what does dead short in a elect rial line(auto) mean?

Question

on my cbr600f2 honda i have no power at all. no lights,etc.i was told it might be a dead short in the electrial lines.i disconnected the pos. line from the battery and left the neg. hooked up.with my tester i touch the pos. side of the battery.(it is not hoked to bike)and then touch any open wire and my tester will read 12.75,just as the battery alone does if anyone has an ajustion i am willing to listen.

Answer 1

With a reading of 12.75 you have a good battery, but something is making a connection to allow allow the voltage to complete the circuit with the key off. So you need to check the wires for any bear surface that are contacting the frame allowing the voltage to go to ground thus completing the electrical circuit. Take a systematic approach and check one circuit at a time.

Answer 2

a dead short is where power from the battery is being drained without doing any work, say the wire to your headlamp is bare and goes to ground before it goes through the lamp , these can be dangerous as the wire will pull as many amps as it can before catching fire, so , with your voltmeter between the battery pos. and the pos. cable (and kept away from the frame ) pull fuses until it shows no voltage, that circuit is the culprit . also this thing might have a fusible link that has burnt , hence no lights etc. , good luck , be safe

Answer 3

That's kind of a confusing way to test. Just leave the battery hooked up and the negative lead of your meter grounded to the frame and use the positive meter lead to poke around and find where the 12V is interrupted. And make sure your battery ground wire is good to the engine and the engine is grounded to the chassis.

Answer 4

Sounds like a blown main fuse or circuit breaker. If you had a dead short to ground, the battery would be dead. It is also possible that you lost the main ground from the battery to the frame or chassis.