recently did some tidyup work to the front lights .. Replaced a pinchpoint damaged wire to the twin (aftermarket) headlights, replaced the various connectors to the park and main lights with bigger but waterproofed units, put bright white led units in as the park bulbs , made my amateur best effort to wrap all the semi loose wiring in elec tape so its all tucked up neat .. (will photo these various things soon as i can figure it out using my phone) .. I thought i had put this up before in a thread but cant find it now?

Anyway .. The led units look nice enough and come on as soon as i turn key to on (normal operation) but the twin main bulbs sometimes light up straight away .. And sometimes they light up after a few seconds .. And sometimes they light up after i hit the starter and the bike is running. Should i be looking for a problem?

Its kinda a neat effect having the staged illumination but i wonder if there is a faulty capacitor or regulator or thingummy that is 'filling up' with electricity before coming to life... And despite the seemingly healthy wiring now (visually), very occasionally as i start riding and before the bike is full operating temp .. The main lights will go off\on .. Only fraction of a second each time.. And within a minute it stops happening .... Dont want to make this too much longer but dont want to miss a clue

did search about stators and regulators but not sure this is same issue... So any thoughts or info the brains collectively can put up would be appreciated

I think your bike has a headlight interrupt relay so that the light is not on when the starter is running.  But other than that, you should see the light on any time the key is on.*

*Some countries allow the headlight to be turned off by a switch.

hmm yeah i hope its the interrupt thingy .. But .. B4 i replaced the pinch point damaged wire and also hooked up the park light circuit at same time .. The headlights would fire up instantly every time .. Maybe the park lights complete the circuit better and i get the cool delay .. But why would it then vary the timing of the delay from instant to several seconds or even only when i hit the starter? The randomNess has me puzzled .

And where would such a relay be placed?  .. So i could test it for age/function

thanks heaps for the idea though .. I do like the concept .. 

bump for my own previous stupidheadNess ..
Of course the delayed main light issue could be that i cable tied the plug for the main lights onto the currently unused fairing headlight mount on the frame .. A bit too tightly it turns out .. The pulling on the wiring as i turned the bars was only just pulling one leg of the male plug out of contact ... Moved the cable tie .. Settled the plug back in .. Works all the time .. Not as cool but working .. Sigh

nope scratch that last ..
So ok .. Was out for a night ride , stopped for a coffee , when i restart the bike the led park lights came on , bike running , indicators working , brake and tail bulb working , dash bulbs working .. No main headlights working , tested main switch to high beam nothing happens .. But the pass toggle button works for high beam .. Wiggle wires and check best i can for loose plugs .. Nothing , so after about 3 minutes i stand back and think on it .. And the main beams light up ..
So .. Ideas? Main switch broken or loose internals? Is there a thing that needs to build up charge b4 lights work? Im a bit lost here .. Dont think its the wiring right behind the lights because the pass toggle had a effect . I have not gone deeper than previous mentioned tidyup into the wiring .. The left light of the pair is 1st in line from the main plug and the right light is piggy backed off that .. As the set comes from the shop. ......... Previously i thought the variable delay was odd but cool , but now when its dropping out when it feels like it And the 3 minute delay till it worked again doesnt fill me with joy. It is affected by vibration i think .. But this is puzzling me right now . Thanks anyone with a theory

There is no delay in the wiring. Headlight is a direct wiring through the high/low switch.
If your passing switch works (rare for the USA to have that switch so you must be elsewhere. Profile has no location specified) then you know the high beam filament is OK so the bulb should be on.
Therefore, probably wiring to or through the high/low switch. Switch could be bad/corroded.
Get out your wiring diagram and a volt meter. Trace things when not working and you'll find the break.
You've had pinched wires and other issues, so you could have a break inside a wire insulation that you can't see. Tracing with your meter will isolate the break or bad switch.

i should say that i have to wait for the fault to appear each time .. Which is thankfully frequent for testing purposes .................err dont have a multimeter or really know how to use one , but i do have a test light that is simple enough for my aussie brain! .. Took switch apart and it looks clean and dry with no dodgy solder joints and all copper contacts in good order so i went further and took the tank off to follow the loom along .. Got as far as the big yellow plug 11 wires .. Poked the probe into the white wire (lowbeam) pocket while the circuit was dead and with a wiggle the thing came alive again .. This was with engine just warming up though . (thought briefly that it might be a engine heat or lack of causing wires to expand contract and thereby shifting contact somehow) .. Have only had one more dead circuit since then which was another wiggle of the plug fix (i think) .. Nope hang on Damnit .. Again now .. Switch power .. Light plug no power .. Shazam its both good and still annoying .. Where in the short line now is it ... Looking looking 

Fiddling with the connector could mean:
1. Contacts are slightly bent so they don't always mate properly. Warming up could make a difference.
2. Contacts could be contaminated. Warming up causes the gunk or film on the connector to flow away so there is electrical connection.
3. Wire could have bad connection to the connector. It may look good but the insulation of the wire may make the crimp connection deceptive. Could look good. You might even see wire that looks like it is making connection in the crimp. however, there could be a thin layer of insulation between the wire and the crimp part of the connector.

It is easy (if you know how to solder) to add a dab of solder to the crimps with a fine point soldering iron and not have to disassemble the connector.

FIY: volt meter is easy. use it line a light bulb. Black goes to ground. Red is your probe. Now, set the meter for the range of DC voltage you're testing. Like 0-20 volts, 0-100 volts, and so forth. Setting the range just controls the range on the display - like a tach can be 0-12000 PM or you can have a tach for 0-20,000 RPM. Over 12000 and you peg the tach. Same with a volt meter. Set it for 0-10 volts let's say, you're trying to measure your bike voltages which can go up to 13 or 14 volts. The meter will peg, so you can't see what the voltage is. Set meter to 0-20 volt range and you can see it. Set meter for 0-100 volts and you're still OK, just not as good resolution for measuring something up to 14 volts. Now, when you're measuring your voltages, you might see 2 to 6 volts which would be a poor connection (and when using a light bulb, it might not go on or be very dim). If you see 8 volts, it is a connection but poor. as in a connector, if you measure one side of the connector and see 12 volts and maybe 4 volts on the other side, you know it is a poor connection. 8 or 9 volts can mean a poor connection which should also be fixed. 12 volts on each side and you have a good connection.

A volt meter is amazingly simple to use and very valuable. Some do lots of other things - like measure resistance, capacitors, frequency and so forth. If you don't understand or use those functions, just ignore them. Set the dial for DC volts when measuring DC. Turn the knob to an appropriate AC range to measure AC voltages. When in doubt, set to a high range and work your way down. Most meters these days will just display OVER when voltage is out of range and generally not harm the meter.

FYI: While your switch contacts may look clean, it could be that they are not making contact! Look for marks indicating the contacts are wiping each other. The meter really helps here. Using it to measure resistance, with the switch on the bench...  A couple ohms resistance means it is making contact. Infinite or really high resistance means not making contact. That's how to test a switch. You can try bypassing the high/low switch with jumper clips and see if the problem is gone.

When you mentioned the high/low switch did nothing but the passing button made the light come on indicates to me a bad connection with the high/low switch.

Hope this helps. You just have a poor connection somewhere.

Ta for the input bro , will add multimeter to kit .. All 3 little contacts in switch had wipes i think .. But now will look again to be positive .. Sigh

got a multimeter .. Opened packet .. Wire fell out of red probe, took it back and got another one (gotta love Chinese tech!) .. Ok ... Did various volt and resistance tests .. All seemed ok , pulled switch apart again .. Wipe marks but kinda faint .. Very slightly stretched the spring and reassembled .. All ok , re mounted switch and tightened up the screws ... No bloody power to plug! .. So im thinking you are right adidas in that it is the switch .. But the internal forces on the switch when in it proper place are letting the contact points separate completely .. Presumably due to wear .. The little nubs of the plate pushed by spring do look a tiny bit carbonised and smoothed down .. So i will cast about for a new switch i guess , thought of maybe adding a solder dot to each nub but doubt the long term 'goodNess' of this .. Plus i dont know if my fine point soldering is trun the task of such tiny areas .. Lets hope that switch supplies are in cheaper dollar ranges!

The wires are crammed into the switch block. Could really be a broken wire inside the insulation at one of the points where the wires bend or are fastened.

You could piggy back on the 3 wires a plain switch or just connect the power to the high or low beam, before the connector for the wires to the switch block. If light always works - yep - bad switch assembly or wires in it.
You can probably jumper the headlight on by jamming a piece of wire pr piece of a paper clip into the connector. Even if only for a short while - it would confirm something bad with the switch block or wiring to it.

You could use the meter to measure the resistance from the connector to where the corresponding wire is soldered to the switch. That's also called a "continuity check". Infinite resistance is an open circuit - i.e. break somewhere in the wire. If you can identify the bad wire, you could run another wire in place of it.

hrm, ok.. power at the battery , power at the multi wire module mounted to frame on left side of battery, power at the main yellow plug under the fuel tank , no power at the switch or anything after that! .. So a crap wire in the line down to the yellow plug? Yeah? .. And if it was broken and when the engine heat warmed or vibrated the wire it could make expand slightly or vibrate into contact .. Or combination of both effects .. I think .. Does this make sense? .. I think if the plug itself was dead internally then there SHOULD still be power on the elec input side of the switch? .. Or does the circuit go dead if the switch internals are dead? .. Just trying to confirm my amateur reasoning
.... ADDENDUM .. Not the switch to the plug , mate gave me a spare one from his 97 gixxer .. Same plug same wiring same serial number on bottom .. And exactly the same symptoms .. I will check/bridge the light main plug shortly .. But is there a relay or similar back in the loom somewhere? .. That the pass switch would not be involved in? .. Its great that its not the switch .. But the next step?

on a positive note the missus and kids are getting me a haynes manual for fathers day .. Next week but Thats cool!

No relays. This should help

hrm .. Cos i access site by my mobile phone .. Cant always see some pics or links .. As is the case this time ... Email maybe?

This might seem complicated, but it isn't... so give it a try. A few simple tests should tell us what we need to know to resolve this...

Use a jumper wire to make a TEMPORARY connection from the LAST PLACE you KNOW you have power (the big yellow plug) DIRECTLY to the headlight. Do the LOW BEAM circuit FIRST, then the HIGH BEAM circuit. We actually KNOW that the HB works because it responds to the passing switch.

This test will allow you to jump AROUND the headlight switch; if both low- and high-beam work WITHOUT going through the switch, your problem is between the yellow plug and the switch, OR between the switch and the headlights, OR the switch itself. If BOTH lights are malfunctioning, you have a problem between the yellow plug and the switch, OR the switch itself. There is ONE wire INTO the switch, so it is common to BOTH lights, but TWO wires OUT of the switch, one to each filament. If the HB works properly ALL THE TIME, the HB wire out of the switch MUST be good, so you can eliminate that HB wire out of the switch as a possible culprit.

Keep in mind that a switch is ONLY a device used to OPEN or CLOSE a circuit. When the circuit is OPEN, no current can flow, so no lights. When the circuit is CLOSED, current can flow, and the lights should work.

Let us know what you find; you're on the right track, so a little more detective work should help you nail down the culprit.

Okie dokie , yet to make/test with the bypass rig to check (no enclosed garage here so working under the carport is dark and cool when i get home from work) .. But got my present of a haynes manual today .. Looking at the us/uk K6 wiring diagram (they look the same to me) simplifies the possibilities in my head somewhat .. Thank the gods for diagrams! .. AND i notice that there is a link to the right hand switch in the circuit too .. An area i have not even bothered to look at yet . The SPARE switch i borrowed from my friend works perfectly on his bike (went back and checked by hooking it in) and is the same wiring setup as mine anyway.

So .. Will do the tests as recommended by noober and adidas .. Plus open the right hand switch which contains the yellow/white common wire on both switches and check the connection there too .. This previously intermittant fault still tells my basic reasoning that there is one bad connector that is fritzing .. And i think its affected by heat/vibration to some extent ..
A side note also .. With the tank off i haven't had the engine running at all so no heat or vibration to jiggle things around .. As near as i can figure the fault has been present all the time since last week when the bike last started.
The tail light is working all the time tho so the basic circuit has power but the diagram shows me that although a common circuit the front and back ends are independant of each other as far as headlight switches are concerned.. Testing today i think.

One minor thing .. On the diagram .. Some of the wires have a symbol over them .. Longitudinal rectangle with a inwards facing arrow at one end .. Whats it mean? Just for curiosity sake ..
Cheers Riding Brothers!

Too bad you're not in Seattle. The bike cave is up and running!
I haven't been "down under". Place to stay if I fly down there?

house is small and full at moment .. But depending on when your trip would be .. The eldest will move out with university friends sooner or later .. You could bunk in the caravan at rear i reckon ..
Been a busy weekend and now home from halfday work so better test some wires i think .. I hate elec problems in general tho

hmm .. The common yellow with white wire in the switch has a fluctuating 0.21 to 0.45 volt in it .. B4 it was either full power or no power .. Hmm