Wiring hot to touch

[-Dex-]

I fucking hate wiring!!!!!

Im in the middle of wiring up an rg250 I bought cheaply. The whole electrical system was pretty tacked together so I thought I could save money by doing all the connections/earths properly and use what I had.

Now, after finally getting it all sorted out/labelled etc. I hook it up to a brand new battery and switch and the fuse blows. Ok no big deal, replace the fuse (20amp) and it blows again.

At this stage I just want to make sure all the electrics are actually working so I remove the fuse and just hardwire it all together. Within about 2 seconds the entire wiring harness is hot as hell and starting to smoke so I quickly turn it off at the switch.

After checking and rechecking the earths (there is only two), I cant for the life of me work out whats happening.

Nothing electrical other than the coil/regulator/cdi is connected, the indicators, headlight, tail lights etc. are all just hanging wires. Im fairly sure hot wiring is not a good thing so any light you can shed would be much appreciated. Sorry for the long winded post.
Cheers,
Dex.

[Large]

You've pretty much got a short somewhere.

Have you got a ohmmeter to check connections etc?

[ozzy1100]

if the wires getting hot enough 2 smoke you have one hell of a short
and that fast tends 2 say 2 me that it is a direct short ie bat 2 earth
id recheck every thing .. really make shore you have the right wires for the eaths etc
but allso make sure those wires you said are all just hanging three arnt shorting out 2 the frame
they might not be hooked up but they still live
wireing is allways a pain in the ares when things go wrong
i allways start with one circuit and work through it before the next
or it all starts 2 look 2 much 2 look at lol breack it done 2 smaller parts
have you removed all the fuses you dont need for the bike 2 run eg lights etc
see how you go dont now if its any help

[Booster]

Bat Terminals on the right way ?

[-Dex-]

Booster: yep, first thing I checked.

Large: Only have a multimeter, will that do?

Ozzy: Made sure all loose wires were clear of the frame and it was still getting hot and smoking.

Went back and rechecked where exactly the smoke is coming from. Two wires coming out of a connector have melted together and are causing all the smoke. Pretty much all the live wires are hot though. Will go back through it all tomorrow and check the connections. Its drinking time now. Thanks heaps for the help so far guys!

[JRW]

another thing to try is to disconnect the two earth points, and see if there is still any current draw/heat without them... if so there is definately a major short happening.

[-Dex-]

Ok, pulled the right handlebar switch (killswitch & headlight) connection off and the problem went away.

So am currently half way through cleaning out the actual switch, about 2mm of dust in there, and re soldering the connections. Hopefully that will sort it. Thanks heaps for the help fellas!
Dex.

[Yella]

It would be more that dust in a switch I would check all the light wiring sounds like it has a power wire straight to earth.
What plug/wire has melted?

[Seifer]

I had a similar problem with a few wires, it was a loose connection that was sparking everytime it moved, generated a lot of heat. Lucky I noticed because it was sparking directly below where I had a fuel leak. Then I would have had a loom that was as hot as hell.

[-Dex-]

Yella: not sure which wire it was but it went into the cdi from the right handlebar switch.

After cleaning it all out and re-soldering and re-heat shrinking it up, all seemed seewt until the cdi went snap crackle pop and is now a smoking melted mess.

I fucking hate wiring!

[-Dex-]

Seifer: Ive gone over every connection and fixed up the ones that were even vaguely suspect so Im pretty sure they are all sweet.

[Seifer]

Check else where and not just around the loom, mine was the starter motor, you are also going to want to make sure that there are no shorts anywhere, if a bolt could have gone through the loom and opened some wires then you need to check there. How make shift is your loom? Was it made for the bike? Are the connecting wires at the switch definitely the same on both ends?
Which fuse is blowing ie. what is it wired up too? Sounds like you have connected something up wrong or its a short. Best bet is to get your hand on a schematic and follow each wire to ensure its set up correctly. And I mean each wire, don't assume its fine under all the bundling tape.
Do yourself a favour and put the fuse back in and hook absolutely everything up. Sounds like you have a live connected to the earth somewhere (indicator/headlight?), it's just up to you to find it.