Electrical question

[jg928s4]

80 R65

Had electical apart when cleaning up the bIke, had wires marked took pictures etc.  Must have missed something.   Blinkers, Horn, Headlight work.  Hit starter button it sounds like going to turn over then all goes dark, no power.   A few minutes later lights will work again and same scenario when try to start. ? ?   Must have hooked something up wrong?   I have a single woire that comes up out of the starter cover black shielding, not certain where it goes, not on the other Bike I have to copy.

[Bob_Roller]

How many wires do you have connected to the positive terminal of the battery ?

[jg928s4]

2

[nhmaf]

Is the headlight on when you have the key in the "run" position before you press the start button?

There is a relay which should disable the headlight when the starter button is pressed.  Do you hear a relay click when you press that starter button?  There is a starter relay, and there is a headlight relay.

Do you have a multimeter ?   Do the dash lights come back on on their own after you release the starter button?   IT might be that you are almost shorting the battery somehow.  Start by verifying the (2) positive wire lead connections from the (+) battery terminal, and the negative cable which should go from the (-) battery terminal to the transmission casing.

[tvrla]

Do us a favor and load test the battery:

At rest voltage = ?

Voltage when starter is cranking = ?

Was everything working before tearing into the wiring? Why was it all pulled out at once?

How old is the battery? Are the connections bright and shiny?

[jg928s4]

battery less than year old.

all was working before teardown.

Did some POR-15 on Frame and paint to get rid of Rust.

With battery charger on it seems to try to start.  

Battery says fully charged?

did dialectric jelly on all contacts when reassembling.

I did not check all the ground contacts I did not disconect, will double check those.
 
also just have all the wires hanging etc.  just checking before I start zip tieing and burying under the tank and side shields etc.

[jg928s4]

This plug shown under the coil is one I have that was not marked...?  Comes out of the starter cover.  I will start searching and look in the manual, but if any one recognizes and gives me a clue to where it hooks up I will appreciate it.

[Bob_Roller]

From looking at  wiring diagram, my best guess, is the black wire you have as a'spare', is most likely from the points ignition .

It needs to go on one of the coils .

[Barry]

Bob's suggestion does sound likely. Easy way to check is there should be 2 black wires on terminal 1 of the front coil. One goes to the tacho and the other to the points.

[tvrla]

Do you have a voltmeter - multimeter?

Even though the battery is only a year old - it could still be dead. I had a one-year-old battery die and I've heard of this happening to others.

So don't assume anything - you know what they say about assumptions! It's true!

So let us know what the at-rest battery voltage is, and what it drops to when the starter button is depressed.

[montmil]

The way the black wire is shaped, it's length and that fairly clean but lonely looking male spade on the coil terminal... as the Glade air freshener advert goes, "plug it in, plug it in..."

[nhmaf]

According to Haynes' manual wiring diagram, there is a black wire which should come from the starter motor up to terminal 87 on the starter relay, which is also jumpered by a black wire to terminal 85 on the headlight relay (US bikes only).  The wire size is approximately correct, but I admit that does appear to look like it goes on the coil terminal with that connector size.   Still, I'd check the headlight and starter relays' terminals (the terminal numbers should be printed on the top and/or bottom surface of the relay to see if there is an open/unconnected pin as described above.  If that is a no-go, then do try the coil terminal as other have mentioned.

[jg928s4]

I will pull the front cover, I believe it is the points plug seeing I replaced that wire a few months ago...  Don't see how it did not get labeled or pulled off the coil when I was routing wires over after pulling and cleaning up other termianls etc.

I do have a volt meter and will check battery at load.  It is still under warranty if I have an issue, it has been disconeected and in storage on a shelf whike I repainted the battery tray etc.

Thanks, will let you know what I find out when I get back to it in a few nights.

[jamo]

Clean the crap (Dielectric jelly) off all the battery terminals. Scrape clean battery  terminals with a knife clean all connections with wet and dry paper then bolt up tight. you can grease after assembly and try again.
When ever I greased battery terminals bike or car no start was the result. just take a little time to clean terminals occasionally.

[tvrla]

I'll second that - apply dialectric grease after the battery terminals are tightened down!

I seem to recal that wire in question just hanging out -- nothing attached. Maybe it's the hot for heated grips or something else that's not on your bike. At any rate, it's NOT the reason your bike isn't cranking.

It would be one thing if your starter motor turned over at full speed but the engine never fires up, but in your case it doesn't have the oomph to even spin the engine to get to that point.

So don't worry about that wire, it's not part of the current problem!

If there's dialectric grease between the plus and minus leads and the battery terminals, that's most likely your problem.