Wet Indicator Flasher Switch Unit

[robin friday]

Hello,

I'm a newbie to this website. I would really appreciate a bit of help. I have a problem with the indicators of my 2002 M620: my indicators occassionally work but more often they flash on quickly every 6 seconds instead of the usual quick flashing on and off. The problem affects both the left and right indicators.

The problem occured after four days of heavy rain. The rain got in the clocks and caused the immobiliser and oil pressure lights to short. I took the instrument panel off and emptied out the water, which fixed all the problems except the indicator one. Because the indicators occassionally work I think nothing is blown. It looks like a loose connection. Why would they flash every six seconds?

I am apprehensive about taking the clocks apart further. I took the back and front off to dry it with a hair dryer, but I didn't take the PCB out as it was attached to the dials and I don't know if I'll be able to put it back together. Please could you advise me. Is it safe to seperate the dials from the PCB and put it back together afterwards? Should I look for corrosion or moisture? What does the flasher unit look like?

Dave Robinson of Wandsworth has a new instruement panel for £400 but couldn't I just replace the faulty flasher component?

Many, many thanks

Robin Friday

[Stuart42]

Hi Robin and welcome.

I washed my Monster the other day and indicators stopped working. So whipped the relay off, is a black box, usually next to a yellow relay, with 'flasher unit' or the like written on it.

Anyway stuck it in the airing cupboard for a couple of days and now works a treat.

Always best to try the cheap fixes first.

Enjoy the forum

Cheers
Stuart

[robin friday]

Many thanks Stuart.

I will try the airing cupboard trick. It's a good job the components are labelled as I haven't a club about electronics. I was concerned about seperating the circuit board from the dials in case I damaged it, but I will prise it apart when I get home and dry it out.

Cheers
Robin

[robin friday]

Hello again.

I'm home sat on the sofa with my Ducati's clocks all in bits beside me. I think I may have been a bit confused earlier. I read another post that said something about a flasher unit and I convinced myself that the problem was with that. I now think that the problem is down to corrosion on the back of the pins on the socket (see pics). The pins with the green corrosion happen to be where the green and white/black indicator wires plug in.

Please could you tell me what to do to get rid of the corrosion? I don't want to damage anything by bodging it.

Many thanks
Robin

http://www.ahandbook.co.uk/images/stories/pcbwhole.jpg

http://www.ahandbook.co.uk/images/stories/pcbzoom.jpg

[Stuart42]

Oh that doesn't look good.

I'd use electrical contact cleaner.

Its a spray and available from Halfords etc

Cheers
Stuart

[robin friday]

All fixed! Halfords would have been shut by the time I put everything back together and driven there, but I found on the internet that I could use vinegar to clean contacts. It worked a treat.

Thanks again Stuart.

[uksurfer]

sounds like the 'cheap fix' worked! :spin:

[robin friday]

I spoke too soon. I bought some Halfords contact cleaner because the vinegar left a white residue on the contacts compared to the green residue left by the water. Anyway, neither worked. The circuit board looks nice and clean but the indicator is back to flashing 10 times a minute instead of the required 60. There are times when it works fine and I don't understand why. The M620ie doesn't have a flasher relay because the flashing is controlled by a component on the clocks' PCB.

What should I do? I could buy some £430 clocks from David Robinson's in Wandsworth. I went to Metropolis for a second opinion and they told me that I might need to replace not only the clocks but the ignition system(?) or CPU(?) or something. They said they can't fix my clocks because it's a sealed unit; it has a screw holding it together so it's hardly difficult to take apart.

Is there a place where I can take the circuit board to be fixed? It's just a loose or damaged connection. I read somewhere that a company specialising in electronic circuit boards charge by the hour for fixing faults like this. Do you know of a company like this in London.

Many thanks
Robin

[robin friday]

I think it might be a track that's damaged on the PCB. I could order a pen that uses conductive ink to repair the track.

http://www.mgchemicals.com/products/8420p.html?PHPSESSID=efdfb0cade652559977b5c32c585d 37a

If it's not the track it's the chip itself. Does anyone know which chip it is that controls the flashing speed? I might be able to replace it.

Failing that do you think Magnet Marelli will repair it if I sent the clocks back to them?

It's going to be so annoying to pay hundreds of pounds for the cost of a 5p component. Humph.

Thanks for any help. I really appreciate it and I hope that I can be of some use to someone in the future if they're having a problem that I can fix.

Robin

[analogue_rogue]

mate.. if it were me. and i dont know how good your electronic knowledge is... but i would reqire the indicators into a seperate traditional relay circuit. therefore by passing the damaged circuit and providing a reliable alternative. its not that hard as your wires are practically already run. the only tricky part would be wirinhg it direct to the led in the clocks..

[slob]

Have you taken the switchgear apart and checked there's no corrosion in there, it's the other common component besides the clocks.

[robin friday]

Good point. I didn't check inside the switch. However I bought a new set of clocks and the indicators work fine now, so I think it must have been the chip.

I know very little about electronics but I could ask the IT guy at work to help wire in an old seperate flasher unit if the new clocks don't work. I'm just waiting for a second black key to arrive in the post. Apparently I need the red and two black keys to program the new clocks.

[Nickj]

AFIK the circuits running the indicators are a part of one of the large monolith chips so aren't easily replaced. Even if you could get a new chip the soldering would be a real pain.

It's probably not a track problem, the PCB itself is actually a good quality fibre glass beast, the problem is that the casing design sucks allows water to get in and Marelli built the PCBs to the same spec as for cars which usually don't get water into the electronics. The board should have been built and proofed to marine use standards.
No good chasing Marelli they'll just ignore you or at best refer you to Ducati, Italian consumer law does give you a good case to go after them or Ducati but again you'll get nowhere. They both insist these are a sealed item so no sub components are available. Hey it's what I'd say given the choice of selling someone a small component with almost zero profit margin or a chunky £400+ component with a meaty profit.
If it's a clock replacement Ducati UK might well do you a discount provided in accepting the discounted deal you essentially sign up to a non disclosure agreement. Oh yes clock failures on IE's are common more common I suspect than people think mainly because of the non disclosure agreement, they are a pile of crap ands always were, leaking in the rain is really an indicator of being unfit for purpose ... but as it's not a safety issue Ducati are under no obligation to replace them.

[slob]

... but I could ask the IT guy at work to help wire in an ...

Yeah, that should go down well !
For example, as a busy Network Engineer there's nothing I like better, when trying to analyse latency on a network link between Australia & Singapore, than one of my workmates coming in and asking if I wouldn't mind fixing a 1980s cassette deck for them....

</rant> sorry bad day at work

[Nickj]

Yeah, that should go down well !
For example, as a busy Network Engineer there's nothing I like better, when trying to analyse latency on a network link between Australia & Singapore, than one of my workmates coming in and asking if I wouldn't mind fixing a 1980s cassette deck for them....

</rant> sorry bad day at work

Not being a network engineer, just managing a few PACS systems I can still comiserate on the bad day feelings .. It's just so nice to walk out and fire up the monster at the end of the day.
I but wouldn't touch an 80's cassette desk, might look hmmm a bit then lob it out of the window, we'll sort the occasional PC or laptop as lunchtime jobs but that's cash or kind ;)

[robin friday]

The network manager offered to help. He enjoys that sort of thing. He said the soldering on the circuit board wasn't that good to begin with, so he removed the solder from the socket pins and added some fresh solder. It didn't fix it though. He's a very busy man though -- always the last to leave work.

I teach DT in a school and I've made the network manager some wooden boxes for storing laptop chargers, and I'm forever fixing other teachers' furniture. Help others as you would like to be helped etc.

[analogue_rogue]

i would seriously just bypass the clocks pcb and solder stright to the LED running wires where you need and creating the old fashoined flasher circuit complete with flasher relay etc :D

[Dookbob]

Yeah, I think I would too.