tail light shorted and now bike won't start

[kawacanuck]

Hi there, I'm a newbie to the forum, so I'd like to say hi! I just picked up a '85 454 ltd bobber this summer and I'm having an electrical issue with it. The tail light recently fell off on a long ride (custom fender by previous owners weren't professionally done) and it cut the two wires. The two cut wires to the rear tail light touched the fender and I assume there was a short. Now the bike won't start/ ignition key turned no lights. So I started looking for a fuse box, didn't find one. Researched that the thing by my horn is a fuse box but the three fuses in there look fine. I need help with this I think. I pulled the seat off and the electricals looks really rewired (again maybe it was a amateur wire tuck). I looked at every item the wires lead to, there seems to be a:

turn signal operating unit
reserve lighting device
some sort of cylindrical relay
an igniter box
and some dead ends...

Nothing seems to be a fuse as I know it. I will update as soon as I get a voltmeter to try and discern more. Right now it's stranded at my friends so all I could do was snap these pictures




I have tried jump starting the bike - nothing happened, no power to ignition even

I read there is a main fuse that people recommend replacing, under the seat, but after removing the seat I can't seem to find anything! Does any of this make sense to those with some wiring experience? Thanks for your time if you read through all that!

[Blaine]

There is a main fuse on the + wire from the battery....Unless someone removed it at some point.....It's close to the battery.....If someone did remove it than I would be looking for a burnt wire between battery & selionid.

[eaglerider]

In the pic you posted, you point to that fuse (it is the one in a plastic tube thing) with a question mark. Also, those glass fuses can fool a person....they may look good, but not be good. The main fuse is there sorta on top of the battery, is a 30 amp fuse.

[kawacanuck]

Jun 1, 2017 19:25:59 GMT -6 eaglerider said:

In the pic you posted, you point to that fuse (it is the one in a plastic tube thing) with a question mark. Also, those glass fuses can fool a person....they may look good, but not be good. The main fuse is there sorta on top of the battery, is a 30 amp fuse.

Just wanted to post a resolution, thanks eaglerider, you were right, that fuse was in that plastic thing. I just didn't even clue in that it opens up (where I show "fuse?", to the left). Replaced it and bike was up and running! Thanks guys