justin_o_guy2 wrote on 06/07/15 at 00:20:28:


Good plan. Now, after you have a voltmeter...

1. Check that you have it set up to measure DC voltage. Easiest way to do that is to check the volts on the battery before putting it back into the bike. Should be around 13-13.5 volts no-load on a brand new battery.

2. Clean both battery terminals. make sure there's no paint, plastic, or other crapola on them. Then clean the cables that attach to the battery.

3. Now, with the key off, connect the battery wires, positive first, then negative. When you hook the negative, look for any tiny sparks - there shouldn't be any, these bikes draw no power with the key off. They key is off I hope.

4. Check your battery voltage again, right at the terminals. Then turn the key on and check it again.

A voltage drop with the battery connected but key off indicates a short circuit somewhere. This is bad.

A small (0.5-1 volt) drop with the key on is normal... if all the lights come on.

No voltage drop at all indicates that you have something unplugged or a broken wire.

My guess is the likely diagnosis is a bad or dirty battery connection. Start there, see what you find, report back.

So, an hour after putting the fresh battery in the bike I went out to make a quick trip but again...No Power.  In only one hour the voltage of the battery had dropped to 1.38 volts.  I removed the connector from the negative terminal and within moments the charge went back up to 4.43 and continued to climb at about .02 volts per second and it's still inching its way up.  I don't know what to do.  I'm in so far over my head.  Any guidance would be appreciated.

old.indian wrote on 06/07/15 at 10:55:53:


Oh, no... Now I'm really worried.  I don't even know where to begin.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 06/07/15 at 11:27:35:


Thanks for the reassurance.  I'm surprised I didn't get a spark too.  I'm not sure I understand what you mean by, "Hook up the test lite battery neg to wire"...I followed Serowbot's suggestion of soldering two wires to a 12v light.  could you help me understand where I need to hook up the test light?

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 06/07/15 at 12:36:15:


I figured out what you meant and you were absolutely right connecting the light to the neg terminal and the neg battery cable lit it up bright.  I removed the top fuse and the light stopped.  I removed the bottom fuse (after reinserting the top fuse) and the light continued to be lit.  So the short is along the path of the top fuse.  I also decided to disconnect all of the under seat connectors one by one and you can see in the image below the outlined white connector stopped the light and the outlined black connector made the light very dim.  Does this reveal anything that might help me narrow the search for this short?

I'm inspecting for pinched wires but haven't found any yet.  

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 06/07/15 at 13:15:32:


Oh, it's starting to make sense to me now (a little).  If I connect the negative terminal of the batt then I can jump the individual electrodes between connectors to trace the problem further.  I just came back from getting a fresh battery and I'll start on it as soon as I get it on the bike.  By the way, my new multimeter has an Ohm meter.

PS. I really appreciate you helping me.  

Gotchya a meter! Very nice.
And IF that's rear brake light stuff, then it's possible that the switch is messed up. You sure that brake light isn't on?

Thanks for that. I'm kind of lost looking at the diagram. Where is that white connector in this diagram...also would I be correct that the black wire with a white line is negative? When I connect the negative battery terminal to that wire I get .33 volts