I shorted my Scooter - what now? By neil1805 (Read 1,560 times)

[neil1805]

hi All,

I was taking off my starter relay to pic it and buy replacement. And I managed to short it (I thought my battery was dead, apparently not!).

Anyhow, I noticed within about a second - but the electrics to the negative terminal of my battery were smoking. I took it all apart, and it looks like there is one wire that took it all and is damaged. 

Now, it goes without saying I guess, but, i'll say it any way - I'm an amateur! So, I need some help / advice in what to do now.

on the face of it, it looks like I need to replace a cable - which is (oddly), crimped to the -the battery terminal, but at the other end - it is soldered of sorts, to two other wires. One I think goes to starter (relay) perhaps and the other to the starter button.

Can anyone give me some advice on what I need to do / some checks? 

I stripped a lot of the tape holding all electrics together, to assess what was damaged, and it looks like the one cable I mentioned. 

I look forward to a reply - and please spare me the lecture. Lesson learned!

many thanks,
Neil 

I can't get images to display, so here are links: 

ibb.co/j8VzNa
ibb.co/i1bvvv

[rapidrob]

What is inside of the rubber cup?
Go to Harbor Freight and get their free DVM meter or buy a cheap one.
Set it to Ohms. The symbol looks like the Greek Omega. Ohm out the damaged wires. Cut the two soldered wires apart with a razor knife and seal with electrical tape.
The main cable that burned the cover off should be replaced with new. If you cannot find a new cable, replace the cable with a wire as large or larger than original. N E V E R use a smaller cable.
You may have blown a fuse or two. Your meter will prove that is they are not clear glass. However it looks like you did a dead short to the battery. You battery may have boiled as well. Check the electrolyte levels and recharge the battery.
Always work on you bikes electrical system with the battery disconnected,at least the positive cable. Even a small battery can do major damage is shorted out. In some cases the battery can explode.
Lets hope you did not fry the electronics if your bike has none. If the ignition switch was left on,really bad things may have happened.

[jct842]

Learning to use that meter is part of riding chinese. If it's too much buy A JAP SCOOTER. a CHINESE SCOOTER WILLL RIDE JUST AS GOOD AS YOU do a bit more maintainance.

[cyborg]

Just replace the smoked wire,,, you should be good to go,,, I'd be giving all the others the long look to be safe,,, make sure they aren't melted together and touching

[lostforawhile]

I never understood why they never installed a maxi fuse inline with the positive cable, that should be a standard requirement on all bikes, it only blows in a situation like this