1986 1200 Goldwing electrical/battery issue

[rumont]

Hi all. I had to do a carb overhaul and had to unhook some wiring for the aux front lights,rear light bar, and cig lighter to do the job. Well I had everthing hooked up and turned the key and I blew a 20amp fuse (the top one). They had to put a 20amp one in for the extra lights and an auto 12volt fuel pump instead of the orig Honda one. So I unhooked all but the cig lighter and it blew again, so I unhooked it and It was fine. The battery sparks a little when I connect the battery. My wiring from the stator got hot and I had to dispose of connector that came from it and soldered it together. Will the stator be ok? and is the battery sparking normal? I know the wing has a draw on the power because of the radio memory but does a spark mean something has went to ground or a short? Thanks, Russ

[WingAdmin]

First off: the stator wiring issue is separate from everything else. Those connectors get hot and fail - by cutting it out and soldering the wires directly, you've fixed that problem. Your stator should be fine.

Next - your electrical problem. With the bike off, the radio memory draws a very, very small amount of power - nowhere near enough to cause sparks at the battery when it is connected. You've got something else drawing power.

You said disconnecting the cigarette lighter fixed the fuse blowing problem, is that correct?

What I suspect is that you may have pinched a wire somewhere while working on it, causing a short, or a partial short. I would check all the aftermarket (non-factory) wiring to see if you have a wire pinched or chafed somewhere.

Best thing you can do is remove all the fuses, connect the battery, then start replacing the fuses one by one. When you get to the one that blows, you'll have found the circuit that is causing the problem.

[rumont]

Yeah, I unplugged the connector going to the cig lighter and it did not blow the fuse but the battery still sparked. I haven't tried the battery connection yet with the wires soldered together. I'll try the fuses next. Thanks, Russ

[WingAdmin]

Like I said, the battery connection should have nothing to do with the soldered stator wires. The stator wires are connected only to the regulator/rectifier. I'd start looking for wire shorts! Do you have a multimeter?

[rumont]

Yeah I have a multimeter. The deal with the stator was that I had read that they can go to ground if bad.

[WingAdmin]

Right - if you take your multimeter, set it to measure resistance, and measure between each stator wire and ground, you should see no reading. If you see a connection, then you have a problem.

If you disconnect both leads to your battery, and measure resistance between the positive lead and the ground lead, are you seeing anything?

[rumont]

I contacted the leads to the tester I have it set on ohms on the 2000 scale and it shows 525. I haven't put the leads on the stator wires yet. Thanks, Russ