My bikes been out of commission for about three weeks while I did some work on it.  I rode it over the weekend and to work yesterday.  It felt good to be riding again.

Last night, I decided to hook up my new battery tender.  It came with a set of "permanant" jumpers that can be attached to the battery and left on all the time, so that all you have to do to use the tender is plug it up to the plug at the end of the cables rather than messing with the battery.

So I pulled the battery out of its compartment, attached the tender cables, and put the battery back in.  Now when I turn on the ignition, my oil pressure light and my neutral light come on, but nothing else does.  No headlight, no turn signals, no horn, no starter.  I pulled the battery back out, and I noticed a bare wire near the bottom of the battery box.  It's a black-and-white wire that comes out of a plastic connector that has two other black-and-white wires on the other end. it just ends three inches later with a little bare-wire sticking out.  Great, I think.  I've managed to sever a wire.  But after a long search, I don't see the other end of this wire.  I wonder if it came out of some connector somewhere, but I don't know.  I don't even know if it wasn't already like that before and maybe I just managed to kill my battery.  I can't even tell what part of the wiring diagram this thing fits into and what it powers.  I somehow managed to kill my multimeter checking the battery, so I can't troubleshoot until I get a new meter.

It's a maintenance-free battery that's been sitting in the compartment on its side with the positive pole up and negative down.  is it okay for the battery to lay on its side like that?

Sigh.  I hope I get through fixing this bike before summer's over.   

That's the master negative connection of the whole wiring shebang. It connects to the negative pole of the battery (you probably pulled it out of the terminal there). You only have those parts of the electrics working that are connected to the frame (which is also on negtive potential).

Having a maintenance free battery on it's side... I dunno. I wouldn't do it. The acid is in gel form, but I'd fear that the top side of the lead plates could fall dry eventually. But don't quote me on that; maybe the manufacturer allows it for this battery.

[edit] Checked that. Apparently it's OK to have a sealed battery in any orientation.

That makes sense.  I'll see about attaching a loop connector onto the end of that wire so it'll attach more securely to the battery terminal.  I also need to get a few replacement parts.  The big red rubber boot over the positive battery terminal is falling apart, and the big metal tab that is supposed to bolt onto the negative terminal is broken.  The hole that the bolt is supposed to go through is broken out on one side, so the tab was just sandwiched under the bolt and locked into place that way.  That may be what that loose wire was supposed to be attached to, or maybe it was just sandwiched under it.

Think of it this way...

At least you didn't wire it backwards and fry your whole electrical system...  I'm famous for wiring things backwards... 

I have a bass that you have to turn down to turn it up...
A mic that you have to switch off to turn it on...
I once wired

one coil in my dual-voice-coil sub backwards...
I fried an amp once by wiring it backwards...[/list]
Could be worse!  You could be me.   

Quote from: RVertigo on March 14, 2006, 10:46:44 AM
At least you didn't wire it backwards and fry your whole electrical system...  I'm famous for wiring things backwards... 

I have a bass that you have to turn down to turn it up...
A mic that you have to switch off to turn it on...
I once wired

one coil in my dual-voice-coil sub backwards...
I fried an amp once by wiring it backwards...[/list]

With me it's dimmer switches.  Every time I want to install a dimmer switch I end up buying two.  The first one gets fried. 

Quote from: daneilah on March 14, 2006, 03:03:49 PMWith me it's dimmer switches.  Every time I want to install a dimmer switch I end up buying two.  The first one gets fried. 

I haven't tried yet...  But, I'm positive I'd do the same thing.

I think it had to do with moving from AC to DC and getting all confused for .05 seconds...  Which is how long it takes me to fry whatever I'm working on.

I'll skip the story about the time I was wiring a socket with the power on and I was home alone...

Update:

That did the trick. Once I attached the wire to the negative post, my bike lived again.   

I need to extend the wire though.  It's really not long enough.  It would be fine if the battery were sitting upright, but it's on its side with the neg post down.  It's just barely long enough to allow the battery to sit in the holder, but there is absolutely zero slack.  If the main positive wire were longer, I could sit the battery upright.

Thanks for the help!  This site is awesome.   

Quote from: RVertigo on March 14, 2006, 05:38:32 PMI haven't tried yet... But, I'm positive I'd do the same thing.

Punsters don't go to heaven, you know that?

QuoteI think it had to do with moving from AC to DC and getting all confused for .05 seconds...

Quote20 Hertz where you work on electricity? Ah, no, that would be if you had switchet from DC to AC

QuoteI'll skip the story about the time I was wiring a socket with the power on and I was home alone...

This doesn't have anything todo with you nick, perchance?

AC: Glad that it worked out.