Hooked up all the electronics except the starter. Turned on the key switch and everything worked. Headlights, dummy lights, solenoid cliked ect. Turned her back off. Hooked up the starter, turned the key nothing. No power anywhere. Took starter connection back off, still no power. Solenoid wouldnt even click. Went back up today with a test light. Checked fuses. Had power to the main fuse when the key switch is off. Turn the switch, no power to main fuse or any other fuses. Checked the power going to the key switch. Getting power. Pluged the connector back in. Suddenly power again. Bike turned over. Upon releasing the button lost all power again after hearing a click click noise sounding like it came from around the solenoid area. At the same time noticed a sulfur like smell.
Checked fuses again. Still power to main fuse and no others when key switch off. No power to fuse when switch on. Also there is still power running to the main fuse when the negative terminal is disconnected from battery. That seems odd.
Help
Quote from: fiddlesticks on September 30, 2006, 05:12:14 PM
Also there is still power running to the main fuse when the negative terminal is disconnected from battery. That seems odd.
Help
Ok, that is generally impossable... you need to try that test again.. the only way it could be is if there was so much corrosion between the neg terminal & frame that it actually passes current. very highly unlikly.
if i understand you correctly, when you hit the start button, everything goes 'off'. if this is the case, you either have a bad cell in the battery, a very corroded battery cable (on either side) or a poor/corroded connection.
start your diagnosis at the battery. remove both battery wires & place a load on the battery with your meter connected. if the meter immediatly goes to "0" then the battery is bad.
perform this load test as follows:
either with a load tester, or hook jumper cables directly to the starter. if you do this, hook both jumper cables up to the battery first, then the neg side to the starter case or bolt, & the LAST connection to the pos terminal on the starter (just touch it, don't clamp it on). note that there WILL be sparks & the starter may turn, which is why you want to do the starter connection last (sparks at the battery can cause it to EXPLODE)
if the starter turns healthy, then proced to carefully check the neg cable from the battery to the frame, the pos cables on either side of the starter solinoid, & all the starter connections (kill switch, key switch, starter button & associated plugs for looseness/corrosion. also check the condition of your fuse box. if you've replaced it, double check the solder joints there.
one last note, the heavy battery cables can LOOK ok & be completely corroded inside. a clue to this is that they will be very stiff & may 'crackle' when bent. i've seen this often on older vehicles, & it causes all kinds of gremlins.
good luck & keep us posted.
--Lucky
Hi Lucky
Thanks for your reply. It is really weird that I can be holding the key in my hand and still show power through the fuse. My test light is connected to the neg post of the battery. Does that have anything to do with the fact that I can remove the ground cable from the battery, and still show power to the fuse. I will try what you suggested. Electrical stuff is not my strong point. I'll keep you posted.
Power is allways present in the main fuse, key switch & fan relays, even when the key is out. that is how it is designed. when you turn the key on, that powers up the rest of the bike.
as a side note to those of us who are constantly thinking about the R/R & stator problems, i'd like to point out that in older cars (pre 1975ish) the R/R was usually located outside the altenator, mounted on the firewall. if the regulator allways had power (like ours does) it was defective, & would drain the battery.
our R/R is designed differently, but, i'm thinking that perhaps having it allways hooked up to 12 V, even with the key out (not switched) may in some (small) way, contribute to their generally short life span...
--Lucky
So you are saying that If I have a bad connection anywhere in the starting circut, that can cause me to have no power anywhere. headlights ect. How does that work. Bear with me here I am no electrical whiz.
Not exactly,
power is allways present in the battery (obviously), main fuse, key switch & fan relays, from there it goes to the starter (when the start button is pushed) and the rest of the bike. lets see if i can askii this out:
BATT--->MAIN FUSE
|
|
\/
|----|
| |
\/ \/
FAN RELAY KEY SWITCH
| | |
| | |
| | \/
FAN | TO FUSES
|________________
|
|
\/
START BUTTON
|
|
\/
TO STARTER
this is over simplified, but look over the wiring diagram & you'll see what i mean http://www.xz550.com/wiring.html
--Lucky