By that I mean not cool at all

So over the winter my battery tender was playing musical chairs with 4 bikes... I've done this 1000 times and lost my healthy fear for f×@#ing up.

My 93 flhtcu wouldnt accept a charge via the pigtail... probably the fuse I thought. Shortcut...switch to clips and go direct... this worked until one day I went back to charge it this way... instead of plugging the clips into the battery tender I plugged it into the bikes pigtail to battery.... POP SMOKE Holy f×+€! Ripped the the clips off all in same motion. If fuse doesn't work shouldn't have made any connection?

I turned my ignition on to see if everything still worked... it did. Didn't try to start it and I didn't come here to ask how much I might have messed up...

Yesterday I tried to start it... usual struggles... smelled smoke...sometimes that happens though... usually oil but not this time.... pulled seat off and negative battery terminal completely melted.

This is problem number one and my most important one to fix because the other has been rideable.

Background of problem number two.

Brand new starter and a ton of other work done and the bike still lags when trying to fire. The shop said I should just double tap the button and it will start. He did it three times in a row. Not my idea of a fix. Voltage meter consistently reads lower than actual voltage but always consistently 1 volt but when I pull the brakes or use my signals the voltage meter drops way down. I've never killed the battery because its actually charging more than its using but its only ever running around 13...13.5. Sometimes lower but not by much.

I must have a serious short/draw somewhere to make a new starter and brand new battery sound dying and dead.

A friend described something similar on a same year bike... said something about a relay under rear fender.

Also forgot to mention the lights completely shorting out on me one night.... after a hard bump it went on off... off for awhile then another bump back on then off... another clue I'm sure. It was doing this on the highway... had to ride behind a truck so I didn't get rear ended

Any advice is appreciated.

 

Start off with a milliamp draw test, disconnect the hot wire from the battery and put an ammeter between the battery and the hot wire to see what the draw is (this should be next to none on this year bike unless you have an aftermarket security system), then turn on ignition switch with run switch off and start pulling fuses, when pulling the lighting and acct fuses draw should be minimal otherwise look for any add on parts that would draw, turn off ignition switch and reconnect the battery.

 

I have a few areas of concern.... did I mess anything up besides fuses? Why did it melt?

Also forgot to mention the lights completely shorting out on me one night.... after a hard bump it went on off... off for awhile then another bump back on then off... another clue I'm sure.

 

Look for corrosion in the cables and on both ends of each cable. Loose bolt to the battery will do it too.

 

Well that's the wire going up to my tour pack... I'm assuming its for my lights. Not sure who would run this like that. If it is for my lights. Can it be chopped and spliced or should I go for whole new wire... that would short me out yes? That explain the lights off and on? Could it have caused the constant draw and the extreme draw anytime i actually used my lights?

Sorry that picture sucks but the belt has worn through the cable a good bit

 

Wire actually runs to antenna look at all that awesome wiring for some aftermarket stereo that doesn't work anyway... he's got so many dead end wires and grounds all over this bike... my first post here two years ago was trying to figure out why he didn't wire pigtail direct to the battery

 

If it were mine, I would go through each wire carefully and get rid of dead ends and previous owner crimp butt spices and use these in their place. These are by far the easiest and simplest way to splice. I have used them for years on F-16 aircraft and on motorcycle applications. You just need a heat gun and to make a good mechanical connection within the splice under the solder tab. Custom Dynamics has a good how-to video on their website.

 

would this actually short other things out or just fail to work as an antenna

 

No short, just dead antenna. If it were a power antenna that would be one thing but I haven't heard of a power antenna on a motorcycle.

 

I pulled half my wires, cruise control and a few other things from my '90 Ultra Classic FLHTCU.
Do I recommended it? I don't know...I do like the bike much better but it was no punk sorting it all out.