Complete loss of power while riding.

So i was riding my 82 kz440 tonight and as I'm about to pull in to the gas station I lose ALL power. No lights, no horn, no start button....absolutely no power. Its as if someone disconnected the battery while I was riding.....(that wasn't the case, I checked) what could cause this?? I have no ignition i have ran a toggle switch because the bike had no key for the original ignition and it was being turned on with a screwdriver.....any suggestions on what this might be?

Fuses OK?

Battery voltage OK?

All connections good and tight?

If all of the above is good I would replace the ignition.  NO...let me change that....change it regardless.

Grab your voltmeter
Set the meter to DC V
Turn on the bike, toggle switch on, ignition on

The bike must be on to check voltages properly.


Black probe on negative battery post(the post is the metal part of the battery that the wires connect to)
Red probe on positive battery post.
What is your exact voltage?

Move the red probe to your fuses.
Measure both sides of each fuse with the red probe.
So for each fuse.. You will have 2 measurements.

What are the exact voltages?

Move your red probe to measure both side of your toggle switch.

What are the exact voltages?

Turn off your bike
All of your voltages should be within 0.5 V of the battery post voltage.
If not, you have a problem along that circuit.
Some of your fuses may be close to zero if you have a break on the main wire to your toggle/ignition switch.
Write down the voltages anyway as they can be helpful as well.

Could be a bad main fuse or maybe a broken connection inside the ignition switch.  If you aren't accustomed to electrical troubleshooting, it's not that big of a deal.  A meter is handy. lacking that, a 12VDC test light would be helpful.  I use a VC97 digital multimeter.

It is definitely a main fuse. When I checked them 2 are literally burnt in half. I really thought they would be a dime a dozen but come to find out the ASB 10A fuses are very hard to find. I got my local kawasaki dealer to order me a few that he says are the stock fuses for my bike....just out of curiosity would I have to use ASB fuses or would agx, sfe, and the like work??? I dont know much about fuses....what is the difference? 

It will be worth spending some time going through the harness to locate the cause for the blown fuse.
While it is common for those old glass fuses to wear out due to age/vibration, I wouldn't assume that's the cause.

Perhaps time to replace the fuse holder to a modern blade style . Makes fuse replacement easier. Easier to find them in the store and replace when they blow. 

Your main fuse-
white wire(red/white wire)  is supposed to be a 20 amp fuse.
The other fuses are 10 amp.

I'd use an AGX.
With glass fuses the letters describe different physical sizes.
The AGX is closest to stock.
Just get a voltage rating higher than 12V.

 

Probably the fuse clips causing weak connections to the fuse. The fuse will run very hot and burn. This can be seen usually pretty easy vs a short causing the fuse to blow. If a short caused the fuse to blow, the fuse will show blown real quickly just by looking at it. Probably all black in the glass. Other scenario is the fuse clips/overheat. This can usually be seen as melted plastic near the fuse clips, and the fuse looks OK, but has been broken at one end or the other from the heat.
The fuse system is no good to put it in a nutshell, and must be updated to blade fuses. 
A dangerous and potentially deadly  electric system that would have been recalled if they recalled motorcycles then which they didn't in those days.
I rode all over the USA, many times all through the night, and these fuses burning out at the wrong time was always a pretty big concern.

The Main fuse box uses 25mm fuses (AGX = 1/4 x 1") while the Acc fuses are 30mm (AGC = 1/4 x 1-1/4 ").
I don't know why Kawasaki did that, having two different sized fuses. sure would be handy if they were the same.
Sometimes you can find fuses on EB. I haven't checked an auto parts store lately, but nowadays they don't have much, usually an assortment w a bunch of unneeded fuses.

Partzilla appears to stock them 

www.partzilla.com/product/kawasaki/26006...bd9860f9bc71600ed7a1