Electrical problem with bike... help!!?

Question

I swapped out the turn signals on my 04 gsxr 750 yesterday night.

The new signals were coming apart a little so I fixed them with superglue, but I was having a hard time getting the superglue to stick to the plastic for some reason. Long story short, I managed to slightly tear one of the wires in the superglue induced mess that ensued. The signals worked just fine after I hooked them up.

Everything seemed fine so I let the bike sit overnight for 12 hours. When I tried to start up the bike in the morning, the battery was completely dead. The bike wouldn't start, and the headlights didn't even appear to be on.

I am charging the battery right now and I yanked the new signals, but I'm worried there might have been more destruction caused by the signals. Fuses? Can I have some suggestions on what to check next? I've never had an electrical problem before so not sure where to start.

also, the signals worked just fine when I started it up this morning and found the battery dead.

I checked the fuses for signals, ignition, and lowbeam headlights, and none of them were blown. Isn't this strange? What could have happened here?

Hopefully everything will work fine when I finish charging the battery and put it back in.

Answer 1

You shorted something from the sound of it. But why this would cause your battery to go dead after you turned the ignition off is very puzzling. I'm pretty sure the fuse box is under the seat, but check your wiring before you replace the fuse or you will just blow it again.

Answer 2

Make sure the two events aren't just coincedence. As the other guys mentioned, with the ignition switch off, there should be no juice going to any of the lights. With the switch off, the only place wires will be energized is between the starter soleniod and the switch. I'm doubting it's a shorted wire because that would in almost all likelyhood blow the main fuse. If the fuse didn't go, you'd fry the shorted wire and at best you would have a melted wiring harness or at worst a charred bike. I've had shorted wires and I'm speaking from experience on that matter. If this problem occurs again, I'd check the ignition switch...maybe squirt a little WD-40 down the keyhole.

Answer 3

How old is the battery?
If its the original(04) you may have a coincidence where its failed as your wiring stuff into bike.
Did you start engine while you were testing?
Did you start engine after everything was wired in?
Two headlamp bulbs, without ignition etc, will draw about 9.5 amps from battery if the ignition is on (55wattsx2 divided by 12volts)
If you had a short the fuse would blow.
If short was between battery and fuse block the wiring will burn out or at least melt the insulation (don't know where people get their ideas from?)

Answer 4

You probably shorted something. This can happen even if your ignition is off. Generally, your lights are always connected to power. The switch is usually located on the ground side. So if the power wire is rubbed bare, and touches metal, it will short the battery and the battery will drain. Your headlight draws the most power out of anything on your bike. So you might have enough power to run the signals but not the headlight. Find the short (probably in your glue mess) and wrap it up with electrical tape. I wouldn't recommend glueing stuff together because you might have to change a bulb one day. If you are switching from incandecent bulbs to LEDs you will need a load equalizer.

Answer 5

your factory lights have two funsctions running lights and turn signals these wires cant both be wired up to the new lights you need to choose one or the other [if you have both wired up]