long story made short. twice the light kit stopped working altogether. i get no signals, no headlight, no running light. then, after some time, it just magically begins to work. i did a great deal of work on it a while back, including lifting the sub-frame, and when all put back together i had nothing. next ride, i saw my headlamp in the bushes, sure enough, every was working perfectly. weeks go by without issue. i'm riding at night, a bit lost, stopped to consult the map in my partner's headlamp, and when i restart my machine, no lights. i fiddled around and smacked a few things and it came back, but about half-strength, running light only, very dim tail light. about 1/2 a mile and it all came back, strong as ever. about a month and a half pass, and TODAY i take it out of the garage (two weeks without a ride) and 5 feet from the driveway i realise i have no signals, no headlamp. nothing. i ride around the block and (!) there they are, working great. well, about half way to the bank, they quit. this time, they don't come back. i assumed something had worked its way loose or had become mucked up. i tore the head light off and re-seated each connector. i took the seat off and did the same. i fiddled with the wires as they enter the switch (which i hear can go bad easily) and nothing. not even a spark of life. any suggestions? it runs fine. i assume since the head/tail and both front/rear turn signals are out, i have something major going on.... like the switch or the battery? little help here?

i was informed by another TT'er that there might be a short in the battery which is common to Baja Designs equip? i think i'll take the batter off and see what happens. any other suggestions?
if you know something, speak up!

Call up Baja Designs. No one wil know better than them.

so far i've called them:
one tech was out to lunch and another was busy with a customer. the operator asked if i would like to leave my information for a call back. i asked if they would actually call me back, she said, well.... i can't guarantee it..' needless to say, no phone call has been received so far, but i only called this afternoon.

i've also submitted my problem online. i'm supposed to receive an answer within 24 hours.

we'll see how the customer service REALLY is in a day or two. you'd think with a problem as catastrophic as this, they should be able to tell me where to start. the kill switch and ignition still work on the control switch, so i assume that isn't the problem. that connects to the bike via a big white molex-like connector, so i assume the problem has to be behind that. i disconnected the battery and no luck. i re-seated every connector i could find, found no loose connections, no abraded wires... ARGHH. needless to say, i'm no electrician.

Thats too bad. Those guys really seem to know what they're doing, if you can get a hold of them. I would give them another call or two.

Do you have a test light? It looks like a screwdriver with a sharp end and a ground coming out of the handle (if you dont have one). Use it to check where you have power and where you dont. Also, check and ensure your system has a good ground. I cant think of anything other else that could be bad. Unless, the main terminals for the power lead is not crimped properly.

You can also use a multi-meter to check continuity of the wires. This will tell you if the wire is broken inside of the sheilding where you would not see it.

All in all it sounds like a grounding problem or a terminal problem. That would be the first two things I would check.

BobbySands said:

Hey there,
If Bajadesigns ever let's you down, you'd be the first.
I've gone thru 4 switches, all under warranty. They KNOW there's a problem with the old units, and have rectified it by using a different vendor to supply the handlebar switch.
They sent me (Free of charge) the new series switch, which arrived two days later- all good now!

When you call them again, ask for Lorrac..

Check the ground, we're all guilty of going off half cocked looking at connectors, etc. only to find the ground is bad or poor, got me many times.

BobbySands said:

Likely they are not going to have a definitive answer for you from tech support unless the problem is known and documented. That would mean one of the components is known to fail and they have seen it fail before. So maybe it is an install problem, of which they can only try to lead you in the right direction so you can diagnose it.

I don't have a specific answer either, but I have been repairing electronics for many years. You have the classic 'intermittent', which is the most difficult. When you smack something and it works, its almost always a connection problem, and more times than not on the ground side as Nayther said. But connections are made inside a switch too. Likely, something is opening up or becoming resistive versus a short which would blow a fuse. The vibration from riding is temporarily fixing the bad connection. Good luck and a speedy fix.

OldThumperLover said:

I've been in the electrical troubleshooting arena for 33 years. The old BD switch consisted of copper nubs sliding on a printed circuit board! NOT good.
As I stated before, give'm a call, they'll take care of you- great service ..

They suck I had one of there kits on my 03 crf450r and they could not tell me why I could not keep the lights working. They flat out are a bunch of stupid retards. I would sell that kit and get a new one. One last time for the record they SUCK!!!

katoom525sx said:

You tell it, brother.

katoom525sx said:

Electrical problems are best diagnosed in person. No one, I mean no one can troubleshoot via phone and be spot on.
As far as BD being a bunch of retards, what have you done to advance the sport of dirtbiking??
That's what I thought...

I've posted about my disappointment with BD dual sport kits many times on TT. The short version of my long story is that I basically have a $400 set of wires. That and the turn signals. Everything else from my original BD dual sport kit purchase fell apart or just quit working.

And what the hell is the deal with forcing people to "float the ground" on the stator? It seems to me that they could have come up with a much simple system than requiring a stator modification. In my opinion, all BD is doing by requiring this type of mod is to make you have to buy their regulator/rectifier when the one you get with the kit craps out. (Take it from me, it will eventually.) The ground is easily "floated" after the voltage regulator if the system is designed correctly.

A friend of mine who knows much more about electrical components than I ever will guided me through the process of making my own kit from scratch. The lights are brighter and the whole electrical system is so much more reliable now than they ever were with the BD kit. That would be my ultimate recommendation.

If you are going to stick with the kit, the best advice I can give you is to get out your wire strippers and soldering iron and remove every single one of those bullet connectors and solder every wire connection. Use heat shrink tubing to insulate the connections. Eventually all the major components will fail but at least all the connections will still be intact.

I tell you what When I sell something and some one calls me to ask a question I dont give a answer like "AHHHHHHH well"

Holy crap they'll replace my crappy baja designs dual sport switch? I didn't think it was still under warranty so I didn't bother..

So will they replace it you think..

Having the same problem, i ordered a switch from ebay because im not paying 70$ for a switch... just quit outta no where but i do have the older style switch

tirebiter, on 01 October 2005 - 07:25 PM, said:

BD was building DS kits before anyone I know of. They aren't the cheapest, but sell quality parts and in my expierence give great support. They don't however, have any controll over the competency of the customer who does the install. The truth might hurt, but most times I bet the retard is the hack who installed the kit. I've had their kits on several bikes since the early 90's that I rode the crap out of and the only problems were a few smoked batteries. I can't say the same for MSM's old kit, or Electrix.