FRIED WIRES PLEASE HELP

i installed a new battery on my kz400 today and as soon as i tried to connect the battery i had wires the went up in smoke. from the looks of it one of the wires coming from the starter relay fried and a few coming from the rectifier. i plan on wiring the bad section that melted with 10 gauge wire because it looks stronger then what was there.

can someone please tell me why this happened and what i might need to replace so it wont happen again.

anytime i have had a melt down when istalling a battery was because i reversed the polls or shorted across the pos with my tools never had a mechanical reason.

Something grounded out causing the release of the factory smoke in the wiring harness. If you could not recover the factory smoke you will have to rewire it. :silly: Might check on getting a used harness if the damage was extensive.

Well that's what I didn't understand. All I did was take the old battery out and put a new one in as soon as I hooked up the cables I got a spark and a huge cloud of smoke. 4 wires must melted like It was nothing. Could it be that it was just a bad fuse or wire and the new battery just over done it

the only thing that can cause what you are describing is a dead short from the positive to the ground
you may get lucky and find it and just insulate it but it sound much more like a seriuos burn then that
take a multi meter and touch one end to the positive side (without the battery of corse)and trace the short with the negative side
GOOD LUCK

That's the thing I didn't have the problem before. My only issue was my battery was old so I bought a new. That's the only thing i did

Do check to make sure the battery has been charged to the correct polarity, its rare but it can be reversed. Otherwise as mentioned you hooked up incorrectly.

Well u were right the new battery changed the post and me be over excited about riding I didny even pay attention to it. But its all rewired and running. But after a few minutes of running I lose power and my battery dies. I start back up with a jump but I die after a few minutes I die again. All my wiring is hooked up right. Is this a bad voltage regulator or a rectifier.

A good troubleshooting guide:
www.electrosport.com/technical-resources.../fault-finding-guide

A good website for the 400/440 twin bikes: www.armbell.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17&mforum=kz400

Sounds like you fried the voltage regulator.

well i followed the falut finding chart and all signs points to the stator.

now the new problem i order a stator and installed it with another new battery but after doing the test again from the fault finding chart it still points back to the stator. i have no idea why. one thing i did notice is that well when i connected a MM to the battery with the bike off my battery starts to drain fast but when i unplug the 3 yellow wired plug coming from the stator the MM shows my battery charging back up on its own but as long as i have the 3 yellow wires coming from the stator plugged up my battery drains FAST... i have know idea why this happening . also i noticed as soon as i turn the key on my battery drains.


any help ideas?????????