I had to put my old fender back on to take my rider's exam last week and so today I was putting my FE back on. After I removed the rear cowl I turned the bike on (engine off) to check that all the lights and signals were working properly. Everything was fine. I accidentally left the key in the ON position while I was fiddling around and stuff and didn't realize I had done so until about 15-20 minutes later.

I turned the key to the OFF position, waited about an hour and then tried turning the bike back ON to check. My headlights were still working fine, but nothing on my tach or rear tail light was working. The front and rear signals work and show up on the display when I flick the switch. The brake light comes on when I use the front and/or rear brake, but there's nothing when I release them. I can start the bike fine and took it for a spin to see if it was running ok and it did, but my rev needle doesn't move, no oil pressure light, no neutral indicator, no speedometer, no odometer, no fuel indicator. However my clock still works fine. I have no idea what's going on. I didn't disconnect or cross any wires.

The bike was probably on when I disconnected my plate light to re-attach (splice) my LED plate light. These are the only wires I touched. Could this have caused a short/blown fuse? Could leaving the bike ON have drained the battery and now not everything is working because the battery is low? Is there something I may have disconnected that's causing the tach and tail light to not turn on?

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

Start by checking fuses, thats all you can really do. use a test light to be sure all your fuses are getting power.

 

Umm...and how do you to that exactly?[&:]

 

also check for loose ground wires-or something that could have been loosened /unplugged while swapping
parts-as far as use of test light or voltmeter-ground test light/vm to battery neg post-probe
fuse socket-socket will only have 1 side for power-as fuses are there to protect the circuits
back track thru the work you did-you'll find it,doesn't sound like anything is damaged
just something that has come loose
hope this helps

 

Changed the fuse and everything's working fine now, thanks.