So last week I bought a new set of bars for my 2012 Street Bob and decided to install myself. During the install, one of the wiring harnesses got damaged while trying to remove the pins. No big deal, I thought, I would just cut the wires and solder them.

So I finished running the internal wiring, labeled which wires connected to which. I then disconnected the battery and connected all of the wires with screw-on wire connectors for testing (before soldering). I hooked the battery back up, turned the key to ignition, and tried to turn it on. Nothing.

I double checked the connection on the wires twice (they were fine) and tried again, still nothing.

The problem is clearly something with the bar wiring, because the rear lights come on when I turn the key, and if I press the rear brake the brake lights come on. I'm just seeing no lights on the dash and hearing nothing when I attempt to turn the bike on. Wires seem to be connected just fine.

Any thoughts?

 

The first thing I would check is the fuse, go from there.

 

Make sure you're getting a ground connection up there too. If nothing on the bars is working, that could be your problem.

 

Make sure you didn't pinch any of the wires when you installed the controls housings, I did this on my old sporty, everything worked when the controls were loosened but not when they were tighten, I was pinching a wire between the control housing and the hole the wires went into on the bar.

 

I thought I had a problem after I got everything wired up .. then I noticed one of the connections in the neck that I didn't plug back in. Look for the obvious things first.

 

You may have damaged a pin holder when you removed the pins from the connector. This would allow the pin to push out instead of make a connection when mateing the connectors.

 

Check you dash connections for the dash issue. make sure that if you took apart the connectors, that you pushed the wires in until they click.
As 128auto said, check the fuses first.

 

Check All of the above.

I had same symptoms some time back after frigging around with my electrics, turned out to be the instrument fuse blown. Results in a dead dash and no electrical jibbers when you hit the start button.