So, I took out the battery for the winter and had the wires to the terminals obviously taken off. Got a new battery now. Also have an extra cable that I'm 95% sure goes on the positive terminal (due to markings on that lead's connector that correspond to the 'u' shaped clip thingie.
Thing is, the manual I have for the bike says to connect the (-) snap connector. I'm not sure if this is that snap connector. (?)
Only mod on the mod is a lightbar (which I didn't think of when I was with the bike earlier today). Could this be the lead for that?
Do any other 1999 Drifters have an extra cable like this? What's it for? Would it be safe to attach the leads to the battery without this connector and start the bike up to see if it still works?
Picture below
(https://www.vulcandrifterriders.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.staticflickr.com%2F2780%2F13105815103_3aeccdf5a7.jpg&hash=ccc73dc531eac8125f6cb670097adae19de351ce)
Large version below
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2780/13105815103_fced3ddeea_h.jpg (http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2780/13105815103_fced3ddeea_h.jpg)
I apologize for my newbieness ;)
I don't know what that is. I don't have one like it on my '01...connecting the B+ terminal and seeing what works is a good idea. Somebody might have wired the light bar to work off this terminal, but that's not a good idea...The light bar should go off with the ignition, just like everything else.
If the lightbar is on a relay, like it should be...the contacts of the relay could be on the ignition and this could be the + side of the power to the lightbar.
Hook it up without it and see what don't work.
You don't need it to start your bike, if you take the side cover off you should be able to trace the wire to see where it goes...for awkward places you can use one of those small angled round mirrors on a stick that dentists use..
here's a tip for you as you are new..before you do any work on your bike take plenty of clear photo's of the area you are working on and label them so that when you come to put it all back together you won't have to worry about where that screw or wire or hose goes..
John.
Lol, you know, I meticulously take pictures of almost everything I do in unknown territory: soldering computer components, replacing screws/cables in other electronics, labeling screws when disassembling complicated furniture. I also have pictures of all the fluids I replaced in the bike and the old battery just in case....I just don't have a picture of it assembled because before the winter, when I took the cables off they 'stayed together', but now after sanding off some rust I sort of moved them a bit....and boom! My problem...
First thing tomorrow morning I'll try the unhook-the-cable-start-her-up suggestion, and then do the trace-the-cable plan.
Do you by any change have a power plug (like to charge your phone, run a GPS etc.)??? That could be your B+ for that.
Problem solved: lightbar.
I should have solved this earlier but this solution/answer didn't dawn on me until after I came home and started hitting up the forum.
Thanks guys for all your input and help!
Glad you got er figured out. :)