[harper78]

My battery died today after making a weird whine noise and I had to roll-start it. After about 50 miles, the headlight, taillight, and tach all went out and the bike made a sputtering noise coupled with a loss of power. I put a new battery in it, changed the headlight and taillights, but the tach still won't work. I've checked the fuse box and 30a fuse on the right side. Whats next??? The lights and indicator lights all work along with the speedo, but the tach needle won't move. It's also weird that there is black soot on the face of the tach.
Someone please help.

 

[TeeRiver]

the headlight, taillight, and tach all went out ...

It's also weird that there is black soot on the face of the tach.

I'm sorry but it sounds like your voltage regulator may have failed and caused over voltage. There's no good reason for so many component to fail at once.

Measure the voltage across the battery terminals. You should see about 14.5 volts at 5000 RPM. If you see more than that, don't run the bike until you get it fixed, since you may damage more components.

The SV does a one time tachometer pointer reset if power has been disconnected for >40 seconds. You can try disconnecting the battery for >40 seconds, connect it back up and see if anything changes. Not optimistic here as the black soot is a very bad sign.

 

[grubel]

Same thing happened to me, except my ignition module was also fried.
My voltage regulator was overcharging the system. I was able to find a beefier one from a GSXR that fit from ebay, for under $20. Also got lucky with a ignition module for dirt cheap as well. My tach still doesn't work but at least it runs

 

[donniej]

If there is black soot in your tach then thne circuit board is toast. There is good news and bad news to this... the bad news is that it's going to take a little work to find a new one, the good news is that it shouldn't cost much and it's not too hard to replace. You'll need to find a busted cluster and replace that board, it's about one square inch.

 

[harper78]

If there is black soot in your tach then thne circuit board is toast. There is good news and bad news to this... the bad news is that it's going to take a little work to find a new one, the good news is that it shouldn't cost much and it's not too hard to replace. You'll need to find a busted cluster and replace that board, it's about one square inch.

Ok this sounds the like the best solution... The bike starts, runs, and all lights work once they have been replaced. I knew I shouldn't have gone riding with a bad battery that wouldn't hold a charge... I'm a dumb a**, but it is spring, and I am obsessed.
So, if the circuit board is all then I'm on a mission to find and buy a busted up tach. I'm pretty sure the voltage regulator is ok b/c it's not blowing any other things with a good battery in it (Just blew it all when I was riding and the engine was surging with bad battery). My only worry in the charging system is the headlamp and other lights that get dim, then brighten up as I am driving at a certain rpm. It seems to cycle about 5 seconds either way. Seems to do it more at a higher speed. I think this is the voltage regulator working and backing off the full charge.
Hopefully this is normal, otherwise I guess I'm looking for a new regulator as well as a circuit board.

 

[donniej]

It's normal for the lights to slightly dim at low RPM's and get slightly brighter when the RPM's pick up.

I'd open your insturment cluster and look at the tach circuit board, it's separate from the speedo board. If you have soot on the lense then some component will be visibly cooked. There aren't many components on the board, just an IC and a couple capacitors.

 

[aloyas]

I'm sorry but it sounds like your voltage regulator may have failed and caused over voltage. There's no good reason for so many component to fail at once.

Measure the voltage across the battery terminals. You should see about 14.5 volts at 5000 RPM. If you see more than that, don't run the bike until you get it fixed, since you may damage more components.

The SV does a one time tachometer pointer reset if power has been disconnected for >40 seconds. You can try disconnecting the battery for >40 seconds, connect it back up and see if anything changes. Not optimistic here as the black soot is a very bad sign.

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Better check it like TeeRiver said or you will be forking out a lot more money later. Go buy or borrow a volt meter before you ride it again.