'91 xt600 wont start no electrics at all
 

my 91 xt 600 wont start i turned the key on today the headlight came on i pushed the button to start and everything just died,i checked the battery its fine and the fuse next to the battery is appears fine where do i start looking,are there any other fuses or could it be the tdi/cdi thingy black box help ?

It would help if you were more specific AND if you did some investigation yourself
WHAT died? did the light go out totally or dim, or ?


Fine how? Did you measure the voltage on the battery, with and without load ?


Did you check the voltage on both sides of it or measure resistance of it?

Etc.

i didnt have a multimeter so i used a spotlight and it worked well on the battery, the problem is all lights are dead and the bike wont turn over let alone start.With the battery connected to the bike,the spotlight will work if the key is off,but when the key is on it wont work,does this mean a bad earth? thanks steele

No, if the light connected to battery goes off when you turn the key, technically speaking we say that the battery is f****d :innocent:.

I tested the battery and is got 12.73v ,ive now pulled all plastics,seat and tank off looking for a loose wire/connection with no success i dont know where to go from here. Any ideas on the most lilely place to check?
thanks steele

Attach the meter directly to the battery, try to start and see how low the voltage dips.

I can't say exactly which voltage still is good, but if it dips below 10-11 volt then the battery is bad.

Attach the meter to the + terminal on the battery, start, and watch if the voltage dips below 10-11V, if yes, then the terminal is loose or corroded.

attach to minus terminal, start and see if there is any rise in voltage, if yes, then the terminal is loose or corroded.

if the voltage on the battery or terminals, is higher than 10-11 volt, then measure directly on the starting relay. If voltage dips below 10-11V, you have a bad connection from the battery to the relay.

I agree with pbekkerh. A Bad battery can still hold good voltage.
But as soon as any load is put on the bad battery you can watch the voltage go thru the floor.

To really test if its any good it will need load testing.

HTH

Pete

You were right.The battery was screwed even though it had 12.6 volts- lesson well learned thanks.A new one only set me back $65.