First thing, start with the easy stuff, and check the battery in the fob is making contact properly. Have you held the spare key up to the headstock to try starting it?

 

Thanks for the response Davey. I'll add another clue to the mystery. I've noticed that when all was well and I walked up to the bike without the fob and tried to start the bike a yellow indicator light on the top left corner of the dash would flash. That is not happening. It is as if the bike is dead. I find it hard to believe that the battery is totally dead. Can it be, I guess so.

 

Mine has done that once before, I pulled a few fuses out to see if any went bad but all were perfect, plugged them back In and all of a sudden it worked again.. it was weird but try that

 

Thanks for this mate! I rode my bike from work to the petrol station to get some snacks. Came out and the bike was completely dead. Tried the method of checking fuses and it just started working again.

 

Thanks Andre,
Will be locking into this today. Also saw a related response that was solved by temporarily disconnecting the battery. Will see.

 

Charge & Check Battery. Remove/ Reinstall fuses. Check key fob battery. Consider getting an Optimate battery charger? (Optimate Lithium Battery Charger 0.8A ). Best,

Doc

 

fob battery is good. Will be checking the others later today. thanks Gary

 

Well well, the "disconnect the battery" trick worked. Now I am wondering why this happened, and when, or if it will happen again. Will definitely bring it to the dealers attention when I ride it in for it's first scheduled maintenance soon.

 

it happen to me when I shut the bike off and continually held the steerer lock button down to quickly lock and run into the store.

I remember it was super delayed to lock.. once I came out the bike wouldn’t turn on! Fuse check and it turned on right away, I haven’t held that button down for longer than 5 secs ever since lol

 

Had the exact same thing happen to me about a month after I got my 2020...........took a while to get around to pulling/checking the fuses, but that did the trick! Hasn't happened since. 🤞

 

Hopefully it won't happen again to any of us. Still wondering why.

 

I believe that disconnecting the battery somehow resets the bike or the bikes Canbus. The SD GT also begins to act/ function poorly/ funny when the battery is low/ needs to be replaced. Remember most battery's do not last more than 3 years. In fact it is a USA government regulation that all health care emergency back up generators have their battery's replaced every two years. Best,

Doc

 

I believe that disconnecting the battery somehow resets the bike or the bikes Canbus. The SD GT also begins to act/ function poorly/ funny when the battery is low/ needs to be replaced. Remember most battery's do not last more than 3 years. In fact it is a USA government regulation that all health care emergency back up generators have their battery's replaced every two years. Best,

Doc

I'll have to check the battery's age. I was surprised to hear that I am not alone in experiencing this problem. Hopefully KTM can work to get this resolved. I've only had this bike two months. I appreciate the inputs from y'all.

Happy riding'.
Lou in SC, USA

 

If it happens when out and about, try pulling the main fuse, it’s the same as disconnecting the battery.

Remove pillion and rider seat. Trace the main positive lead from battery to where it ends at the black cover at the rear right under the rider/front seat. The fuse on the left is tha main fuse and on the right is the spare, I think.

I have a nearly one month old SDR too, I’ve not had it happen yet, but it shouldn’t be happening at all. The smart key needs the “smarts” reliably powered, on the bike, so I guess these things can go wrong occasionally especially if there is some issue with the battery. (I guess they don’t have a good watchdog timer system!)

 

If it happens when out and about, try pulling the main fuse, it’s the same as disconnecting the battery.

Remove pillion and rider seat. Trace Amin positive lead from battery to ends at the black cover at the rear right under the rider/front seat. The fuse on the left is tha main fuse and on the right is the spare, I think.

I have a nearly one month old SDR too, it shouldn’t be happening at all, but as it needs the “smarts” reliably powered I guess these things can go wrong occasionally. (I guess they don’t have a good watchdog timer system!)

Wow! KTM should include this as a procedure in the owner's manual. Must be pretty common problem. Very disappointing to hear. I'll look for that fuse. I assume this is easier than the battery disconnect.
Thanks 27

Lou

 

Sorry, I updated my post. I’ve not had it happen to me yet, but I thought I would post about the main fuse in the hopes of helping you out. It’s certainly easier to access quickly if out and about and stranded.

 

27, it's fine I will look for that fuse tomorrow. Hoping this will not occur again, but it may help others. By the way I'm new to KTM, although been riding for many years, and I wonder how you learned about the fuse. And hopefully it won't happen to you, but you have a handle on the problem. This forum has been great so far. Hopefully I'll be able to help others.
Lou

 

I too am new to KTM, but have been riding for years.
I only realized that under that cover was the main fuse by reading the owners manual, where I also learned of the spare. My other bike is a ZX-10R, and there is an identical looking cover by the main positive lead from the battery, I now assume there is a fuse under there on the ZX-10R. But I didn’t know that until I saw it in the KTM owners manual. (The KTM owners manual seems to have a LOT more details on basic maintenance than the Kawasaki owners manual.)

Screen shot of the page in the owners manual (2020 Super Duke R):

 

I too am new to KTM, but have been riding for years.
I only realized that under that cover was the main fuse by reading the owners manual, where I also learned of the spare. My other bike is a ZX-10R, and there is an identical looking cover by teh main positive lead from the battery, I now assume there is a fuse under there ont eh ZX-10R too. But I didn’t know it until I saw it in the KTM owners manual. (The KTM owners manual seems to have a LOT more details on basic maintenance than the Kawasaki owners manual.)

Screen shot of the page in the owners manual (2020 Super Duke R):
View attachment 100398

Thanks 27, nice job passing along the owner manual shots. I will take a look at this in case this occurs again. So far so good.

 

Makes sense considering the entire machine is run by computer(s), they may occasionally need to be "unplugged and plugged back in" since there's no conventional restart feature. I hope this would be addressed in a future ECU firmware or something.

For those whom this has happened, was there any consistency in triggering it? I saw someone mention holding down the lock button for too long, wondering if there's a general best practice to avoid it.

 

I’ve only had fob battery issues with my 2019 Super Duke GT where the battery fails to stay tight in the fob. A foam earplug cut in half and compressed under the cover solved that one.
Might I suggest that when pulling / reseating fuses you give a little squirt of WD40 / RP7 / CRC 5-56 on the fuses. Or a little dielectric grease to keep out any moisture. And a spray of battery coat on the main battery and ground terminals once these are checked tight.
Having had my bike off the road twice for electrical issues (a false “side stand down” warning that immobilised the bike and a bigger CANBUS issue that resulted in a complete wiring harness replacement under warranty) I’m as cagey as many of us of the reliability (or otherwise) of a “fully electronic” bike.
Tis the way the market is going I expect but I’ll admit to a certain nervousness when travelling out back a bit and several hundred km or more from a town. Any proactive steps to avoid potential trouble are prudent I reckon.
Cheers and good luck,
GobiOne

 

Now imagine this, the year is 2050 and we all commute in driver-less electric vehicles and one of the computers takes a nap......... ........ where's the main fuse box..........

 

Anything worth it’s salt uses a watchdog timer. Just not Superduke ignition logic! 🤣

 

🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

I’m sorry man, so when I go futzing with it, I now know to take the spare out first before pulling the main, thanks for the tip!

Ps. What is it with the tail on this bike? I dropped one of the “tail stinger” bolts into the bowls of the bike when putting the tail tidy on... a 10 minute job turned into a 45 minute job, so I feel for you!

 

Did anyone mention checking the ground cable post? More than one machine has left the factory with a loose ground cable.

 

Totally agree mate. A quick spanner check over the battery and earth terminals and posts once in a while is a sound preventative maintenance practice. Poor earthing is a major cause of issues on all electrical systems and especially frustrating when it causes intermittent problems. Good call.
Cheers,
GobiOne

 

My GT became a little reluctant to start, as if the battery was weak. Someone suggested checking the ground bolt and sure enough, it was less than tight. No issues since.

 

The first thing I always did with a new bike is ground clean and tighten.

 

Also, there is another connection for the ground cable....... it is under the tank on the SDGT's, not sure about the SDR. The cable then heads down to earth on the motor........

Mine was ok but I still managed to nip it up tighter - see pic....... 10mm ring spanner in under the tree root sized wiring harness......... if it is loose, it could be a problem even though the visible battery terminals are tight. Lead battery terminals seem to vibtate or settle loose over time too......