998 headlights question

[998mark]

Hello,
I am new to the group and I am working on a 998 I just bought. The problem I am having is that the headlight does not come one when I turn on the key. I was told that the headlights will not come on unless the bike is in motion which seems odd. I have the wheel off the bike now so I am unable to test that suggestion. Could someone tell how the headlights are supposed to work? This is my first Ducati so I have no prior experience with this bike.
Thanks,
I have power at the fuse and have traced power all the way up to a relay under the headlight. I just wish I knew if this bikes headlight is supposed to work like every other motorcycle or if there is something unique in the way Ducati powers their headlights. There must be someone out there that is familiar with headlights on their Ducati. It may sound like a simple question but even the service department at the local Duc shop could not tell me. Help anyone?
Mark

[infoage1]

Hi Mark,

The motion suggestion is nonsense. Should be on all the time, unless it is a euro bike, or someone has installed a left-side euro handlebar switch (not that common of a mod).

Does the taillight work? Does the relay work? Does the high-beam light come on?

[998mark]

Hi Tom,
Thanks for the impute. The bike will start, the lighting fuse is good and there is power at the fuse. I have traced the lead from the headlight fuse to a relay that resides under the headlight. I have no:
Head lights (high or low beam)
Tail lights
Instrument night (back) lights
Brake light

I do have parking light when the key is placed in that position.

I currently have all the bodywork off the bike trying to chase down the power routing to the headlights. I have a schismatic but it is not intuitive and mentions a "safety relay" which I have no idea where it is or what it does. Now that you have told me that the head lights operate normally I suspect a relay. I say this because the lights came on once when I was switching the key on and off.
I would appreciate any tips as to what and where to look.
Mark

[infoage1]

Without a schematic (or the bike ) in front of me, I'm thinking bad or poor ground somewhere. I really don't think the brake nor instrument lights are controlled by a relay, and they may even be on a separate circuit.

Ok, I jus looked through my Ducati PDFs. I guess I do have a 996 diagram. Let me look at it and see if I can find some inspiration.

[infoage1]

OK, for one thing, the high beam, low beam, stop lights, and instrument lights are ALL on different circuits. High and low beam have different relays (for example).

Do the turn signals work? They share the instrument fuse. Does the horn work? It shares the brake light fuse.

Real dumb question, but have you checked for power--at the bulb sockets?

Maybe someone jacked the power when trying to jump-start the bike and blew all the bulbs. I would meter all the sockets--one by one. You might try the tail harness first. Something else, as to SBK instrument lights, the bulbs are real finicky; how they plug in, plus they seem to go out often. I've had trouble getting even good ones to work. You could also have some unrelated (but similar) issues confusing the situation.

But check the ground. Pull the fuses one by one and reinsert them. Same to with the bulbs. Another thing, you never mentioned, did any of this stuff ever work for you?

[998mark]

Thanks again Tom,
It turns out it was a bad relay that resides under the battery. I swapped in another relay and everything came up.
I have a new question that you maybe able to help me with. My marking tape came off my FI leads that go to the injectors. They are marked "O" and "V"; do you know which one goes where?

Thanks,
Mark

[infoage1]

Originally Posted by 998mark

Thanks again Tom,
It turns out it was a bad relay that resides under the battery. I swapped in another relay and everything came up.
I have a new question that you maybe able to help me with. My marking tape came off my FI leads that go to the injectors. They are marked "O" and "V"; do you know which one goes where?

Thanks,
Mark

Glad the wiring issue turned into a simple fix. I carry extra relays with me as I do fuses.

As to the leads question, in Italian:

Orizzontale = horizontal
Verticale = vertical