NEW B TO THE FORUMS, new battery, no power, ooops

[Mudmutt]

Rolled the XS out of a 7 yr storage, needed a new battery, sent the wife to get one, in the meantime I had the battery out and hooked up the car battery charger up to the leads to see if everything worked, and cranked it up pretty high, the lights and such worked so i bumped the starter, but no luck.
Then when the new battery got there I put it in and put the charger on it for a while, then tried the key and have no power anywhere.
Did I fry something using the charger without the battery in?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[I am Carbon]

Hey Mudmut, under the right plastic cover should be the fuses.
That's where I would start. Ya probably blew out the main fuse..

 

[XSLeo]

On your new battery did you charge it with a car charger? If so you probaly killed the new battery. The stock size battery is a 14 amp/hour. The chasrge rate should be about ten% of the amp/hour. Too high as in 10 amps over heats the battery and warps the plates, this shorts the battery.
On using a car charger and hooking it up as you did is plain foolish. A car charger even at a high setting won't run much of anything with a high draw, as in the starter.
If your lucky all you burnt out is a fuse.
Leo

 

[oldcoal]

Could be one of many problems. Blown fuse, bad connections, Bad new battery which does happen. Or hooked the battery up back wards which will fry things fast

 

[Mudmutt]

Thanks XSleo. No Guru here, just a backyard mechanic. Was not foolish enough to fry the battery, charged it on low. just impatient to find out what was still working. found a shorted wire, looks like it has been there a while, lots of corrosion on it. Probably irritated it when i amped it up with the charger.
I posted pics of what may be the source of the short, does anyone know what this component is? It resides under the battery box. I do not have a manual for this bike.

Thanks, Mike

 

[gggGary]

Nice looking early special there!
Welcome to XS650.com

What are your plans?

 

[gggGary]

Yup I know what that is! Thanks for asking.

 

[gggGary]

Just kidding your bike has a separate regulator and rectifier, that is the rectifier. Shouldn't have been in the current path form the charger but with a dirty old car charger it might have gotten some juice it didn't like. There is a rather easy to do test of it's function.

 

[weekendrider]

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[Mudmutt]

Thanks, gggGary. For now I'm going to leave it stock and shine it up. I took the geeky windshield off, looks much better now! Once I get the wiring fixed, just going to polish it and ride it! Any reccommendations on cleaning products for aluminum/chrome?
And where to buy parts? (like a rectifier!)

 

[retiredgentleman]

Thanks, gggGary. For now I'm going to leave it stock and shine it up. I took the geeky windshield off, looks much better now! Once I get the wiring fixed, just going to polish it and ride it! Any reccommendations on cleaning products for aluminum/chrome?
And where to buy parts? (like a rectifier!)

Yes, old stock rectifiers and regulators will cause problems on these bikes. New modern rectifiers and nos automotive regulators will be a huge benefit to your bike:

http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21485

 

[gggGary]

Paint stripper to remove the clearcoat on engine side covers, valve covers, fork lowers etc. then Blue Magic either by hand or on a cotton buff wheel chucked in an electric drill. Unless you have buffing equipment.

I used paint stripper then blue magic on a wheel on the drill on the RH clutch cover.