My battery is always running and shoots a lot of sparks at me. HELP!

[EvanChainsaw]

So, I'm kind of a motorcycle amateur, a GS noob, and when it comes to electrical, I'm a fish out of water.With that being said, I bought a new-to-me 1980 GS450. It was all great until I put on a battery and it shot made sparking, heating up enough to actually cut a line through the terminal and on top of that, all the electrical turned on without the ignition turned on. I bought a new starter relay, I read that might help, maybe just a short somewhere. It didn't help at all. Everything seems snug and and in order, can anyone point me in the right direction? Maybe there is a short somewhere else.

Thanks so much!

[850GT_Rider]

Check, double check, then triple check - sounds like you hooked the battery up backwards! The big wire that goes to the ground should go to the (-) negative terminal of the battery. The big wire that connects to the starter relay goes to the (+) positive terminal.