Electrical wiring damage

[DuaneR]

Well, looking for some help and I’ll give a rundown on what I did. So the switch I put in to turn off her stereo so it saves battery while not using the bike was in a spot that one could accidently turn it on - putting helmet in frunk for example. So I decided to relocate it and thought I had it connected correctly, turned it on and bam, dead short, wire started burning before I was able to turn the switch off. No fuse in line from battery to switch, unfortunately I put the fuse after the switch. Reason for negative at the switch was to power an illuminated switch so she could tell if stereo was off or on.

After calmimg down and kicking myself I decided to make sure her 2013 Spyder ST would fire up, it did. But after 10 seconds I got “ check transmission” then it showed “ check engine” message on computer. Also, would not shift into gear, turn signals won’t work and no high beam. Also, the computer won’t go through menu items. I have headlight low beam, tail lights and her heated grips, fog lights and parking brake work.

Looked at the obvious few fuses, nothing obvious, fuses tested good with ohmeter. Not sure how to test the bigger black relay/ fuses or whatever they are.

Any suggestions on what else I could look at? This was basically a dead short across the battery and melted the insulation off the wires, not sure how it could have affected any other wiring but apparently it did.

Not a way to end the weekend

 

[UtahPete]

Well, looking for some help and I’ll give a rundown on what I did. So the switch I put in to turn off her stereo so it saves battery while not using the bike was in a spot that one could accidently turn it on - putting helmet in frunk for example. So I decided to relocate it and thought I had it connected correctly, turned it on and bam, dead short, wire started burning before I was able to turn the switch off. No fuse in line from battery to switch, unfortunately I put the fuse after the switch. Reason for negative at the switch was to power an illuminated switch so she could tell if stereo was off or on.

After calmimg down and kicking myself I decided to make sure her 2013 Spyder ST would fire up, it did. But after 10 seconds I got “ check transmission” then it showed “ check engine” message on computer. Also, would not shift into gear, turn signals won’t work and no high beam. Also, the computer won’t go through menu items. I have headlight low beam, tail lights and her heated grips, fog lights and parking brake work.

Looked at the obvious few fuses, nothing obvious, fuses tested good with ohmeter. Not sure how to test the bigger black relay/ fuses or whatever they are.

Any suggestions on what else I could look at? This was basically a dead short across the battery and melted the insulation off the wires, not sure how it could have affected any other wiring but apparently it did.

Not a way to end the weekend

Considering your lack of understanding about electrical systems, I think the only responsible advice is to take it to a qualified shop. Don't touch that bike again except to ride it. nojoke

 

[DuaneR]

Considering your lack of understanding about electrical systems, I think the only responsible advice is to take it to a qualified shop. Don't touch that bike again except to ride it. nojoke

Unfortunaley I know exactly what I did, I just don’t know what damage I caused. But good advice, same one my wife gave me an hour ago:banghead:

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

DEAD SHORT

Unfortunaley I know exactly what I did, I just don’t know what damage I caused. But good advice, same one my wife gave me an hour ago:banghead:

Even tho our batteries seem small by comparison to most auto / trk. batteries, they can produce enough juice to fry wires pretty quickly...... You at a minimum strip out all the wires you put on the system for your project...... and check very closely any wires that were near them ........... PS this is why on this Forum people discuss using / adding a separate fuse block for any and all additional circuits ........Fuses are your friend ..... not dissing you on this , you were lucky this time......Answering your particular situation would require me ...seeing it .........good luck ...... Mike :thumbup:

 

[DuaneR]

Even tho our batteries seem small by comparison to most auto / trk. batteries, they can produce enough juice to fry wires pretty quickly...... You at a minimum strip out all the wires you put on the system for your project...... and check very closely any wires that were near them ........... PS this is why on this Forum people discuss using / adding a separate fuse block for any and all additional circuits ........Fuses are your friend ..... not dissing you on this , you were lucky this time......Answering your particular situation would require me ...seeing it .........good luck ...... Mike :thumbup:

As far as I can tell the only wires damaged are the wires from my switch to the battery. Also the iginition was offf. Basically connected positive and negative across the battery and let them burn. My guess is fuses but more concerned about the computer. But I hear you on the fuseblock, dumb on my part.

 

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

WIRING ISSUES & COMPUTER

As far as I can tell the only wires damaged are the wires from my switch to the battery. Also the iginition was offf. Basically connected positive and negative across the battery and let them burn. My guess is fuses but more concerned about the computer. But I hear you on the fuseblock, dumb on my part.

... If the Spyder was not " ON " ( even just the switch ) ....Unless you were in a CIRCUIT connected to one of the computers I don't see how ANY of them could be affected by your wiring error .....Remember ALL the OEM - BRP wiring is Protected, so you should check all the OEM Protection devices.... Mike :thumbup:

 

[DuaneR]

... If the Spyder was not " ON " ( even just the switch ) ....Unless you were in a CIRCUIT connected to one of the computers I don't see how ANY of them could be affected by your wiring error .....Remember ALL the OEM - BRP wiring is Protected, so you should check all the OEM Protection devices.... Mike :thumbup:

Thank you, calling dealer tomorrow for some guidance.

 

[Joel The Biker]

If your switch was connected directly to the battery, then you wont have any blown fuses. Also, i am afraid blueknight is incorrect. The electronics are protected, but only on the positive side. If you did a direct short to the bike ground, then you may have damaged the ECU by sending power through the bike chassis and into the negative side of the ECU causing damage. Your symptoms of nonthing working on the handlebar controls are poimting to the CAN-BUS system not working and it may be damaged. CAN-BUS uses low voltage somewhere around 5 volts and may have been damaged by a voltage spike. Good luck and let us know what the fix is.

 

[SpyderCruiser]

If your switch was connected directly to the battery, then you wont have any blown fuses. Also, i am afraid blueknight is incorrect. The electronics are protected, but only on the positive side. If you did a direct short to the bike ground, then you may have damaged the ECU by sending power through the bike chassis and into the negative side of the ECU causing damage. Your symptoms of nonthing working on the handlebar controls are poimting to the CAN-BUS system not working and it may be damaged. CAN-BUS uses low voltage somewhere around 5 volts and may have been damaged by a voltage spike. Good luck and let us know what the fix is.

Joel is correct on this one. I have experienced this on vehicles and electronics before. It is technically called a ground loop and can be quite damaging to electronics. I hope this is not what happened to your Spyder.

 

[DuaneR]

Joel is correct on this one. I have experienced this on vehicles and electronics before. It is technically called a ground loop and can be quite damaging to electronics. I hope this is not what happened to your Spyder.

I fear that may be the case. I don’t even want to know how much this will cost. I’ll update

 

[DuaneR]

Lucked out, blew a fuse. :yes:

 

[Easy Rider]

Sorry for your trouble.

For the possible benefit of others:
If you have an OEM radio, it draws only a tiny, TINY bit of power when off; very near to nothing.

So the entire project is unnecessary because a healthy battery will last months just sitting.

If it will be sitting for weeks at a time without being ridden, attaching a battery tender is a much better idea.
But if it is ridden for a substantial distance once every couple of weeks, even the tender is really not necessary.

 

[sylvester]

May i suggest install a trickle charge plug and just plug it in when you park it better for the battery and never an issue:2thumbs:

 

[DuaneR]

May i suggest install a trickle charge plug and just plug it in when you park it better for the battery and never an issue:2thumbs:

It has one, it is always on a trickle charger when in the garage. Good advice though, thank you

 

[Easy Rider]

May i suggest install a trickle charge plug and just plug it in when you park it better for the battery and never an issue:2thumbs:

And may I suggest that a cheap "trickle charger" often is worse than no charger at all ??

If you are going to do this, you need a small "smart" fully automatic tender type charger.