What the HELL !!!

TurboFarviknugn

TurboFarviknugn

XS650 Addict
Messages
495
Reaction score
2
Points
16
Location
San Antonio, TX
Ok been riding my bike for several months on a daily basis over 2,500 miles since finishing my build. Have had several issues related to VIBRATION and it being a hard tail on shitty San Antonio roads. Any way on my way home from work today my bike starts running like crap almost like running out of gas. I pulled off the road checked yep plenty of gas, killed the headlight as I didnt want to kill the battery during troubleshooting. Start it up allseems ok start riding home realized headlight is off so I turn it back on viola runs like crap and dies at the next light. Finally nursed it home started checking wiring (which is a complete NEW from scratsh harness ) found a slightly scorched connector.

Fried Connector.jpg

upon checking things out when the headlight is on it is VERY DIM, so I checked voltage, the battery with everything off is sitting at 9 volts, and upon firing it up and checking again it is at 6 volts. That explains the dim headlight and overall crappy running with light off and worse when on.

The bike has a NEW battery (4 months old ) a PMA charging system scavanged from a banshee ect... I know PMA set ups require ATLEAST 12 volts to run properly, question is what should I be looking for when I pull off the left cover ? Any ideas as to what would have caused this ? I have checked everything else and find nothing out of the ordinary.

Voltages were checked off the battery terminals.

ANY help is GREATLY APPRICIATED !!! Electrical is my weak spot.

THANKS !!!!
 
Sounds like you headlight circuit could be grounding out. Check over all your wiring ensuring no rub throughs any where. Dis the battery and check with a meter to be sure
 
I can't help with specific recommendations because my bike is stock/OEM, but I had exactly the same problem a coupla months ago. Turned out to be a bad stator that was causing the charging circuit not to produce sufficient voltage to re-charge the battery and run the electrics. I 'spect there's a similar problem with your charging system, but, being non-OEM, someone else'll need to provide specific diagnostics for you.
Good luck!
 
Does your headlight circuit have a fuse? I can't believe you could burn a wire that badly without popping a 10A fuse.

I have a slightly similar problem with my bike right now after switching from the crappy 35/35w headlight bulb that came in my fleabay headlight to a 55/60w Silverstar Ultra bulb. The plastic H4 connector and the little 5amp micro toggle switch are not liking the extra current that the new bulb requires. My connector is melted and the switch gave out while on my way to work last week right at dawn. Made for an interesting ride in!

When my license plate bracket broke off due to vibration fatigue, the running light wire shorted to ground causing the bike to stumble and sputter for a few seconds like it was running out of gas before the fuse blew. Sounds like you may have the same issue with your headlight.
 
EVERYTHING is fused off of an 8 fuse, fuse block.

Funny you mention the breakage of your tail light / license plate bracket, mine broke also. I had to remove and weld it back together.
 
OOps I was wrong its a 6 fuse block.

Here is a pic of it with the fuses labeled.

Fuse Block.jpg

I am hoping to get in the garage tomorrow to see IF I cant figure this out !

Any info or suggestions would be greatly appriciated, do you think that fried connector could have kept the battery from charging ?:banghead:
 
You might want to go down to 10A fuse for your headlight circuit and see if it blows.
20A is overkill for your tail lights for sure. My guess is that you've got a short to ground somewhere.
 
When you see a connector that got that hot, it's due to high amp draw. That can be caused by a couple of things, one biggie is poor grip of the connector itself. I'd definitely drop the fuse to 10A, replace the connector with good quality stuff (the one in the pic looks to be good quality, BTW) and try it again.

Several years ago, there was a flood of Chinese knockoff H4 bulbs with thin cheap male connectors. The bulbs would work, but the amp draw was high and the terminals would look just like yours does.

Also, if a battery starts getting low in charge the accessories start drawing more amperage. Yeah, it's weird but it's true. That can cause this type problem.
 
looks like that cable/connector was trying to carry excessive current which is usually due to either a poor connection somewhere creating a high resistence or a direct short .

Your charging system is definitely not working so its undoubtably related.

If its a new harness I'd check through every inch of it to make sure that you have no loose connectors or shorting wires/loom anywhere.

Next I'd test the regulator/rectifier have you done this yet?
 
Last edited:
After studying your fuse block pic,I think your problem is that you are powering everything through that fuse block backward. You should have an inline fuse between the PMA/ battery and the common post. The power should then be distributed through the post through the fuses to the accessories. The flat blade connector is having a hard time handling every bit of current your accessories are pulling through it.

What is currently connected to the common post?
Not my diagram, but this is how I wired my bike.
 

Attachments

  • simplifiedWiring_fuseblock.jpg
    simplifiedWiring_fuseblock.jpg
    137.1 KB · Views: 116
I see what you are saying. Mine currently goes from the bat to the igntion sw to the fuse box, then one outlet off the fuse box goes to the reg / rec. According to that drawing you have power going to the reg / rec right off the battery all the time UNSWITCHED ?
 
That diagram is for a batteryless system. It was for reference only to show how the power from the regulator is connected to the fuse block. I'm pretty sure there are diagrams for simple wiring with a battery and that type of fuse block in the tech section.
 
TurboFarviknugn said:
That scorched connector was for the PMA at the fuse box. NOT the headlight.
Click to expand...

well judging by your caustic answers and complete abscence of any thanks for all the help we are trying to offer I guess you know it all already so I'll leave it for you to figure out lol
 

Similar threads

Tlted_Jelli
Huge voltage drop! Need diagnosis help
2 3
Replies
52
Views
3K
Tlted_Jelli
Tlted_Jelli
D
Headlight Voltage Drops
2 3
Replies
58
Views
4K
gggGary
gggGary
B
No Start - Voltage Drop While Cranking
2 3 4
Replies
68
Views
4K
Jim
Jim
Dxs650
Hughs hand built PMA wiring diagram
Replies
9
Views
993
Dxs650
Dxs650
Leavejayalone
What this? (Electrical)
Replies
6
Views
638
5twins
5twins
Back
Top