No electrical unless running

[ansimation]

I just got my son's 426 put back together and went to fire it up and turned the key to on, no neutral light, made sure it was plugged in, start button (that i just fixed, new solenoid, new starter) doesnt do anything, no headlights or anything either. So I begin to think the battery may dead and Ii plug in the charger but it's reading at around 16 which is a decent charge so then I grab a screwdriver and jump the solenoid and bam, it fires up. The headlights come on and the neutral light works but as it idles it flickers and when you hit the gas, it dims tthe lights.

Any thougths on what the issue might be?

[DragonGunner]

Could be simply your battery terminals need cleaned. Could be bad connection to the selinoid as well....check fuses...

[fearlessfred]

dragons probably right,its popped the fuse because of a bad connection ,Im thinking batt to frame ground connection

[OZ-T]

The whole wiring harness in the early model EX is a joke. There is only one fuse and it's on the left side down in the middle near the airbox. Best to remove the seat and rear fenders to find it quickly. If your battery is old, might take it down to any local parts store and have it tested, they usually do them for free.

[big_poppa49]

I had a weird problem just like this and it magically started working today. About a month ago I left my quad outside for like 2 nights (it rained) and when I went to crank it up, it did start fine but soon after I noticed my lights got dim when I get on the gas and my brights would not come on at all. I turned it off to find out that the fuse was blown. I replaced the fuse and it turned back on, but after about 5 seconds the fuse would blow again. Would not even have to start it just turn the switch on the the fuse would blow. So then I figured it was a short somewhere so with my busy life I have not touched it til today. Went out and put a new fuse in and now everything seems to be working fine. I rode about 30 min cutting it off and back on and fuse is not blowed yet.

In conclusion only thing I can think of is maybe some moisture got inside the solenoid or something and since its been sitting for a month it dried out. A friend also told me his 02' EX did the same thing. Except he took his solenoid off to let it dry. Not saying this is your problem, but if you leave it outside where moisture can get to it it might