It's been a long time since I've been on here, which unfortunately also mirrors how long it's since I've used my bike!
😞
Anyway, wheeled my bike out of the shed to take it out for a quick ride to blow the cobwebs out. It had sat for a looong time hooked up to a battery charger / tender. Started fine, run fine, warmed up, then I looked and noticed the LCD display was totally blank. Doh!
I checked (and swapped out) the display fuse, which was fine. Checked there was power to the fuse - yep.
Uttered some more swear words, spat my dummy and wheeled it back into the shed. That was several weeks ago. Finally got some time this weekend to investigate further. Got the fairings off, took the dash off. Unplugged it, wiggled wires, looked it over, and guess what? No difference (no surprise really!)
Nothing seems obviously wrong / burnt corroded.
I'm guessing others would have come across this issue or know about it. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have tried searching the forum but have not come across anything.
Is it ok to still ride my bike, or is it a symptom of a greater issue?
Don't have a 5th gen, nor have I had it's instrument panel apart, but what I can tell you is that LCD displays draw such little current they can suffer from poor connections. I've experienced poor connections to an LCD array via its ribbon cables that are sometimes only held in position via self adhesive.
First confirm at the Instrument Panel that the 12v Br/Bu wire for the LCD has a good 12v and that the G/Bl wire for the LCD is properly Grounded.
Seeing your bike has sat for a long time and the LCD worked previously I'm guessing there may be a poor connection that has developed.
If you are able to remove the LCD module have a very good look at all its internal connections. On the printed circuit board closely check for any cracked or burnt solder joints.
As for riding your bike, there shouldn't be any issue OTHER than you don't have Fuel, Temp, Clock and whatever else the LCD was displaying.
The Fuse of concern is fuse G 10amp. I know you said there is "power to the fuse", BUT is there power from it! Are there any other lights or indications that are not working?
The same thing happened to my Gen5. Apparently some of the connections on the PCB can fail with age. As I remember, and I could well be wrong, the bike shop I took my bike to were able to solder on a jumper between connections to power the LCD again. They'd done it to multiple bikes before from what they said. I can probably find out more if no one else can add more details.
Just a thought. When you said you looked it over, how close did you look? It may take a magnifying glass to see tiny splits in the tracks which could be enough to break the connection. If you use a meter to test each track you'll soon be able to eliminate that as a fault or find something you didn't see before.
The same thing happened to my Gen5. Apparently some of the connections on the PCB can fail with age. As I remember, and I could well be wrong, the bike shop I took my bike to were able to solder on a jumper between connections to power the LCD again. They'd done it to multiple bikes before from what they said. I can probably find out more if no one else can add more details.
If you could find out some more at some stage, that would be appreciated, thanks!
Just a thought. When you said you looked it over, how close did you look? It may take a magnifying glass to see tiny splits in the tracks which could be enough to break the connection. If you use a meter to test each track you'll soon be able to eliminate that as a fault or find something you didn't see before.
I have to admit that it was more of a quick look over and nothing looked obviously wrong. Sounds like I need to investigate closer!