Just when I think I'm out of the woods...
Bike's finally running the way I want it to, found new rare cast front wheel to match rear (brand new never used or mounted 20-yr old wheel!) to replace the cheapo placeholder spoke on the front, took it for 200 mile ride Sunday, rode great, no issues. Was going to ride to work yesterday am, turned ignition on, hit start, loud CLICK from below seat left side, lights went out on speedo. Turned ignition off then on, lights came back, hit start, same thing. Turned off then on, nothing, speedo doesn't light. I'm thinking maybe battery terminals or ground need cleaned, maybe starter relay or solenoid, OK, took the other bike to work. Cleaned terminals and main battery ground last night, no good. The accessory switch works fine, it is just the ignition side with problems. It did try to turn the engine once but then quit. The good news: this happened in my garage. Could be worse!

So- one of 3 things happens when I turn ignition on:
-Nothing;
-Speedo lights, hit start, loud CLICK then nothing, no lights, switch inop;
-Speedo lights, hit start, briefly turns engine then nothing.

If the bike sits for a minute or two the switch usually lights when turned on, but not always.

Battery is fully charged, terminals clean.

Last 3 things done to electronics on the bike, most recent first:
-reattached and routed neutral safety switch connectors to provide better grip on terminals since they kept coming off;
-replaced voltage regulator;
-checked, disconnected and reconnected connectors on ignition switch as part of the investigation into weird speedo behavior, which turned out to be the bad VR.

I would also point out that the wiring harness ("service loop") was pulled out the front of the frame backbone when I rebuilt the front end last year but everything stuffed back in OK and everything works just fine, well at least until yesterday. I'm guessing at this point i may need to revisit the ignition switch connector, and maybe check all grounds. Anyone run into this before in the event that checks out? Otherwise I'm thinking a short somewhere, but that won't be fun trying to find. Thoughts appreciated!

 

Sounds like a bad battery is the connections (both sides) are good. Get the battery properly load tested. Also, using a volt meter, the battery should not drop below 9.6V when cranking.

 

After eliminating just about every other possibility, the ignition switch has to be the problem. Ordered an aftermarket, if I'm wrong I'm out $35, but worth the risk. Everything else checked out OK. Will let you know.

 

9 out of 10 times based on your symptoms, it is the battery. Do you know how old it is? Anything over 5 years and it is definitely the battery. Good luck.

 

After all that, it was, indeed- the battery! Many thanks or the suggestions. What was throwing me, I think, was the charger showed the battery as fully charged, the multimeter indicated holding 13 volts, and on the infrequent occasions when the starter activated, the battery cranked the hell out of it until the bike started. Probably should have put a load on it first, my bad. It became clear the battery was the issue when i took an old, dead battery i hadn't recycled yet, put the charger on it for an hour and put it in. That caused the ignition switch to work properly, although of course it didn't have any juice to crank the starter. My guess is, when the voltage regulator went bad it cooked the battery a little bit and degraded it such that it was only a matter of time. But gain, the good news is this happened IN MY GARAGE, not on the road in the middle of nowhere.

The new ignition switch will go into the consolidated parts bin, for use at a future time if necessary.

Thanks again to all who responded.

 

You can do a simple impedance check on the ignition switch, it should read 200/800 Ohm depending on the position being run or accessories.

PS. I am going to need to look at the battery of my wife’s FLS 2013 as I am having the same issue no power at all on the bike except when I press the ‘trip’ button on the LH control which then shows the trip/time in the speedo, but otherwise nothing works on the bike.