battery dies

i took my '77 kz650 out for the first ride of the season a few weeks ago, and when i got home the battery was dead. it was fully charged before i rode. i thought battery was bad and not holding a charge so i got a new one. i went for a ride yesterday for about an hour and the new battery died on me in the middle of town. i lost all power. so obvisously it is not the battery. could there be a short or something somewhere? i put in a new stator and ignition coils last year. any suggestions?

check fuses.

what fuses?

would bad fuses cause the battery to completely die?

main fuses under side cover inside little black plstic box ,helped a guy on side of road a while back battery went flat on him after about ten minutes scratching my head found blown main fuse would not allow battery to charge.:whistle:

Make sure the battery connections are clean and tight, at the battery terminals, and the connection points. Double check the stator wires and make sure they are clean and tight.

Charge up the battery, hook it back in the bike and start it up. Take a meter and measure the voltage at the battery terminals at idle, should be 12.5-13.5 or so. Then measure the voltage as you rev it up to 2500-3000. You should see 14.5 volts. If you aren't seeing that, then your battery is not getting charged.

Because of your symptons, I think you won't see any rise in voltage.

Wireman, I don't think it's fuses, there are just three on that model. Main, headlight and tailights. If the Main was blown I don't think the bike would start. If the light fuses were blown, it would affect the light system... but I could be wrong.

Follow OKC's instructiuons. Sounds like a fried rectifier. They have diodes in them. Pass a current backwards through it and it burns out instantly. That is why you connect the psitive terminal first. If negative not hooked up there is no circuit period to short out. If negative hooked first and the positive terminal touches fram you can fry rectifier (regulator/rectifier). How do I know this, please don't ask. :blush:

if it is a fried rectifier how much would that cost to replace and how hard is it to get one?