Hey guys,

Well I was cruising on the hwy for about 1.5 hours yesterday, when my bike completely died on me. Lights off, instrument panel, the works.

I pulled over to the side of the road, popped the seat off to check the battery terminals on the battery. They were kinda loose, so when I tightened them I almost burnt myself on the battery. It was hooooooooooottttt! Super hot!

So anyways, got the bike towed home, and attempted to put a battery tender on it the following day. It didn't charge, and never got above .4 volts, so I tossed it aside and got a new battery today.

As SOON as I hooked the battery terminals up to the bike, the bike started smoking heavy electrical smoke from somewhere down by the rad. I'm not sure where it came from cause I quickly took the new battery out before any more damage could occur.

When the smoking occured, the key was not in the ignition so the bike was completely off. I'm not sure where I should start trouble-shooting.

Any electrical pros have any advise or can point me in the proper direction?
Thanks guys!


EDIT: I should also note that I noticed the "IGNITION" fuse was blown when I took the old battery out. I replaced it with a spare 10A fuse that was in the fusebox. Not sure if this has something to do with it, but I didnt notice it smoking the other day.

This is what I fucken think it is... Locate your positive battery cable. pull the thing out and look for any wear on the plastic sheathing. I think it is grounding out on something.. ok. lemme know how you make out

Hey guys,

Well I was cruising on the hwy for about 1.5 hours yesterday, when my bike completely died on me. Lights off, instrument panel, the works.

I pulled over to the side of the road, popped the seat off to check the battery terminals on the battery. They were kinda loose, so when I tightened them I almost burnt myself on the battery. It was hooooooooooottttt! Super hot!

So anyways, got the bike towed home, and attempted to put a battery tender on it the following day. It didn't charge, and never got above .4 volts, so I tossed it aside and got a new battery today.

As SOON as I hooked the battery terminals up to the bike, the bike started smoking heavy electrical smoke from somewhere down by the rad. I'm not sure where it came from cause I quickly took the new battery out before any more damage could occur.

When the smoking occured, the key was not in the ignition so the bike was completely off. I'm not sure where I should start trouble-shooting.

Any electrical pros have any advise or can point me in the proper direction?
Thanks guys!


EDIT: I should also note that I noticed the "IGNITION" fuse was blown when I took the old battery out. I replaced it with a spare 10A fuse that was in the fusebox. Not sure if this has something to do with it, but I didnt notice it smoking the other day.

Good thing you were able to pull off the road safely! If the ignition was off, and you put the battery in then saw smoke, my first guess would be that the ignition wiring is f'd up. If the bike is not under warranty, I'd start by taking apart the front end and checking all the wires by the ignition.

If it's under warranty, have the dealer pick it up. Don't put the battery back in, as that could cause things to catch fire. Chances are though, all the damage is done and you just need to look for burned/melted wires.

Once you do find the burned/melted wires, check the entire length of the wire and see where the short was. Get a multimeter and do some continuity tests to make sure all that stuff isn't grounding out. Whatever you do, do not put more power in the system. Also, don't just replace the burned out pieces, they'll just burn up again if you don't find the short.

This is what I fucken think it is... Locate your positive battery cable. pull the thing out and look for any wear on the plastic sheathing. I think it is grounding out on something.. ok. lemme know how you make out

I agree that this is the most likely cause (dead short from the battery + to ground). Pull both wires off the battery and do a continuity check across them (e.g., a multimeter set to the ohm scale)...if you get 0 ohms (or a very low reading) than you have a short to ground somewhere that you need to find and correct before hooking the battery back up. As brendanp said above, start with the main positive wire looking for any worn insulation.

Chech the voltage regulator too!

thanks so much for the responses guys.
Here are my findings so far:

ok so, looks like i found out what is smoking.
The smoking looks to have been caused by the rectifier. I have attached a picture of it.

Once I disconnected it, I was able to plug the new battery in without smoking. This is where I have noticed a whole lot of other problems!

1) the right turn signals (bulbs) are all burned out. left ones are fine
2) tail light/license plate lights (led) dont work.
3) ignition fuse keeps blowing

In attempt to find out why the ignition fuse kept blowing, I turn the key to ACC and it doesnt blow. As soon as I turn the key forward to the ON position the fuse blows. I disconnected everything that was aftermarket, even disconnected the headlights and the problem still exists. So far I have tried disconnecting everything one at a time replacing the fuses trying to narrow it down with no luck.

Any other suggestions?
Here is what the rectifier looks like:

http://www.stokedgsxr.com/images/rec.jpg

PS : mods, is there any way you can move this over to the 06/07 forums? I mistakenly posted it here :)

I still suspect that you have a ground somewhere....did you check resistance from the positive main wire to ground....if you have a short (zero or low resistance), you need to keep disconnecting things until you find the circuit that it is on.

The reg took a sh#t and probably sent 20 volts thru the system. 12v lights don't work very long on 20 volts, Disconnect the Ign box recheck the fuse, probably fried the ign too?