DEcosse
If it's no Scottish it's CRAP!
HEADS UP ALERT TO ALL USERS WITH MY KEYLESS SYSTEMS
I stress to emphasize up front that these incidents have been pretty limited, but just wanted to give a heads-up on a potential scenario that you may encounter.
I just went through some diagnostics with a User with a Bonneville - he was having some issues after heavy rain and had noticed similar when he had washed the bike.
This brought to mind two separate incidents of about a year ago, by two different R3 users, following washing a Rocket.
I had originally, at that time, thought water was getting into either the controller or alarm connector, however now I believe differently:
I think we pretty conclusively have the source of the problem.
It's the Triumph clutch switch!
It is particularly easy to short internally when exposed to water.
I am convinced this happens even with Std Key-Ignition bikes, however you would not really notice it per se
(unless you deliberately attempted to start the bike without using the clutch lever, and since we are pre-conditioned to doing this, doubtful anyone would be aware of this)
This was proved conclusively by a User having the KeyLess "stuck on" (even with Kill switch off) but would shut off when the Clutch Trigger wire was removed.
After drying out the switch, it worked normally but even a light spray of water around the switch was enough to trip it again.
He could do this repeatedly.
Note that the switch is common to most models across the Triumph range (even if the clutch perch itself or the main bar switch may be different)
If you inspect the switch you can see it has quite large openings for the clips that hold it into the perch- it does not take much for water to permeate into the switch body and short out the contacts.
The user is still looking at how to prevent water from getting in there.
Filling the cavity with dielectric grease might be a solution - possibly would require a tube with fine nozzle to get it packed densely in there however.
Or just pack it in there like you would pack a bearing .........
This would be the signature:
Ignition turns on if the remote is in range; once it is on, even turning off the Kill switch, the headlights etc would remain on. (or perhaps flashing, relays clicking on & off repeatedly)
- however the ignition circuit itself would be dead unless the kill switch was on
This is because once it turns on, normally it requires the feedback from the Kill to keep it latched; however if the clutch were kept pulled, it would do the same thing;
(You can replicate this behaviour with a system that is fully operational - even with the Kill switch set to Kill; if the remote is within range, when you pull the clutch you will see the lights come on - but of course these would normally go off immediately when you release the lever, unless the Kill Switch had been in the Run position)
i.e. it remains on because the clutch trigger input is remaining on (shorted), rather than off when the lever is released.
Also, because the system does not then switch off completely, the remote's communication remains turned off, therefor it will not re-arm either; so even removing the remote from range or trying to use the remote manually will NOT turn it off.
So the heads up is:
When washing the bike do not get any water near the clutch switch!
If, after riding in extreme weather the system will shut not off completely (the engine will kill, but headlights will not shut off or are clicking on/off) then the problem is most likely the clutch switch is wet.
The short recovery is to disconnect the clutch wire from the PosiTap and if not already, shut to Kill position.
Or unplug the switch from the perch socket and shake it, or blow with compressed air to remove the water.
(note of course that when it is removed from the perch as per the pic above, that is the switch in the 'closed position' - same as pulling lever - so it will not turn off while switch is in this position - it would require the plunger to be pushed in)
Just a quick re-assurance that if your bike was parked and the switch got wet, that your system would NOT become 'live' unless the remote was present, in order to turn it on.
(but again, once it IS turned on, even if you remove remote it would not turn it off again)
Also a re-assurance that this would not cause any issues while actually riding - even if the switch got wet and shorted - the problem is only that it won't turn completely off in spite of setting to 'Kill'
Hope that is helpful to anyone who encounters an issue - but hopefully this will be a non-issue for majority of you.
I stress to emphasize up front that these incidents have been pretty limited, but just wanted to give a heads-up on a potential scenario that you may encounter.
I just went through some diagnostics with a User with a Bonneville - he was having some issues after heavy rain and had noticed similar when he had washed the bike.
This brought to mind two separate incidents of about a year ago, by two different R3 users, following washing a Rocket.
I had originally, at that time, thought water was getting into either the controller or alarm connector, however now I believe differently:
I think we pretty conclusively have the source of the problem.
It's the Triumph clutch switch!
It is particularly easy to short internally when exposed to water.
I am convinced this happens even with Std Key-Ignition bikes, however you would not really notice it per se
(unless you deliberately attempted to start the bike without using the clutch lever, and since we are pre-conditioned to doing this, doubtful anyone would be aware of this)
This was proved conclusively by a User having the KeyLess "stuck on" (even with Kill switch off) but would shut off when the Clutch Trigger wire was removed.
After drying out the switch, it worked normally but even a light spray of water around the switch was enough to trip it again.
He could do this repeatedly.
Note that the switch is common to most models across the Triumph range (even if the clutch perch itself or the main bar switch may be different)
If you inspect the switch you can see it has quite large openings for the clips that hold it into the perch- it does not take much for water to permeate into the switch body and short out the contacts.
The user is still looking at how to prevent water from getting in there.
Filling the cavity with dielectric grease might be a solution - possibly would require a tube with fine nozzle to get it packed densely in there however.
Or just pack it in there like you would pack a bearing .........
This would be the signature:
Ignition turns on if the remote is in range; once it is on, even turning off the Kill switch, the headlights etc would remain on. (or perhaps flashing, relays clicking on & off repeatedly)
- however the ignition circuit itself would be dead unless the kill switch was on
This is because once it turns on, normally it requires the feedback from the Kill to keep it latched; however if the clutch were kept pulled, it would do the same thing;
(You can replicate this behaviour with a system that is fully operational - even with the Kill switch set to Kill; if the remote is within range, when you pull the clutch you will see the lights come on - but of course these would normally go off immediately when you release the lever, unless the Kill Switch had been in the Run position)
i.e. it remains on because the clutch trigger input is remaining on (shorted), rather than off when the lever is released.
Also, because the system does not then switch off completely, the remote's communication remains turned off, therefor it will not re-arm either; so even removing the remote from range or trying to use the remote manually will NOT turn it off.
So the heads up is:
When washing the bike do not get any water near the clutch switch!
If, after riding in extreme weather the system will shut not off completely (the engine will kill, but headlights will not shut off or are clicking on/off) then the problem is most likely the clutch switch is wet.
The short recovery is to disconnect the clutch wire from the PosiTap and if not already, shut to Kill position.
Or unplug the switch from the perch socket and shake it, or blow with compressed air to remove the water.
(note of course that when it is removed from the perch as per the pic above, that is the switch in the 'closed position' - same as pulling lever - so it will not turn off while switch is in this position - it would require the plunger to be pushed in)
Just a quick re-assurance that if your bike was parked and the switch got wet, that your system would NOT become 'live' unless the remote was present, in order to turn it on.
(but again, once it IS turned on, even if you remove remote it would not turn it off again)
Also a re-assurance that this would not cause any issues while actually riding - even if the switch got wet and shorted - the problem is only that it won't turn completely off in spite of setting to 'Kill'
Hope that is helpful to anyone who encounters an issue - but hopefully this will be a non-issue for majority of you.
Last edited:
I had the kit for over a year
