TOPIC:

Hi

After having fixed some rust, changed tires, fixed the front forks, renewed my clutch on my KZ550-a1, I yesterday finally got my bike out running after the winter.

It was a really short trip though. I drove around for about 10 min, and sudenly ALL the power goes off. No lights, no nothing! I checked the wirering, and it seems like that there wasnt any wires at was not connected, and all the fuses are still intact, but still no power at all.
So I had to pull my bike home again. To my luck I was almost home, but still had to pull it a quarter of a mile up hills.

I have also just installed a new GEL battery, and fully cahrged it, so it shouldn't be that.

Honestly, I am not sure where to start at all.

Anyone who have tried the same, have some good tips to how I can find the reason to this or who has some good ideas to what could have done this?

I hope you can help me out!

Thank you
Christian

If the bike still has the original style fuses, they can be bad even if they look good. The only way to know for sure is a continuity test.

Likewise, the solder joints inside the switchgear are old and may ha ve vibrated loose. Continuity check again.

Sometimes a goofball rider can inadvertently move the kill switch from ON to OFF without realizing it. (Guess how I know that!!)

MFolks has posted some really nice electrical diagnostic procedures on the site. I bet they can be found in the file base.

A lot of patience, swearing, and alcohol will likely be needed.

Would also assure a good ground connection where the negative battery cable attaches to the engine.

Good Fortune!

It's probably your main fuse. The same thing happened to me last season. Those glass fuses get old and pop

Main fuse melted from bad connections at the clips or wires melted off the main switch from bad connection would be my guess.

Bad fuse or ignition switch.

As TexasKZ said check the fuses with a meter or just replace them to be sure they are good. Age and vibration can make the little metal caps on the ends can break loose from the filament, and when this happens the fuse still looks perfectly fine but doesn't work. Guess how I know. Ed

+1 Tube fuses should get replaced once a year just to avoid the grief.

Thanks every one for the imputs. I'll get on it Sunday, get out my mulitimeter and hopefully find out the reason..

I actually just put on a new 20A fuse on right before I drove out. I think I'll start with checking that one.

A lot of patience, swearing, and alcohol will likely be needed.

I belive you! The beer is already cooling in the fridge.

Every time a fuse is removed and/or replaced, the fuse clips get worse as they are spread open, then the bad connection, heat and burn. Those clips are crap. I thought of that many a mile riding at night, the fuse burns, you have no headlight, no nothing. Think today with the national highway safety commission and all the recalls. They would never allow Kawasaki or anyone else to run fuses that burn from heat from bad clips, and the rider is helpless.

I found the old three way box with glass fuses pretty durable, as long as they don't get damaged by battery acid overflow or get badly corroded. Also unlike the later z1000 five way type, there is no hidden wiring.

OP your main white battery + goes from 20A in fusebox to ignition switch, then back to feed the other two fuses. Check continuity from battery + to 20A main fuse, to ignition switch block connector and out again. There is a main red/white feed three way connector that connects from battery to fusebox in the starter solenoid area which can go awol.

This isn't a 550 part, but note the small red/white bullet connector. I usually change these bullet connectors if they look or feel suspect , did one yesterday on my 750R1

So what i found was that on one of the clips to the 20A fuse was filled with corrosion. I removed it with a bit of sandpaper, and when I put the fuse back, it was working again!