Help with VFRness, after install no fuel pump and dash buzz

Hi everyone, I got the VFRness today and installed it as the instructions stated.  I double checked all connections many times over.  When I turn the key, I hear buzzing from the dash, oil light is lit solid, and I cannot hear the fuel pump prime.  If I disconnect the VFRness from the R/R and reconnect the R/R to the OEM connectors, then turn the key, everything is fine.  No dash buzz, no solid oil light, and fuel pump primes.  I don't know where the issue is and I'm looking to you for ideas.  

I have another question.  How does a relay work?  In the pics below, when I use my multimeter to check voltage, all with key in the off position, I notice that putting my probes on:

Red and green = 12.8V

Red and blue = 12.8V

red and purple = 12.8V

Are these all supposed to be hot?  The blue wire from the relay goes to a switched red w/black stripe wire that's supposed to be switched.  

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When working on my VFRness, if I have questions, an email to Joshua at wiremybike.com has solved all my issues and answered all my questions.

Good luck.

Thanks. I've sent a email the night of the issue and just been waiting to hear back. 

In the meantime, quick update. I went through every connection and is tight and good. Ground is good. Also tested the relay, and it works perfectly. I'm at a loss. Hoping that someone on here can give me ideas while I wait. 

Ask yourself what does VFRness do? Adds more grounds is the answer I get. Why do I need more grounds when connections are the weak point of a VFR wiring system?

What?

I am sorry you are having troubles.  I didn't see your email but I will respond here in case it helps you and anyone else who is reading this.

For testing the installation it is important to understand what the VFRness does.  It isn't just to add better grounds, to do that wouldn't require all the other wires, the relay, the direct battery connection or the additional fuse.  What it DOES do is duplicate the path from the R/R output to the battery while also improving the ground path of the R/R and the rest of the sub harness.  Additionally, for those who are still running the stock Honda R/R the VFRness provides a more stable indication of the charging voltage than the OEM wiring did by using a relayed connection to the battery to read the voltage back to the R/R (the white/black wire).  The VFRness also helps alleviate the Main Fuse B wire meltdown issue, which dispite the recall efforts put into place after the VFRNess proved a success continue to be a problem.

To test:

Key off, the red wire should have 12V (battery voltage) when tested to ground, the green wire should show continuity to ground, the blue wire should show no voltage and the purple wire should also show no voltage.

Key on, engine off: The relay should be engaged at this point so the blue wire should show battery voltage with a voltage drop from the ignition (slight bit) and the purple wire should show battery voltage.

There are a couple of common issues people have:

The fuses (20amp) may need to be upped to 25amp IF your wiring has degraded a bit and the load carried by the bike isn't high enough and the VFRness (which carries more of the load) gets overwhelmed.  This will cause the VFRness fuse to blow and then the bike fuse.  

There should be no disconnected connectors...the VFRness T's into the R/R wiring, it doesn't replace the bike side

Hopefully this helps, I am sorry again that I never got/saw your email, I try to answer all of them quickly!

Joshua

When I replaced my oem headlights with LEDs I was told that the reduced electrical draw of the LEDs would add to the load on the R/R, [which shunts excess output of the stator (which outputs a steady level of juice) through heat absorption] by the sub frame. As a result, I upgraded the R/R and added an aluminum heat sink plate (made by VFRD member MellowDude) between the R/R and sub frame. Through tens of thousands of miles since, I experienced no problems.

As for the benefits of LED headlights, I noticed:

- better coverage with the lights at night, both in distance and spread

- I perceive traffic is much more aware of me when I approach from behind

- I cannot document this but no one approaching from the opposite direction has ever tried a left turn in front of me, either before or after the LED installation. But I sense an increased awareness of approaching drivers, who are more inclined to wait for me to go by,while I approach them at an intersection.

I believe the intensity of the white light in my big fifth gens bulbs make me more conspicuous to everyone.

Thanks Joshua. I actually ended up tearing my meniscus last week so I haven't had the chance to try your tests. I'll do it when I get the chance and report back. 

daewon774, 1/16/2017 at 5:20 PM

Thanks Joshua. I actually ended up tearing my meniscus last week so I haven't had the chance to try your tests. I'll do it when I get the chance and report back. 

Get well soon.

Alrighty, finally got a chance to test the VFRness...  @Tightwad  I did the below, and tested with my multimeter.  All is fine.  Also, fuses are good and I did not have any problems before installing the VFRness.  I installed it out of precaution to prevent any future issues.  

I double checked all connections, made sure each wire is going into the correct connection on the plugs (green to green, red to red, ect...).  I still don't know what else to do.  Any advice?  Btw, I was wrong to say the fuel pump does not prime.  It does with the VFRness connected.  I just get an awful buzzing sound from the dash.  

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To test:

Key off, the red wire should have 12V (battery voltage) when tested to ground, the green wire should show continuity to ground, the blue wire should show no voltage and the purple wire should also show no voltage.

Key on, engine off: The relay should be engaged at this point so the blue wire should show battery voltage with a voltage drop from the ignition (slight bit) and the purple wire should show battery voltage.

There are a couple of common issues people have:

The fuses (20amp) may need to be upped to 25amp IF your wiring has degraded a bit and the load carried by the bike isn't high enough and the VFRness (which carries more of the load) gets overwhelmed.  This will cause the VFRness fuse to blow and then the bike fuse.  

There should be no disconnected connectors...the VFRness T's into the R/R wiring, it doesn't replace the bike side

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I ended up disconnecting the VFRness and putting everything back to stock.  I get no buzzing noise from the dash like I did when the VFRness is installed.  In stock form, everything is fine.  

Quick side question.  From me turning the key on multiple times, I think I flooded the engine from the fuel pump priming multiple times.  What's the easiest and best way to start a flooded motor?

Also wanted to add pictures if that helps to identify anything I missed...  Any help appreciated.  Thanks

First pic is of the T the goes from the VFRness to the switched power on the VFR.  

Second and third picture is the same connector.  I noticed that coming from the RR there is a white with black stripe wire not connected to the VFRness?  You can see it poking out in the third pic.  Does this need to be connected?

In the fourth pic there is the ground from the VFRness going to the RR.  Did I ground this correctly?

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Quick question.  I notice many posts about buzzing behind the dash and it being fixed by grounding the blue connector on the right side of the bike.  I am pretty sure I have the recall performed.  The green wire is missing from the rear end of the connector but it is still there on the headlight side of the bike.  How can I confirm the recall is performed?  Would the recall help most issues with grounding such as dash buzzing?  Can I add more ground?

Honda should be able to tell you if the recall was carried out on your bike.

The w/bl wire shouldn't matter.

Make sure that T-crimp is tapping into the right wire.

The big blue connector is on the Left side of the bike. We orientate ourselves as if we were seated on the bike. Its green wire MUST go to ground. Doesn't matter if it doesn't do so out the downstream side of the connector but it MUST do so at least once, maybe they spliced in a ground wire upstream somewhere, perhaps a PO had the famous crappy bus connector solved (yellow on 2002-2005 units and wrapped in the black electrical tape further up the front loom... look for a bulge in the loom (wiring harness) where it travels along the left arm of the front fairing stay (have to remove the front fairing)... it's orange on later 2006-2010 models and can be found in the same protective boot the big blue and grey connectors are located in). So long as someone took all the (thin green ground) wires coming from that yellow or orange connector to ground, then that is not the issue.

To know if your bike had the recall, call a Honda dealer with your bike's VIN number.

Try wiggling different sections of the loom to see if that provokes the buzzing behind the dash... Could be a chaffed wire that the sheer bulk of the VFRness exposes by simply displacing the loom in any one direction.

Actuate your high beams on and off and see if that affects anything... If it does, that's the front loom gremlin... Find out whether she's had the recall and if not, get it done (they are obliged to fix all sundry electrical issues resultant from Honda's mistake). Either way, have that yellow (or orange) connector removed and all wires soldered professionally with a reinforcement wire going to ground. You can never have too many grounds.

Flooding on a bike like yours with Electronic Fuel Injection should not be an issue.

This is great info. Thanks. I'll be sure to take off the front fairing and headlights and go through the grounds that lead from the loom to the blue connector. I appreciate the help everyone. I'll report back this weekend. 

Btw, is turning on high beams THE definitive bad ground test when there is a buzzing dash?  

daewon774 Btw, is turning on high beams THE definitive bad ground test when there is a buzzing dash?  

Unfortunately, no it's not. Could be any chaffed or shorting wire... hence my suggestion to vigorously wiggle various sections of the loom to try to actively provoke the fault and narrow it down.

Could be loose connections, crappy Honda crimps where they conveniently (sic) join a new section of cable to the end of another to avoid wastage (there are crappy butt joints all through their wiring harnesses worldwide... but you still meet the nicest people on a Honda, at their wit's end with the electrical system but all the nicer for it.)

It would be extremely rare for a product made by Josh to be faulty but he is after all only a Demi-god and may have been distracted by jelly donuts or some of the other varied, various and varyingly awesome pastriliscious consumables he and his amicable family members are prone to constantly be baking and torturing or teasing each other with on FB... and until now the issue has only raised its head with the VFRness installed. Could be a freak accident of that nature. Improbable but not impossible.

Try to be methodical and only change one thing at a time or you won't know what it was with certainty.

Try reading any related sections of the workshop manual for a process of elimination.

writing this up live at 12:30 in the morning...  checking to see if anyone is up late like me working on electrical gremlins, lol.  Also using this to jot down notes (journal)

I got the upper cowl off.  I've been shaking a tugging on wires to see if the relay noise goes away.  Nothing changes.

A few questions.  I read that there's an infamous yellow grounding block somewhere that houses all the grounds.  I wanted to check that.  Where is it?  I can't seem to find it. 

Interesting notes.  I wanted to check for voltage drop with my multimeter.  I noticed that when checking the side signals (left and right), I'm getting about 11.6v, similar to the battery.  This is with key on.  I see no voltage at all at either headlight...

i am now not getting any voltage across the right headlight with key on... although, when I put the positive to the headlight, and then ground the multimeter to the frame, I see 11.7 volts... I also checked the 20a fuse for the headlights, 20a fuse looks clean and fine.  When key on, I put the multimeter across of it.  I still get no voltage at the fuse box.  But when I ground to the frame, then put the positive lead to the headlight fuse positive, i get 11.7 v.  

If anyone is interested, here is where the yellow grounding block is...  mine was clean.  I opened it up, cleaned it, and put some OxGuard on it... 

I also ran my multimeter on this as a ground and the positive lead from my right headlight.  No voltage...

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I don't know what to do guys.  Everytime I connect the stock connectors vs the VFRness at the RR, everything works fine.  I get no issues at all with the stock wiring.  No voltage drop at the headlights.  Everything is perfect.  

I was really hoping to preempt any issues in the future by using the VFRness.  Any ideas would help

Summary.  This is the most up to date, correct notes I have.  I noticed there were some errors in my previous notes:

• with VFRness wired into bike with key on, I get buzzing from the dash.  When checking the voltage at the headlights, I get nothing.  I also notice the fuel pump does not prime.  
• with VFRness not wired, and using standard stock connectors, everything is fine.  Voltage at headlights is the same as battery.  I get no buzzing at dash.  Fuel pump audibly primes.  
• with VFRness connected to RR, and the second connector without the relay (two green, two red) using stock connector, everything is fine. 
• with VFRness not connect to RR (stock connection to RR), and the second connector without the relay (two green, two red) connected to VFRness, I get the same symptoms as the second bullet point.

@Tightwad Is there a wiring diagram for your VFRness?  I went through the connections and everything looks fine.  But would be great to verify with a diagram.  Also, for the connector that has the two green, two red, without the connection to the relay.  Where does this go?  I notice that when the VFRness is plugged into the 4 wire connector, with or with out the other connection (5 wire with relay from stock or VFRness), the bike is fine.  Any ideas on what I could check?

Any chance the VFRness harness has been constructed incorrectly I.e. a wire connected in the wrong location? I suspect the harness is not massed produced and is open to human error? Just a thought, especially if the original harness has no issues when you reconnect it back into the system with no volt drop, buzzing relay and the pump primes.

6 hours ago, Marooncobra

Any chance the VFRness harness has been constructed incorrectly I.e. a wire connected in the wrong location? I suspect the harness is not massed produced and is open to human error? Just a thought, especially if the original harness has no issues when you reconnect it back into the system with no volt drop, buzzing relay and the pump primes.

Yup, it's a possibility. I checked everything and it looks right.  I went over the instructions that came with it as well and quadruple checked everything.  Just waiting to hear back from TightWad to see if he can send me a diagram.  

The one I bought  for the 2003 had a couple of wrong gender connectors on it. I repair myself. 

I tried describing the location of the yellow common ground bus in post #14. Glad you finally found it. It will fail eventually despite the maintenance you have performed on it. Have you seen the threads on how to future proof it?

Logic would have it the VFRness has a glitch. I'm sure Josh will sort you out.

Totally support Josh with his quality.  Excellent kit.