Help Needed From Electrical Gurus-Please

Hey Gang - Here is the deal. Last week I was out for a quick ride and my bike suddenly died just around the corner from my house. Luckily it didn't happen earlier in the ride as I was across town.

The bike suddenly died and I coasted to a stop. Pulled the side cover and checked the fuses only to found the main 20 amp fuse had blown.

Pushed to the bike to a safe parking lot, went home and grabbed a couple of 20 amp fuses only to have them both blow as soon as the key was turned on. O.K, looks like I have a short from a bare wire touching somewhere, likely in the main harness as the neutral light was only working if I turned the bars slightly. I was hoping to have some time over the winter to check all of the wires and change from the factory glass tube fuse/box to a modern blade type, but this problem happened sooner than I had hoped.

Tonight I finally had a chance to take a look at the bike and here is what happened.

I noticed that the main amp connections were pretty rough but not any worse than they had been for the last few years. Checked the wiring in the headlight bucket and in the main harness by the bars. All seemed OK.

Pulled apart the right hand controls and found a very tiny bare spot on one wire. Put some electrician's tape on the friction spot and hoped that I had the problem fixed.

I gabbed a new 20 amp fuse and popped it into its connectors (outside the fuse box) not realising that one of the fuse's connectors was touching the frame. Also, I had forgot to turn the key off and all hell broke loose as the main amp connectors started a wonderful sparking show including leaving a nice arcing stripe across my shiney exhaust pipe:(

Now I have zero power when the key is turned on.

So, what kind of damage would I have done with this F-Up of mine?

Where should I be looking for collateral damage?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

Do you have an ohmmeter?

If not you'll be wanting one.

Sounds like you probably fried the primary that comes out of the batt and goes directly to the main fuse.

Another easy way to check is with a test lamp. Just see if you have juice. Start at the battery posts and work your way down to each side of the main fuse connections and so on till you find the burnt wire.

Good Luck!

Joshua:P

Colin, I would take the wiring harness off the bike and take off ALL electrical tape, I would buy a can of contact cleaner and a connector kit as has been described in this forum section. I would go through the harness and correct all problems and replace all connectors that were oxidized badly or damaged. The blade fuse holder swap isn't a big deal and getting rid of the old fuse box will help. This will be a good opportunity to learn more about how your bike is wired up. Replace the wires on your stator and make a new mini-harness for these wires and the oil light wire and neutral light wire. Buy a new mini-harness for the guages if you can find one on eBay and a new mini harness for the head light (these are always available) as well. I do this for all the project bikes I own and almost never have a problem with the electrics... oh yeah, I re-wrap the harness when I am done cleaning.

if the wires are still run inside the bars, get them out you may find chafed wires there, I did, I had lots of problems blowing fuses until I fixed it.
Now that you have grounded out the system start at the battery to make sure its still good, next follow the ground and power wires from there until you find the problem.
What WG say makes sense also and it will insure a good harness

Thanks for the advice guys.

BTW BSK650, I have the Superbike bars with the wiring on the outside of the bars instead of running inside them. I had to use a die grinder to open up the hand controls to get the wires to fish through and this is where there may have been some rubbing on the wire.

The cold weather is right around the corner and I am in the early stages of a new business, so I think I am going to park the old girl and keep an eye out on ebay for a nice unmolested complete harness. In the meantime if I get a few free hours, I will try to replace the main fuse wiring and swap in the blade fuses/box.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada