Need help from someone with a pic...Bike has no power....

[Shanehsmp]

Took my bike apart...took pics of most stuff....but not this...

I have no clue how the battery is connected, well the black wire at least.  I also am using a different type of battery and connection.  I have the positive side hooked up correctly, but not the negative....

Can someone take a clear picture and show me which wires connect and how they  connect to that "fuse box"?

Also, I connected everything....with the engine removed from the bike (maybe no good ground) but nothing happens except a "click" from one of the little black boxes...(disregard my ignorance...my haynes manual is in the garage....lol)

What could cause this?  I guess I'm going to have to use my wire tester

[weedahoe]

I was worried about all my electrical whe,iI recently changed engines but everything on the harness is key cut meaning each connector can go on my one place. I'm assuming you checked the fuse?

[lamoun]

This click sound is from the starter relay, and means your battery is toast.
Put it on a charger and try again!!! 

[burnchassis]

Sounds like a dead battery to me also.
-CS

[DoD#i]

Word picture will have to do for now.

The positive side has a SHORT fat wire that leads to the starter relay and fuse block. If there's a rubber boot remaining, it should be on that terminal.

The negative side has a LONG fat wire that leads to the engine block for the starter circuit, and a small black with white stripe (ground code on these bikes) wire or connector that goes to the frame.

[Shanehsmp]

Word picture will have to do for now.

The positive side has a SHORT fat wire that leads to the starter relay and fuse block. If there's a rubber boot remaining, it should be on that terminal.

The negative side has a LONG fat wire that leads to the engine block for the starter circuit, and a small black with white stripe (ground code on these bikes) wire or connector that goes to the frame.

Yea, I went back in and put the engine back in the frame, thinking it was maybe the ground...found the two black wires for the relay and negative battery terminal and connected them both...the clicking still occurs....however, my battery shows over 12Volts when I hooked it up to my multimeter...wth could that be?

[DoD#i]

Kinda depends what the battery reads when you are trying to start.

A bad battery (or a bad connection) can read 12 volts or higher when no current is being drawn, but be 10, 8, 4, 2 volts when you actually try to draw enough current to start the bike.

If it's a bad battery, the voltage measured right at the battery terminals will drop to squat. Don't measure on the wires or bits of metal connected to them, measure the actual pieces of lead attached to the battery.

You can also take the battery to a shop and have it tested, in most cases for free.

If it's a bad connection the voltage directly on the terminals will be fine, but the voltage somewhere further out will drop to squat. You can find the bad connection in that case by measuring across each connection while trying the starter - if  you get one that drops 6 volts (or some such large number) when you are trying the starter, that one is dirty and needs to be disassembled and cleaned. That can be either the positive or the negative side (people often forget the negative side cables in troubleshooting.)

You could have a bad starter relay, but it's not all that likely. That one is easy to check if you are careful. Careful means bike on centerstand, you've double-checked that it is in neutral, and you have the clutch pulled in too. You'll be bypassing every safety switch that checks those things, so you need to do them, or not do this.

Then you short the starter relay terminals with a wrench or screwdriver. On a car battery this might weld the tool in place, with a motorcycle battery that has not been a problem for me or anyone else that has tried it. If the thing cranks over, the relay is possibly bad. You can also check the relay with a meter, of course, but this is more direct and can help to "get you home" in some cases.

Dirty connections are the most likely problem unless the battery was iffy before, or sat unused and uncharged for a long time while you were working on the bike.

Wait - you said " a different kind of battery" in your first post here - is that perhaps a smaller battery that might not be able to actually crank the bike? If so, that could be the problem. Measuring the voltage on the terminals as you are trying to start should tell the tale. You can have 12V but not have enough amps to crank the bike and get the behavior you report. 8 D cells will make 12V, but good luck starting a bike with that...

[Shanehsmp]

Thanks for that, I'm going to test this tonight...FYI, I'm only trying to see if the battery and the wiring(lights, horn etc) works before I splice the new digi speedometer on...there is no oil in the engine nor is the carbs  or exhaust attached.....

I was briefly reading that I could test the started relay by itself in the Haynes manual, but maybe I got that wrong.

this is the battery I have, based on the specs, it should be enough to work on this bike...I've seen it used on others...
http://www.motydesign.com/product.php?batteries=battery-charger

[DoD#i]

Ah. You are hearing a click but NOTHING else is happening, and you are not actually trying to start the bike (ie, it's not the motor is out of the frame and you are trying to turn it over, it's the motor is not connected to the electrics...). Ok, that's a whole different picture. Other slight possibility is that the clicking thing is the turn signal flasher.

Sure, you can test the starter relay without the engine, though the proof of that is running the starter. But if everything is dead, first place to look is the fuse - the one inside the rubber cover, not the easy to spot one on the outside of the rubber cover (should be there, may not - it's the spare.)

Here is a picture swiped form another thread. The yellow 20 amp fuse you can see, is not the fuse that matters, it's the spare. The fuse that matters is under that rubber cover. The red fuse was an add-on on this bike for an accessory outlet - ignore it.



Start by checking grounds.

[Shanehsmp]

I feel like an idiot....so...I basically hooked two incorrect plugs together....I was wondering why I had a black connected to a green....

Thanks for the help folks, all is good now!

[Janx101]

bahahaha.. and i mean that in the nicest possible way! ... dontcha just hate it when that happens!