bike only a handul of times but there has been no problem since that new battery...until today.

Again, we are preparing to go away for a few days and I went out to the garage to load a few routes into the Navi system. I turned the key to 'ON' and instantly there was a very loud POP which seemed to come from somewhere at the front of the bike, under the dash area. I could be wrong about that though but my instinct was that that was where it came from. The Navi screen stayed blank (unpowered) but the dials and oil pressure, sidestand & nuetral lights illuminated. I tried to start the bike but there was nothing, not a click or buzz or anything. I went indoors for a beer! During that time I scoured loads of online GL1800 fora but I couldn't find any clues.
I went back to the bike and switched on again. this time the Navi screen powered up. The headlights are on very dim (but the R/H main beam isn't working), the indicators and hazards work - albeit very dimly too. The horn almost works in that I can hear it trying to make a sound. The starter kind of buzzed a little, then stopped.
Again, it seems like the battery has just dumped all its power. Again, it looks like we'll be going away by car instead of the Goldwing

I know next to nothing about vehicle electrics and I admit to being all at sea over this. Does anyone here have an idea where I might start looking for the cause of this problem, and how I might look for it? I really would be so grateful to receive any pointers, and I thank you in advance of any help you may be able to offer.

[MikeB]

Have you given any thought o joining a Gold Wing Association or Club in your area? You do not specify where you are in the UK so I can not direct you to anyone that I have listed in my Association book so I am at a loss.

You need to find and make a friend in a Gold Wing Association. If you start there, you can possibly get some assistance.

[jinx]

Have you checked the voltage when the bike is running. Sounds like the alternator may not be charging the battery. with the bike running the voltage should be above 13.5 volts at at least 2000 rpm.
Can you jump start the bike ?

[Jonathan Cheeseman]

Mike,
Yes, joining the GB GW Owners Club is high on my list of things to do.

jinx,
Thanks for your reply. I will attempt to start the bike tomorrow and test the voltage with it running. Do you have any idea what the loud POP I heard was? It sounded like something breaking or blowing, and was certainly nothing like I've heard before on a bike. Whatever it was, it seems to have kind of partly fixed itself in the passing of 1 hour. I really am clueless!

[jinx]

If it was under/behind the dash the only thing I can think of would be the the turn signal flasher or the dash itself. but those are just guesses.

[Jonathan Cheeseman]

Now a little update:
The bike was left overnight plugged into the battery tender. This morning it showed 13.1v.
I borrowed a multimeter from a neighbour (I discovered today mine is faulty!) and tested the battery: 13.4v with everything turned off, 14.6v idling at 2000rpm. So it seems to me that the alternator is working properly.
My neighbour also loaned me his battery load tester. This shows that the battery is in good condition - also, the old battery (which I hadn't yet got around to disposing of!) is also in good condition.

The really strange thing is that the R/H high beam that wasn't working last night is now working! In fact, when I started the bike this morning and tested everything, it's as though nothing at all was ever wrong with the bike.
It's a head-scratcher!

[WingAdmin]

It sounds to me like you've got a loose/bad main power or ground. Check the wires and terminals on the battery, and then follow them to where they connect to the bike. Wiggle them around.

When they are loose, dirty or broken, they can have a connection with resistance that lets some current through, but not enough to run anything that draws a lot of current - like headlights, or starter.

Sometimes when it's loose, you turn things on, it heats up rapidly and burns the tiny connection, causing a SNAP noise, and then you lose most or all power. Sometimes vibration or wiggling things can fix it, temporarily.

It really sounds like this is what's going on for you.

[Terry D]

You might have a bad relay that is not always making a connection properly when you turn the key on. Check ground cable to the starter. Also the main ground cable from the battery to the frame,

[Jonathan Cheeseman]

It sounds to me like you've got a loose/bad main power or ground. Check the wires and terminals on the battery, and then follow them to where they connect to the bike. Wiggle them around.

When they are loose, dirty or broken, they can have a connection with resistance that lets some current through, but not enough to run anything that draws a lot of current - like headlights, or starter.

Sometimes when it's loose, you turn things on, it heats up rapidly and burns the tiny connection, causing a SNAP noise, and then you lose most or all power. Sometimes vibration or wiggling things can fix it, temporarily.

It really sounds like this is what's going on for you.

Thank you so much for that advice! I will do just as you suggested. Fingers crossed I can get to the bottom of the problem.
I've just been away on trip to Scotland for a few days - we chanced our arm and the bike performed faultessly throughout but if it's dumped all its charge twice, chances are it'll happen again.

[Jonathan Cheeseman]

You might have a bad relay that is not always making a connection properly when you turn the key on. Check ground cable to the starter. Also the main ground cable from the battery to the frame,

Terry, thank you for that advice - I will do as you suggested.