How do I check for electric leaks or do maintenance?

[tzzzel]

Hi everyone,

I've been having issues with my battery not charging. I replaced stator, battery, and rectifier over 3-4 months. In the end, it turned out to be an electrical connection issue -- the connectors from the rectifier to battery were burnt and needed to be replaced. As of today, I was able to get 13.3v @ 5k rpm.

My question is this: how can I check for electric leaks or do maintenance? I realize that 13.5v is normal and I must be have leaks here and there. I also realize how important it is for those electric lanes to be fully open and not pinched, burnt, or improperly crimped. How can I check for these without pulling things apart? Lots of wiring is hidden, that's why.

[lucas]

What do you mean leaks?

You could check to see if something is draining the battery while the motorcycle is off by using an ammeter (or multimeter) to measure the current flowing out of the battery while the key is in the "off" position.  The current should be zero amps with the key off. 

Congrats on fixing that writing issue.  13.3v might be in the normal range.

In order to check the wiring on the bike it is not necessary to expose all the wiring just the ends.  Expose the ends of the wires by disconnecting each wiring connector.  use a wiring diagram and identify the two ends of a wire and measure the resistance in that wire, the resistance in a wire should be low, before 1 ohm. 

Some wires branch of and connect with wires of other colors, check the difference combinations of terminals on that collection of connected wires and make sure the resistance is low.

Measure the resistance between wires that are not suppose to be connected and verify that the resistance is infinite, that no current can pass between the two wires that aren't supposed to be connected.

Make notes on your wiring diagram to keep track of what you have checked and what you haven't.

Check the operation of switches by watching the resistance change between it's two terminals as you activate the switch.

I bought a set of "alligator clips" to firmly attach the leads of the multimeter to the wires I was inspecting.  That helped me tremendously.

[mwe]

I hate it when it leaks out that magic electrical smoke

[i8ball]

OK if u don't have a mult meter then if u can get the bike running do this at night easier to notice or in a dark garage
(i would say go out and get a cheap mult meter they are handy to keep on your bike and usually small enough to fit in a backpack side pack or under the seat)
1 start bike
2 let warm up a little
3 pay attention to the light on the dark wall
4 rev engine up to like 5000 then release you should notice a change in the light as though it gets brighter then less bright
5 if it goes bright then not you are charging
6 if is charging bring battery to battier plus and get the battery tested they do die after a time were charging wont be enough for them
7 if no change in light then the bike is not charging your battier

[tzzzel]

thanks for the tips lucas.

i guess i wasn't using the right words -- what i meant by "leaks" was some wiring possibly shorting out somewhere or maybe inefficiently passing current. i really was just looking for tips on testing out the electrical wiring other than through the eyeball test.

[i8ball]

wow should have read the you were getting 13.3 volts so that would of told me that you were getting a charge. i would take off fairings that way you can see a good chuck of the wiring look it over for plastic that is brittle or already broken and check the zip tied areas to make sure they are not pinching if the wiring harness is stock it shouldn't be pinching anywhere.

[lucas]

Yeah in order to access all the wiring connections you'll need to remove seat and fairings if you got them.  On my naked bike a lot of the connectors were hidden inside the headlight.