[2strokeskis4me]

hey guys. noticed my gauges werent working and realized i forgot to hookup the little black wire, which from what ive read is the gauge wire. hooked it to ground (negative cable on battery) but forgot to switch the ignition switch off first. heard a sound as soon as the wire was hooked up and i saw the trim gauge move so i got that far. went to start it and got a sound like a dead battery and saw some smoke but couldnt figure out where it came from. checked fuses which were good, tried again and it turned over. let it sit for a second and tried again and got the same sound with the smoke again.took the gauge wire off and tried again without it and did the same thing. did i hurt the electrical system but not killing it before hooking that wire up? all i disconnected was the black (negative) cable and attached the little wire to it. please help this is holding up my trip and driving me crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks Guys.

 

[2strokeskis4me]

i guess guys the quick question is could i hurt the ignition by hooking the gauge wire to the battery without turning the ignition switch off first? im talking about the orange on/off switch

 

[2strokeskis4me]

update!!!!!!!!!!!

swapped batteries from my other ski and everythings working again, well except the gauges.just have the battery terminals hooked up for now. does that little black wire go to to the positive side or the negative side?

 

[autoslot]

Black Wire

I just looked at my 1998 ZXi manual and it shows that wire going from the negative battery terminal to the Trim Control Unit.