[TeeRiver]

...I checked the battery connections. Both are clean and properly connected...

Besides the connections at the battery terminals, some other things to check would be:

- The other end of the battery cables where they bolt to the case (negative cable), or at the starter relay (positive cable).

- Possibly an internal fault inside the battery (broken post or inter-cell connection).

- The green connector that connects the ignition switch to the bike's main harness. This is more common on the early SV1000s, but has happened to a couple SV650s.

- Ignition switch like you've mentioned.

- Bad connection anywhere along the Black/Red wire that runs up from the starter relay junction to the green ignition connector.

Hopefully it will fail hard and make itself easy to find. In the mean time, I'd be very careful riding that bike. Having power cut out unexpectedly in a turn or when, say, making a left hand turn in front of on coming traffic could be lethal. Good luck!

 

[TeeRiver]

If this doesn't solve my problem, I'll be back.

Haha, pretty sure you've found it! Excellent job. :thumbsup:

Thanks for posting those crisp (in more ways than one!), photos. Also, how many miles do you have on the bike?

 

[TeeRiver]

TeeRiver, I'm sorry I forgot to answer your question. I had almost 20,000 KMs (not miles) on the bike when this happened. I've put a few thousand km's on it since then and I haven't had a problem.

Thanks for the info mroberto. I was asking so we might build up data on what years are failing and with how many miles. The Green Connector problem started out on the SV1000, especially the 2003 model, but we're seeing it happen more often now on the SV650. Seems like the older bikes with more miles fail more, and well, duh, that makes sense! Well, now we know that 12,000 miles is not too early to see this happen on the '650...

...I don't think this was caused by a corroded contact, but rather by a loose contact. A loose contact will arc which generates heat and, after causing the gap to widen, it will create enough heat to melt the connector.

Yeah, that connector is sealed well so I would agree that corrosion is not the issue. Loose contact, maybe due to faulty manufacture (bad crimp, undersized pin, poor plating, etc... ?), or perhaps just undersized for the application?

Considering that little pin passes 20+ amps, it doesn't take much resistance to make lots of heat. Even 0.5 ohm contact resistance is going to generate 20 watts in that small area!

Either way, it's a dangerous place to have a failure and I'm surprised Suzuki hasn't done a recall. If anyone gets seriously hurt, there would be no problem proving to a jury that this has been a clear long time failure.

 

[TeeRiver]

... I don't do enough to justify the Hero BL-255 for big arse battery terminals (at $170USD it's a bit salty when I have other tools I need more), but I would really like one.

Same here. I can't justify the price for one, but just the look of that well done crimp on the Eastern Beaver site makes me want to buy one anyway, haha.

imdying, we haven't seen D' on SVR lately, but I know what he would say to your Sumitomo 2mm question: "Install headlight relays to get the current out of that connector, then either connector will suffice."

If just replacing the connector though, I think your idea of using beefier contacts is excellent. Definitely a step in the right direction.

 

[TeeRiver]

... it might give SVRiders another option Having said that, a four pin DL possibly wouldn't go through the headstock hole? I think I have some spare, I'd have to try it out.

:thumbsup: Please let us know it if fits.

AFAIK, it should be fine, 2mm wire is a pretty serious piece of cable, and one assumes the pins can take the current rated for that sort of cable?

I would agree. The Sumitomo connectors are high quality and I would trust their spec as to wire size. It would be hard to believe they would size the contacts to be lighter (current wise) than the wire they attach to.

2mm is 12awg, Eastern Beaver web site says the contacts only fit up to 14awg. I don't know why the discrepancy but even 14awg will handle 32 amps open air. If the application is less than that, and I would derate that a good 25% to 24 amps max for reliability, it should be OK.

Suzuki should have gone with those larger contacts for the Green Connector.