07 Apex RTX electrical fire smell

[tmamayek]

Guys, I'm hoping someone can help me out. I have a 2007 Apex RTX. I plugged a phone charger in my DC port and I started to smell what you'd call an electrical fire. When I unplugged the car charger, the really bad smell stopped. However, I do have a RCA cable for my helmet also plugged in. It's a 2 way splitter. Is this happening because I have 2 things plugged in? Wouldn't it blow the fuse if it was too much power?

Any help is greatly appreciated as I really hope it's nothing major since I'm going to the UP next weekend and want to make sure I don't have any issues...

Also, I had a bad coolant hose on the very bottom and replaced it. I didn't notice, the first time i had my buddy replace it, the hose clamps he used were the $0.30 ones and snapped off. I didn't realize i was low on coolant until i stopped to make sure everything was ok, thank god I decided to double check it. But I'm wondering why my gauges never said low coolant like they used to... Is this tied to my electrical fire smell I'm getting?

 

[APEX 06]

I would look for a hot wire by the top of the motor and pull off the panle in front of the bars.

 

[tmamayek]

U checked the panel in front of the handlebars and most of the other wires. Should I go through with a meter and test the wires or what exactly? I'm not mechanical at all so the more descriptive the better.

 

[Grimm]

I'm not sure, but I don't think the gages show that you'd be low on coolant level, just temperature. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Tod]

I'm hopeing it was just your charger you pluged in to your sled....... does that charger still work in your car??? That smell may have just been a diode in that charger.

 

[tmamayek]

Unfortunately yes, the charger does still work when I plug it in my truck and there's no smell in the truck. When I had it plugged in, it aoppeared like my sled was smoking on the right side of the engine. As soon as I noticed that, I immediately stopped and pulled out the car charger. The smoking stopped, but i still get a hint of the smell whenever i plug in my helmet.

I forgot to mention something that may be extremely relevant that I just remembered. When I first used the sled this year, keep in mind I bought this used July 2009 with 890 miles on it, I plugged in this rechargeable DC flashlight in the DC port on the sled and it blew the fuse. So I did replace the fuse with a 4 volt instead of a 3 volt, I didn't know if this could be the culprit, but i didn't think it would make that much difference. Now that I'm thinking about it, it has had a very minor smell since that time. I just thought it was since it was still barely broken in at the time. I now have about 2,300 miles on it.

BTW, I bought that flashlight from shade tree, all 3 item's I bought from them have failed it appears now, as the splitter that I have i bought from them as well. It basically splits the DC into 1 DC and 1 RCA input.

I would like to try and fix this myself, but honestly, when it comes to electrical wiring and stuff, I am lost. I've built computers about 50 times, so i have some knowledge, just when it comes to this stuff with the smell, I'm lost.

So I'm thinking that maybe if i can eliminate or pinpoint the problem, the dealer will be able to get it completed quicker rather than later. So any help is appreciated.

 

[Grimm]

Have you followed the DC outlet wire to see if there were any melted spots? Maybe it's rubbing against the frame.