What on earth is this?

[Vera]

When I changed out the battery (the PO let it die then sit for a year), I found this attached to the terminals, and nothing else. It looks like a relay but what could it possibly be for?
All of the electronics seem to work, and I can't find any modifications. I'm truly stumped.

[RedKat91]

It looks like a trickle charge connector... if you're referring to the part that has the small piece of black electrical tape over it.... (used for storing the bike over a period of time). It is a quick disconnect that hooks directly to the battery and allows the trickle charger to be plugged in quickly whenever needed without having to attach the clamps (another attachement) to the battery terminals. Most people will hook this up if they have a hard battery to get to, and run the quick connection end down the back of the undertail and have it poke out in a place that is not noticable, but easy to get to to plug the bike in for storage.

Which kinda makes it ironic that the original owner had this part but let the battery die and sit..... totally defeats the purpose... lol

[hinow41]

That right there my friend is one of the finest electrobobs Ive ever did see.

x2 on the charger.

[Vera]

It wasn't the trickle charger hook up, unless he had two. When I replaced the battery so we could do some troubleshooting, I didn't put the trickle charger hook ups back on. But the damn thing was connected to the battery, had the two leads covered in electrical tape, and long enough wires to connect to the headlights/instrument cluster.
So, yes, it's still ironic that he had the hook ups and it died anyway.

[steves]

crazy PO crud?

[Vera]

crazy PO crud?

Without a doubt. I tracked the wires a bit more and I found a split. So there are two ends to this thing. I'm thinking maybe turn signals? The turn signals worked (before I took the fairings off), and the original wiring to them looks fine. Is there any reason someone would run another set of wires (and perhaps the black mystery box is a relay?) for turn signals when the originals work?

[steves]

Perhaps the flasher unit for an alarm system of some sort?

[Wreckie29]

It looks like an aftermarket strobe flasher for some other lights maybe.

[il_ragazzo]

Hid or aux lights? black box could be a ballast. black box could be a receiver for a cell phone or blue tooth for an auto start or something... check to see if the box has an FCC marking on it that says the device complies with yada yada.

WHATS IN THE BOX!!??
WHATS IN THE BOX!??

[Vera]

The sticker has been ripped off/too faded to tell. I'm leaning towards the 'aftermarket flasher' theory, what with the two leads near the front of the bike. I'm thinking of actually ripping the box open to see if that would give us a clue. Anyone know a quick way to tell if it's aftermarket flashers?

[Wreckie29]

The sticker has been ripped off/too faded to tell. I'm leaning towards the 'aftermarket flasher' theory, what with the two leads near the front of the bike. I'm thinking of actually ripping the box open to see if that would give us a clue. Anyone know a quick way to tell if it's aftermarket flashers?

Take a pic of the internal circuits.

[squiggy]

It could be a transformer or voltage adapter of some sort. Going from 12V to ?V to power a cell phone or satellite radio or some kind of electronic gizmo.

The top of the three looks like a USB plug.

that's my guess.

[ZukiFred]

That is the power box for doing power wheelies, but seems to be missing the turbo boost switch..

[chrisx2]

Flux capacitor...be careful at 88 MPH!

[SFR1986]

that is a cheap flasher(by cheap i mean not a name brand flasher)...I used to sell emergency equipment for emergency vehicles(lights, sirens, and flashers for head and tail lights. the PO could have possibly had the turn signals set up to flash for some reason.