Massive (Intermittent) Electrical Failure

[Kiwi_Roy]

Any time the tach dies while riding you can be fairly certain the bike is not charging because they share the same power from headlight relay normally open contact via start relay normally closed contact.

 

Head light relay goes Off, tacho dies, charging dies and a short while later the battery will be flat.

More serious, you lose the brake light, drivers behind will get no warning you are going to stop.

 

With the original wiring the headlight would also go off cutting the battery drain from around 9 Amps to about 4 but in daylight running you wouldn't notice the light had gone off.

If the headlight wiring has been altered with additional relays it's possible the headlight is still On and draining the battery quite quickly, heated grips or other accessories will soon drain the battery

 

When the charging dies why don't I get a charging light?

  Answer, because the charge light is also fed from the same circuit, in other words the charge light is next to useless

(the oil pressure and the fuel level light are also useless at this point for the same reason)

 

The tacho is acting as a No-charge warning.

 

No tach = NO Charging, No warning lights. No Brake lights

 

So do a little checking for us, look at the Voltage regulator and tell us what wires it has

Is it a Ducati Energia with a black and white wire about 8" long terminating in a Male/Female connector?

A pair of red wires terminating in one male pin?
The regulator should also have a pair of yellow wires plugged into the loom please inspect the connections to look for any sign of blackening or other discolouration.

What is the mileage on the bike?

Does your bike have a Charge light
 

You say the relays have been replaced, I assume with all 5 pin type.

I have seen a couple of V11s where the relay socket looked ok but when the relays were inserted the pin pushed

the connector out the back of the socket so it just made intermittent contact. poke a small pin or something into each socket to make sure they are fixed in place. (the 2 front relays in particular)

 

Next time the tach goes off see if the horn works, it uses the same circuit (or it did when the bike left factory)

 

The start Relay NC contact feeds the coil for the headlight relay, which feeds the tach.

 

There are 3 idiot lights supplied by the headlight relay, consider using one of the 3 on a temporary basis to indicate Voltage is present e.g. the charge light will stay On if you ground the male pin where it plugs into the regulator's white wire (this will not effect charging at all but if it goes out you know the charging is off)