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Did hooking up my battery backwards fry everything?

Discussion in 'XJ Technical Chat' started by DeltaFoxx, Jul 12, 2008.

  1. DeltaFoxx

    DeltaFoxx New Member

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    I am an idiot perhaps, or just that my head was in the clouds when I put the battery back in my 1981 Seca 750 this afternoon. I had taken the battery out to charge it (I think it was dead before as the bike wouldn't turn over last time I tried to start it.)

    Anyway, the part where I screwed up is when I connected everything back together I put the positive wire on the negative terminal and vice versa. The negative sparked a little while I was connecting it, but I thought this could be normal (never connected a battery before). Other than that, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

    Got up and turned the key... nothing. Walked back around to look at the battery and, in whatever is the opposite of an "ah ha moment" (an uh oh moment maybe?) I realized that the plus sign on the battery was sitting just below where the black wire was connected. Switched them back of course, but still get no power to anything now.

    Is there some kind of fuse that stops the electrical flow before it fries everything (fingers crossed) like maybe Yamaha took into account my stupidity and has a control for that? Or did I basically fry everything throughout the whole circuit?

    And if that's the case, is anyone interested in a beautiful bike that I absolutely love but that's now stuck in the parking lot at my office?
     
  2. Wombat

    Wombat Member

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    I don't think hooking a battery up backwards would do any harm, but I've never done it, so I can't say for sure.

    The good news is that there are fuses and on my '81 Maxim, they are located under the seat in a box labeled "fuses." Pop off the cover and take a look to see if any of them are blown and replace as necessary.

    Report back with your results and we can go from there.
     
  3. Stamplicker

    Stamplicker Member

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    On top of the above comment.. make sure to switch your cables around on to the right connections. =)
     
  4. coldndead

    coldndead New Member

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    i don't know if your bike has one but... my '80 xs 1100 would not start and i checked everthing from the manual up. i finaly called a mobile bike mech. and in about two minutes i was running-what did he do? there was a main power fuse not located in the fuse panel but some obscure place on the bike that if you did'nt know it you would'nt find it. unfortunatly its been 20+ yrs and don't remember its location :cry: i hope this helps ,good luck
     
  5. 83elcamino

    83elcamino Member

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    it's is possible to fry the bike from what i know. i could be wrong. shop teacher got rather worried one time when i made that mistake on the highschool's mobile video truck though. hopefully that main fuse stopped it though
     
  6. wizard

    wizard Active Member

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    something rings a bell about it reversing the polarity of a component.
     
  7. RickCoMatic

    RickCoMatic Well-Known Member

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    Take-off the side cover and locate the Voltage Regulator.
    Follow the pigtail of the Voltage Regulator until you get to the Quik-Connector that plugs it into the Wiring Harness.

    Disconnect that Connector.
    Look for signs of the Wiring Harness melting.

    Check BOTH sides of the RED Wire.
    Look for any sign of melting or overheating.

    If the Connector looks like it got hot and melted a little bit ... (which it probably will):

    You Fried the Voltage Regulator.
    (Which acted like a big fuse. Your lucky there wasn't worse damage ... but, we don't know if there is worse damage or not until you get that figured-out).
     
  8. wizard

    wizard Active Member

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    just beat me to it RickCo, did some research & fried regulator was on the menue.
     
  9. Zookie400

    Zookie400 Active Member

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    i bet something fried. happens all the time on the trucks i work on.
     

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