Speedo not working

Brew · Mar 15, 2011

Sounds like you may have a loose or broken wire, check it out

phatchopper300 · Mar 15, 2011

I have found out in the past that if your battery is not putting out 12.8 volts your speedo will not work properly. When you start the bike it will drop in volts due to the speedo and other functions like the headlight etc... Make sure you have a fresh battery. Just saying

jbotts · Mar 15, 2011

I've been through the same ordeal. I didn't realize it at the time, but my speedo would crap out after the bike had been sitting for a prolonged length of time with no battery tender. The bike would start, I'd get 2 miles into my ride and notice the speedo wasn't working. When I would get home I'd shut off the bike and restart it and the speedo was fine. The reason is the battery got some charge from the ride.

Here is a link to a battery write-up by our local dealer here in St. Louis, evidently these bikes are hell on batteries. After 5 years of owning a Big Dog I agree.

Big Dog Motorcycles of St. Louis » Battery Maintenance

One more thing, and if other forum members disagree with this chime in. If you buy a replacement battery, don't put it in the bike right away. Put it on a slow (1.5-2amp) trickle charger or tender for 24 hours. The reason for this, according to a JPCycles video is that the battery might only be at 50% charge when you buy it from the shop. If you start putting it under load like that it will never hold as much charge as it should. Let it slow charge for 24 hours then put it into the bike and start using it.

Link to JP cycles video here:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLkA6tHm5eg]YouTube - How to Maintain your Motorcycle Battery - J&P Cycles Tech Tip[/ame]

woodbutcher · Mar 15, 2011

agree whole-heartedly with jbotts. also, a few years ago, the factory came up with a EHC flash program to be done at the dealers in which the speedo would recycle after the bike was cranked just to eliminate this problem. the EHC had to be the ones with the USB port so the flash was not available for all bikes. yours being an '05, it probably has the round port unless the EHC has been replaced. (just trying to throw info out for others to be aware of)

isalas · Mar 15, 2011

I also had that problem with my 07 K9 last year on the return trip from nicaragua, when I got home I had to remove the speedo and disassemble it complete (taking out the chrome ring around it) and turned out to be a disconnected cable right on the base of the speedo, I had to make hole on the speedo housing in order to solder it back.

stinger1 · Mar 15, 2011

Change Battery to slightly higher output. that will work guaranteed.....

BadBrad · Mar 15, 2011

I went through 3 batteries in 1 year, so don't associate age with being good. To answer your question about sensor location, it will be on the right side on top of the transmission, just in front of the starter. I believe it has a single allen screw that keeps it secured in place. Be sure to check your speedo connection under the tank as well. Put a little di-electric grease in the fitting and shrink wrap it or tape it up to keep moisture out and keep a good connection.

Flares · Mar 29, 2011

TexasRider said:
I have a 2005 Chopper and my speedo will go thru the diagnostics when I first turn the ignition on. I can then push the button to switch from odometer to tripometer with no problems, however when I start the bike, the speedo does not move any when riding and I can't switch from odometer to tripometer any more. Everything else works just fine. This happened last summer a lot then quit all winter. Over the weekend it started again. Drives me nuts. Any suggestions?

TexasRider,
Not sure if you fixed your speedo problem yet or not but I had the same thing going on with my 07 Mastiff:bang:

I finally had enough and pulled the unit out and found the red wire inside the speedo housing itself has broke free from the solder joint on the IC board. FYI, there are 3 wires that go into the the speedo housing (red, green, and black)

Unfortunately, There's no way to "open" the sealed housing to resolder the connection with free access unless you cut an opening in the side (I seriously gave this some thought and elected to try the following method (it worked!).

I was able to re solder the red wire back to the board with a small hobby soldering pen through the small (about 5/8 " ) diameter access hole where the wires go into the housing. It was a b&#ch and it took awhile to get everything lined up okay. Additionally, the soldering job (based on the lousy access) is suspect and I'm not really sure it will hold up. As soon as I did this the speedo has worked like a champ. If it goes out again, I'll just replace with a Dakota aftermarket or the new Big Dog Medallion speedo.

Good luck

Nukeranger · Apr 2, 2011

Exact same thing was happening here (both speed and odometer function). If the battery was left on a tender, then the speedometer worked fine. Otherwise, I would have to start her up and warm her up. Then I would shut her down and do a restart and all was fine. The other day, I had to ride home to a gas station (about 14 miles) before a restart would fix the issue. There is something to the voltage drop on startup affecting the Speedometer function when running. I also noticed not as much cranking amps when this happened. I installed a newly charged Braille battery last night and all is well. Funny thing is, I checked the cranking amps of the 3 plus year old BDM battery and it put out the rated CCA as expected. So, I am thinking out loud and agree that the Speedometer is very sensitive to voltage during the startup and I believe I can use this as an indication that it is time to change out my battery before getting stranded. Just my opinion.

kmalysa · Apr 2, 2011

Same thing on my 05 Pitbull. The cause? (I would assume these guys are right about the charge.)
To get your speedo working again, try the Callibration procedure.

Take the bike to the start of a marked 2 mile distance, turn key off. While holding down the button on the speedo, turn on the ignition switch. You should see a series of dashes on the odometer. Release the button, wait a couple seconds the press it one more time, the display should now show "O------O".
Now ride the 2 mile Marked course, the stop (Do not turn off ignition), press button again. This will show a value of pulse count from the speedo sensor (should be approx 99,000). Press button again and you should be calibrated.
If at any time you see "Err", simply start over.

The speedo sensor is located on the right side of the transmission between the starter and the front belt pully.
Good luck,
Ken

Nukeranger · Apr 3, 2011

woodbutcher said:
agree whole-heartedly with jbotts. also, a few years ago, the factory came up with a EHC flash program to be done at the dealers in which the speedo would recycle after the bike was cranked just to eliminate this problem. the EHC had to be the ones with the USB port so the flash was not available for all bikes. yours being an '05, it probably has the round port unless the EHC has been replaced. (just trying to throw info out for others to be aware of)

:2thumbs:This is some good info here. For me, I will not do the EHC flash program. Reason being, I want to use this as an indication to replace the battery. When this starts happening, there isn't any problem starting. But, there will be soon! And, Braille is the way to go for me (Next time I purchase, I will not screw up and buy directly from Braille. I will buy from Mad Dog because he is the Man!):2thumbs:

oakdog · Mar 1, 2016

I was reading through these posts and didn't see what I am currently experiencing with my speedo. I have a 05 mastiff. The other day after gassing up I took off and reset my trip gauge while doing about 65mph. The gauge pegged out and the odometer started adding mileage as if I was really doing 120+ mph. When I stopped the gauge went to zero but upon any acceleration it would peg out. After several attempts I was able to reset the speedo but now it only shows that I'm doing about 20 mph while doing 65. The big problem is I now show I have 14+k on my bike when I really only have about 8500. How do I get my original mileage back?

BWG56 · Mar 1, 2016

Ya can't get the mileage back, you could put a Dakota digital on it. you can preset the miles within the first 100 miles. The new software has the speedo doing a double sweep and turns off the headlight while starting, maybe Curtis can reflash it

BADOG · Mar 1, 2016

phatchopper300 said:
I have found out in the past that if your battery is not putting out 12.8 volts your speedo will not work properly. When you start the bike it will drop in volts due to the speedo and other functions like the headlight etc... Make sure you have a fresh battery. Just saying

oakdog · Mar 6, 2016

BWG56 said:
Ya can't get the mileage back, you could put a Dakota digital on it. you can preset the miles within the first 100 miles. The new software has the speedo doing a double sweep and turns off the headlight while starting, maybe Curtis can reflash it

What is reflashing it? & who is Curtis?

Jwooky · Mar 6, 2016

Reflashing=put new software on the device
Curtis=wildsteelwerks.com

MossBerg590 · Mar 6, 2016

wildsteedworx.com

Jwooky · Mar 7, 2016

ya that lol

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