Headstock wiring bundle woes, my story

[Ben500RS]

This past winter, with a 2018 Camso DTS 129 kit on my 2017 500 RR-S, I had noticed that my headlight was going on and off. Once the spring came and I had the wheels back on the bike, I had to go into the harness right by the headstock and had found a few wires that, because of how tight/and short Beta had decided to make the harness, the wires rubbed and got smashed against each other. Once I had twisted and taped them back together all was fine.

Last month the Trail Tech Voyager had stopped charging. I had to get back into the bundle and had found that the Voyager wires were broken.

For a few weeks the bike, upon key-on, and pressing the starter button, the bike was not firing. The headlight also was intermittent, the battery was not being charged while running and lastly, the fuel pump was not energizing so the bike would not start no matter how much cranking was being done.

I have a new front harness coming and am going to replace it as there are now so many splices and so many issues in all the wires from all the stretching and crushing of the wires that it is the ONLY solution at this point.

Now that the fuel tank is off, it is a good time to replace the spark plug and to also replace the fuel filter and then replace all the o-rings and seals from removing the fuel pump from the fuel tank.

I'm going to try and install and route the harness so that the least amount of strain is put on all the wires when the bars are clocked all the way to the left. I'm also going to install all the wires into the junction box under the instrument panel so that it is not a rats nest like the installer at Beta had done when they connected everything behind the mask/headlight.

[Deck1]

I think I might be starting to see some of the same issues, as battery went wonky, but it was 2 year old battery. I have seen weird things like indicator lights glowing long after key is off. I will get it some more rides and see what happens. I saw on another post where you noted price of harness from SMS, and in the grand scheme of bike repair $'s on this bike, it is acceptable for me. Never really had wiring issues on any other bike I have owned, so it is a little frustrating. My list of complaints are really short. Please take pictures and post as you are changing out harness(s) and results. It would be good to strip down old harness just for kicks and see if the rest was a mess.

[Ben500RS]

The front wiring harness for services is/was $136 or $139, so no, not bad price-wise and I'm so, so glad that there are not all that many connectors that stem off the mid to rear part of the harness as it will be really easy replacing the harness. I'm now just waiting for it to arrive.

There is a wire or wires included in the bundle that have to do with charging the battery so if it is compromised the bike will run but the battery will not charge. If you have the Trail Tech Voyager that the RS/RR-S came with and have the "Input Voltage" displayed on either User 1 or User 2 screens, you can see if the battery is charging when the bike is running.

I've had so many issues with the harness now that I have to change it. I already have so many splices that every time I need to check something, it is just not worth trying to salvage the OEM harness and keep fixing it.

I'm like you, I have never had an issue with wiring on any other dirt or street bike but the only dual sport I had was an 84 XL250. I will make sure that I have enough slack for this new harness and secure the harness better than Beta had done.

[Ben500RS]

Thankfully, mercifully, the "Front Wiring Harness for Services" is easy to replace, plug and play.

Starting from the rear, I just unhooked each connection one at at time, working my way to the front. It all went very well and everything now works like it should and, for now, I don't have 6-10 splices to worry about as I made sure to NOT secure the wiring bundle where all the separate connections at the front all come together and get taped-by Beta, as there was a wire-loom loop that Beta used to keep the bundle secure and I believe it was this that was causing all my problems with the harness being both too short and also causing the wires to be pinched/crushed, and pulled.

I have made sure that I have pulled as much of the harness out from under the fuel tank so that there is as much slack as possible around the headstock so when the handlebars are turned to full-lock either way, there is no strain or, as little strain as possible on the bundle.

Worst case scenario, if I have to replace this harness every time it starts to become a problem, every year or so, the $136, and how easy it is to change out, as the fuel tank comes off I can also change the spark plug, I will chalk it up to (terrible) maintenance and do it. If the wiring harness were even 1-3" longer, there would be NO chance of a problem.

At least I am back in business.

[hooter]

Electrical issues seem to be a common theme on the Betas. http://www.betarider.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2520

I guess every bike has its quirks. However this kind of design problem is very frustrating because it is so basic and easy to avoid, and yet can really cause a lot of grief if it fails when you're 20 miles away from help.

[Deck1]

Yeap, pretty frustrating because the bike is so good on almost all other aspects. Great layout, better than average suspension, great motor, good longevity, great to look at, easy to ride, etc. When I first got the bike, after building 2 dual sport Hondas, I was a little miffed by things like indicator lights falling out, speedo quit working, besides the things that my dealer addressed before I even received the bike. Overall, it has been a winner!

[Ben500RS]

Electrical issues seem to be a common theme on the Betas. http://www.betarider.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2520

I guess every bike has its quirks. However this kind of design problem is very frustrating because it is so basic and easy to avoid, and yet can really cause a lot of grief if it fails when you're 20 miles away from help.

At least all my issues, first it was an intermittent headlight this past winter while snowbiking followed by a turn signal that was not working, both problems were a few wires in the harness.

Then I had noticed that the bike was not starting when I'd get out of work and thinking that the bike was not in neutral-even though the bike will start in gear, every time I got on the bike or turned the handlebars the bike would fire up. Right after that, the headlight started to go out again and then the battery was not being charged, the Trail Tech Voyager had died-battery went low, and all the issues were due to more wires having been messed up in the harness.

You are so right, the design problem is totally frustrating as all Beta needs to do is make the overall length of the harness a few inches longer and to figure out a better route for the bundle to avoid such a simple problem. At least now that I have replaced the harness and have allowed the wires some slack, I'm hoping to not have anymore issues but if I do, I know where to start looking and just getting a new harness right away as opposed to spending countless hours chasing broken wires.

[Ben500RS]

Yeap, pretty frustrating because the bike is so good on almost all other aspects. Great layout, better than average suspension, great motor, good longevity, great to look at, easy to ride, etc. When I first got the bike, after building 2 dual sport Hondas, I was a little miffed by things like indicator lights falling out, speedo quit working, besides the things that my dealer addressed before I even received the bike. Overall, it has been a winner!

My 500 RR-S is awesome. I can and have, overlooked the wiring harness issue, the indicator lights all wonky-how they are put in with some c-clips and the o-rings that have long ago disintegrated from contact with the earth's atmosphere and sunlight, and I cannot forget the turn signals that just fell out from having the bike used off-road.

I have replaced the turn signals with Tuff Lites from EDS and have not had an issue since as they are tough and LED. I'll bet I will never have to replace them ever again.