Story: Sometimes the obvious culprit is not at fault at all

I want to share a short story about that sometimes the most obvious source of a problem isn't the real source.

The Background:

I have an 2022'er BMW R1250 GS with an Innovv K3 installed. The K3 is powered by an EzCan cansmart adapter.

For those who are not familiar with cansmart adapters:

These adapters allow you to power auxiliary devices and let them be triggered by events of the motorbike. So you can configure a connected auxiliary horn to be activated when you press the horn button at the bike.

The K3 is connected as a simple auxiliary device which should get powered on and off with the ignition.

There is also an auxiliary horn connected, which goes off together with the original horn when I press the horn button.

Everything was running fine for month.

The Problem:

Out of a sudden, the K3 crashed whenever I pressed the horn button. I realized this when an idiot cutted me off and I wanted to review the video later. The video stoppped two seconds before the incident and continued 10 seconds later. After short thininkg I realized that this was the moment I pressed the horn.

For me it was quite obvious that the problem must have something to do with the Ezcan adapter. Simply because it is the only device the K3 is connected to. Maybe there is a voltage drop when the aux horn gets activated (it takes 12A) or something like that. So I disabled the aux horn, but the K3 still crashed 9 out of 10 times when I pressed the horn. Hmmm...strange.

Then I found a guide how to connect the K3 to the Ezcan adapter where it states:

"Although any channel can be set as an “Accessory / Ignition supply” output, only the Red, Blue and Yellow channels will have the third data wire mimic the motorcycle’s ignition status! "

As I did not know this guide when installing the K3, I connected the K3 to the white (the wrong) channel when doing the installation. But can this be the reason? The K3 had been running fine for month at the white channel. So I asked the Ezcan support about that. They neither agreed nor declined that this

may be the reason, but suggested to connect the K3 to the yellow channel.

Ok...I will do. Of course I had to remove the carrier and the rear base plate of the bike to get access to the plugs. Time to get the toolbox.

But even at the yellow channel, the K3 crashed when honking. Very strange. So in the next step I disconnected everything from the Ezcan except the K3 and....the K3 kept crashing.

Ok...though everything else is disconnected, there is still a configuration at the Ezcan which tells it to react to the horn button. So I resetted the Ezcan and...still no result. Dammed. Ok...as a next try I disconnected the Ezcan from the canbus of the bike and used my tablet to manually actived the port where the K3 is connected to. Switched on ignition...pressed the horn button and....the K3 crashed. WTF!!

As I am in the lucky situation to have more than only one Innovv cam here, I used the power module of the K5 to power the K3 externally. So at that moment the K3 wasn't connected to the GS or Ezcan in any way. But guess what? The K3 kept crashing when I honked. At that moment it was clear that the Ezcan can't be the source of the problem.

But why is the K3 crashing? The horn is far away from the DVR or the cameras.

The DVR is placed right above the ECU. Does the K3 getting interferences from the ECU which makes it crash?

While I was sitting next to my bike, thinking of what I can test next, my eyes felt on the plugs connecting the cameras to the DVR.

You see it? The screw of the upper connector got loose somehow. The plug itself is secured by zip ties, so it was still connected and the cam was running fine. But due to the open screw, there was no or a bad grounding. So whenever I honked, there were some Amps running thru the frame (the ground). This created a electric potential at the front cam (which is connected to the frame), which could not bleed of. And that caused the front cam to crash. And as we know...if the front cam crashes, the DVR will reboots to fix the issue.🙄

I tightend up the connector and the problem was gone. Even with the aux horn connected again, I can now honk like a maniac without the K3 crashing anymore.😁

Morale of the story:

- Before searching for the source of a problem, check the basics.

- Sometimes the obvious culprit is not at fault at all.