Long Tall Posted July 28, 2011 Share #1 Posted July 28, 2011 So me and the misses are coming home at dusk and I notice my running lights are not on....Headlight, Tail and Running lights...Brake and Turn are OK... A couple of week ago I wired for a trailer behind the tail light....SOOOOOOOO] Pulled into driveway....Checked the 15amp fuse and it was gone....replaced and all is well...Running lights work again....Got on the beast to move it into the garage and I have to run up on a slightly elevated concrete edge....When I bounced over it..OUT GOES THE RUNNING lights again...by this time its. dark... My though is that my connection in the taillight must have worked loose and it is shorting our....I'll check tomorrow PM after I get home from work. Question..Does this make "electrical guru" sense? Note: Leaving on first long distance trip the first of Sept and HOPE this is all it is.... Long Tall Lynchburg, VA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted July 28, 2011 Share #2 Posted July 28, 2011 Circuit was originally designed at a 15 amp rating. Is it possible that you have overloaded the circuit with the additional lights. If it looks like a Christmas tree from behind and they aren't LED's the answer may be yes. If you have a meter with an amp range of 20 amps or so, it would be prudent to check this first. When checking amps, the meter leads can be placed where the fuse would go. Positive side towards battery, negative side towards load. Fuses don't fail immediately as soon as you pass current rating. There is a time interval at a given over-amperage for them to blow. A 15 amp fuse being loaded at say 17 amps may take a couple of minutes to open, but same fuse at 30 amps will open in a much shorter period of time. Depends on heat build up in fuse element and the time it takes to get hot enough to melt. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcarl Posted July 28, 2011 Share #3 Posted July 28, 2011 So me and the misses are coming home at dusk and I notice my running lights are not on....Headlight, Tail and Running lights...Brake and Turn are OK... A couple of week ago I wired for a trailer behind the tail light....SOOOOOOOO] Pulled into driveway....Checked the 15amp fuse and it was gone....replaced and all is well...Running lights work again....Got on the beast to move it into the garage and I have to run up on a slightly elevated concrete edge....When I bounced over it..OUT GOES THE RUNNING lights again...by this time its. dark... My though is that my connection in the taillight must have worked loose and it is shorting our....I'll check tomorrow PM after I get home from work. Question..Does this make "electrical guru" sense? Note: Leaving on first long distance trip the first of Sept and HOPE this is all it is.... Long Tall Lynchburg, VA I'm not a real real electrical guru, but have run into the same issues and had to solve them on my own,,, yes it makes real sense, somewhere you have rubbed through the insulating jacket of the wire, or somewhere something is grounding out,,, most likely somewhere in the area where you were working on it. Maybe a cover is pinching a wire, or maybe a connection isn't covered well enough. A bump will then jiggle the wire where it then touches a metal part and so grounds out and blows the fuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcarl Posted July 28, 2011 Share #4 Posted July 28, 2011 Also, was the trailer attached when all went dark??? then your problem might be in the trailer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Tall Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share #5 Posted July 28, 2011 (edited) Circuit was originally designed at a 15 amp rating. Is it possible that you have overloaded the circuit with the additional lights. If it looks like a Christmas tree from behind and they aren't LED's the answer may be yes. If you have a meter with an amp range of 20 amps or so, it would be prudent to check this first. When checking amps, the meter leads can be placed where the fuse would go. Positive side towards battery, negative side towards load. Fuses don't fail immediately as soon as you pass current rating. There is a time interval at a given over-amperage for them to blow. A 15 amp fuse being loaded at say 17 amps may take a couple of minutes to open, but same fuse at 30 amps will open in a much shorter period of time. Depends on heat build up in fuse element and the time it takes to get hot enough to melt. Gary Gary: When I first wired for the trailer (LED Lights) i put the 5 wire for the trailer on the bike and vice versa for the trailer... the 4 exposed connections that were "then" on the bike would touch the hitch and blow the fuse...no lights at all.....I changed the trailer/bike ends for the bike/trailer flat five wire...and now "WITHOUT" the trailer being hooked up....Bike by itself....ONLY the running lights go...This is what makes me think it is the running light connection at the rear of the bike behind the taillight where I make my connections....All other lights work.... Long Tall Edited July 28, 2011 by Long Tall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Tall Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share #6 Posted July 28, 2011 Also, was the trailer attached when all went dark??? then your problem might be in the trailer. no trail hooked up at all....jut the bike by itself.... TKS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingy Posted July 28, 2011 Share #7 Posted July 28, 2011 Gary: When I first wired for the trailer (LED Lights) i put the 5 wire for the trailer on the bike and vice versa for the trail the 4 exposed connections for the would touch the hitch and blow the fuse...no lights at all.....I changed the trailer/bike ends and now "WITHOUT" the trailer being hooked up....Bike by itself....ONLY the running light go...This is what makes me think it is the running light connection at the rear of the bike behind the taillight where I make my connections....All other lights work.... Long Tall If it is bike only doing this, then I suggest you inspect every inch of the added wiring. Did you solder or scotch lock (crimp style connectors or similar) ? Reason I ask is if you soldered them, I have seen a failure where the individually taped connections were then taped together in a bundle. Due to the soldering, sometimes a stray wire may poke through the tape and contact another wire taped right up against it. Point is, don't assume because the joint is taped, it can't be failure point. I am not a fan of crimp style connectors, but this isn't an issue with those style connectors. Also, it is the bike side plug covered when not hooked to trailer. The contact pins could possibly touch a ground point even though they appear to be inside the rubber plug housing If it is bouncing around, anything is possible. You need to look at everything like this to eliminate it as a possible failure point. Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkuhr Posted July 28, 2011 Share #8 Posted July 28, 2011 Gary: When I first wired for the trailer (LED Lights) i put the 5 wire for the trailer on the bike and vice versa for the trailer... the 4 exposed connections that were "then" on the bike would touch the hitch and blow the fuse...no lights at all.....I changed the trailer/bike ends for the bike/trailer flat five wire...and now "WITHOUT" the trailer being hooked up....Bike by itself....ONLY the running lights go...This is what makes me think it is the running light connection at the rear of the bike behind the taillight where I make my connections....All other lights work.... Long Tall Is the 1 exposed pin on the bike side trailer connector a ground as it should be, or is it possibly the running light circuit, bumping the hitch and blowing the fuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dano Posted July 28, 2011 Share #9 Posted July 28, 2011 If you made the connections behind the license plate, take the plate off and duplicate the bouncing around, etc. that makes the circuit blow. I chose to make the hook-up under the drivers seat as there was not very much room in that housing behind the plate plus the ability of water, etc. to get in there very easily. Like posted before, go over every inch of the new and the original wiring anywhere it can touch metal. BTW, the exposed pin on the connector should be a ground connection so that it will not short out if it touches anything. Dano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Tall Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share #10 Posted July 30, 2011 Found It....One of my connections behind the plate was loose and had worked itself loose.....Pulled on everything behind the plate to make the fuse go again and NO CAN DO....I did the connection here because of connections I have under the seat already....not much room left there...Had some input from some forum members that used "behind the plate" and have not had any problems....Put on a new wiring connection and made sure it was crimped tight.....Pulled, poked, and not more fuse blowing.... Ready for our first "LONG DISTANCE" (Virginia to South Dakota) trip the first of September... Thanks all for your input... Long Tall Lynchburg, VA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Tall Posted July 30, 2011 Author Share #11 Posted July 30, 2011 Found It....One of my connections behind the plate was loose and had worked itself loose.....Pulled on everything behind the plate to make the fuse go again and NO CAN DO....I did the connection here because of connections I have under the seat already....not much room left there...Had some input from some forum members that used "behind the plate" and have not had any problems....Put on a new wiring connection and made sure it was crimped tight.....Pulled, poked, and not more fuse blowing.... Ready for our first "LONG DISTANCE" (Virginia to South Dakota) trip the first of September... Thanks all for your input... Long Tall Lynchburg, VA Follow-up to my own reply....Got on the bike this AM for an all day ride..Went to the meeting place and guess what...No running lights and fuse is blown....Just so happens my Bud with A RSTD is there and he says his Bud with a Venture had a problem like this and found the problem in the running light switch inside the cowling....I Put in a new fuse....TURNED my running lights on and left them on ALL DAY....Still no blown fuse...MUST BE in the switch when it is OFF?.......ANYWAY...going to got a few days riding with them ON all the time and see what goes....I will be exchanging the Headlight bulb with a SilverStar before my trip the first of Sept....Will probably check it when I have the front cover off... Later... Long Tall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted July 30, 2011 Share #12 Posted July 30, 2011 It may just be a coincidence that they haven't blown again with the lights off. Did you check the wires from the passing lamps where they cross the upper triple tree of the forks? I've seen SEVERAL cases where the wires get pinched when they are too far to the side and get smashed when the forks are turned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Tall Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share #13 Posted July 31, 2011 It may just be a coincidence that they haven't blown again with the lights off. Did you check the wires from the passing lamps where they cross the upper triple tree of the forks? I've seen SEVERAL cases where the wires get pinched when they are too far to the side and get smashed when the forks are turned. No...Not yet, but very good point...Will look tomorrow...Little things like this is what makes the site a great source for trouble shooting....TKS... Long Tall Lynchburg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Long Tall Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share #14 Posted July 31, 2011 No...Not yet, but very good point...Will look tomorrow...Little things like this is what makes the site a great source for trouble shooting....TKS... Long Tall Lynchburg Couldn't wait until tomorrow.....went out to the bike...put the key and turned her on...NO RUNNING LIGHTS....NOTE: The LAST THING I do when putting her up from and ride is when I pull into the driveway, I have to make a couple of full left and full right front fork turns to get her turned around before backing her into the garage....More that likely those wires are getting pinched.... TKS... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freebird Posted July 31, 2011 Share #15 Posted July 31, 2011 There is a very good chance that is the problem. I know of several that this has happened to. There is a place, I think on the left side, that is almost like a pair of scissors. A small area that the wires can fall into and then get pinched or cut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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