I love my Pan!

[awander]

The other day, I received the 12-0-12 ammeter I had ordered just before I was planning to go out for a ride.

I made up an adapter to hold the ammeter on the handlebar, ran a couple of 10AWG wires to back by the battery, interrupted the cable from the terminal box to the battery positive, and put the ammeter in series.

Then I went to my friend Alex's house to feed his cat. Got on the bike and pulled out-I got about 1/2 mile away when the bike just died, and then I saw smoke coming out from under the seat tee. By the time I got a screwdriver out and disconnected the battery, I had smoked the positive wire to the ignition switch.

I was trying to figure out what to do when a long-haired, long-bearded, bandanned guy in a pickup truck stopped to see if I needed help. I had a meter and some wire and stuff with me so I told him I was ok.

Then I proceeded to push the bike back to Alex's house. 1/2 mile is a LONG way when you are pushing 650 lbs of metal. Should have asked the guy for a lift.

Anyway, once I got there, and I was good and tired, I realized that if I disconnected the positive wire from the coil, and connected a clip lead from battery pus to the coil, I could start 'er up and ride her home. SO I did, and got in just before dark.

Well, naturally, i suspected my new wiring, but I figured I'd just methodically trace out the problem. It turned out to be that whoever put the repo harness on, managed to get one wire in the dash so that it was caught between the dash base and the idiot light shield on the dash panel, and had been fretting away for years, and just decided that then was the time to short to ground.

I replaced a couple of smoked wires, and I was back on the road.

I love how simple these things are, and how easy it is to work on them.....