No lights, Dash illumination, or effect after ride when engine died

[PDXWrench]

Hey Yall,

I was recently riding my 1980 GL1100 to test the clutch, just up and down the street. On a turn, the idle went low and the bike choked out. The lights in the dash went out, and had no action at start button. I turned the key back and forth, no change. Charged the batter full, no change. Arcing across the solenoid does fire the starter, but other wise electrics seem to be non functional.

Any Ideas or help? I checked the main 30a fuse, but it is intact. I have been told that it can still be bad, and will attempt replacement today, but any other assistance would be greatly appreciated.

-A

[Rambozo]

Do you have a volt meter or a test light?
If so, start tracing power and ground from the battery towards the rest of the wiring.
It often comes down to dirty connections at the battery, ground points or solenoids.

[PDXWrench]

Thanks! I will throw my voltmeter on it in the morning and start working my way up the wiring harness.

[Rambozo]

If you're lucky it will still have the fault when you come back to it.
So often those things just fix themselves, then you never know when it's going to fail again, except it will be far from home in a rainstorm.
So try to start tracing without moving anything first, or as little as possible.