Some new electrical problems.

[hanly2]

The other day I had a bad short in the points wire that caused my bike to break down. Well after I unplugged the points I had it all working again, then the next day I came out and turned the key on and my neutral light doesn't come on and neither does my head or taillight. My guage lights will do come on when I turn the headlight switch on but that is all that works. The turnsignals dont work either. Could it be the rectifier or the voltage regulator? I am not sure where to start looking.

 

[DrJ]

Does your bike have more than one fuse? Check all of them.

 

[hanly2]

All the fuses are good. I just unplugged the headlight and now the neutral light works, but when I try the turn signals it makes the gauge and neutral light really dim. Then I tried to test the headlight by hooking it up to the battery and it doesn't do anything. I put a voltmeter on the 2 wires and as soon as I touch the headlight with them it drops from 12v to .5 or something. Could the headlight be blown? But that still doesn't explain the turn signals.

 

[hanly2]

Ok so it looks like my new 9ah sla battery was the culprit. I plugged a old factory 12ah battery in and everything was working again. So now I need to know what killed my battery. Could there be something wrong with the voltage regulator or the rectifier?

 

[DrJ]

Are you still using your electric starter? Generally, if you go to a smaller, weaker battery, you can only use the kicker. Yes, if the rectifier is bad, the battery will drain.

 

[hanly2]

I just use the kicker because the starter won't work even with the other battery the solenoid just clicks but the starter doesn't move. So that isn't what killed the batter either.

Id also like to add that when I connect my battery tender to the sla battery the light just flashes which means that something is wrong, so I am guessing that this battery is actually broken somehow.