Total power loss

Hey everybody. I was rolling into work today and all of a sudden I had total power loss. No lights, no ignition, no crank, no nothing. It was running perfect on sec and then the next second it was dead and I was coasting into a parking lot. Any ideas of what could cause a total power loss like that?

I haven't had a chance to run any diagnostics because I had to get to work.

Any ideas you guys could give me would REALLY help me out. Thanks so much!

For got to mention: I have a 1978 KZ650 C2. 15k on the clock. WG coil mod with Dyna-S ignition.

Did you check all your fuses and battery connections?

Were you able to get the bike going again, or did you leave it in that parking lot and hoof it to work?

I left the bike there. My wife picked me up and took me to work. I am thinking that possibly my negative battery ground wire came loose where it meets the chassis ground. I had to take that bolt off and install it back again when I did the WG coil mod. Basically, my negative battery ground point is the same as my ignition grounding point.

I snapped up my fuse tester/multimeter so I can check the fuses when I get off of work. Thank god I was close to home when this happened. Luckily there wasn't much traffic out on the road when the bike died. Had I been on the Interstate I could have gotten hit.

I checked my handy dandy Haynes KZ650 manual and it says that the main cause for complete power loss is either a blown fuse or an "isolated battery". If I get it back on the road tonight, I will be sure to post up what really happened.

Update! I had a chance to check the bike very quickly while I was out to lunch.

My 20A fuse was blown. I replaced the fuse with another 20A and it immediately blew as well. Any ideas of why the 20A would continuously blow?

Pinched wiring,electrical short to ground. This kind of problem can have a person talking to themselves and get funny answers. You will need a factory shop manual with the wiring diagram to troubleshoot.

A good multi-meter,a selection of markers, some masking tape,a legal sized note pad to keep track of what circuit has been checked, a place to sit and plenty of patience as finding the short/insulation failure may take a while.

It might be as simple as a wire rubbing through the insulation or at the point of flexing where the wire bundle comes from the headlight housing and goes along the backbone of the frame. Several wires may have come in contact inside a wire bundle causing this fuse to blow.

Be happy that fuses work like they do and not have a fire break out.

Yeah, that is kind of what I figured. I will just trailer it back to my place and troubleshoot it there. I have the schematic for the entire bike. Finding the time to troubleshoot is the real challenge. Thanks for the assistance MFolks.