[bwssr]

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Was tooling down the interstate the other night and noticed that my radio was fading. I tried to tune it in and turn it up but no luck. Then my dash started to go out blinking on and off until it gave out entirely. I got over to the right side lane figuring that I was going to have to pull over and sure enough the engine died. So I coasted as far as I could and then stopped. Got off the bike and pulled it over as far as I could without getting into the ditch to far. Then I started checking the battery and connections. Nothing there. So then I started checking fuses. When I came to the main fuse on the EC harness it had shorted out on left blade and the fuse was still good. The battery was drained so I called the wife to come out with jumpers. While I was waiting I cut off the fuse holder and direct wired the 2 pieces together. Got the bike charged enough to start it and off I went. I put a new 30 amp fuse holder on it temporarily. It only has 12 gauge wire on it. Will look at radio shack for the 10 gauge version and put that on real soon. Something else to put on my weekly safety check.

 

[Ken Bergen]

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bwssr wrote:

I put a new 30 amp fuse holder on it temporarily. It only has 12 gauge wire on it. Will look at radio shack for the 10 gauge version and put that on real soon.

I could see a 10 gauge holder on if you were using a 50amp fuse but why for a 30amp?

BTW: What in blue blazes is an EC harness? :?

 

[bwssr]

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It said on the container that it was for a 30amp fuse and it was the only one they had. I just want to make sure the wiring was same gauge all the way thru. That's what the EC harness had on it. Do think I can get away with 12 gauge wire and a 40 amp fuse on it.

 

[wingsam41]

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I believe what you are thinking of is the ampacity of #12 wire as it relates to building wiring which is enclosed in conduit and thus has it's ampacity reduced due to lack of cooling. Chassis wiring ampacity from the AWG table shows an ampacity of 41 amps for #12 wire. It is important the note the following-exerpt taken right from the AWG chart notes...

...The Maximum Amps for Chassis Wiring is also a conservative rating, but is meant for wiring in air, and not in a bundle...

While the main fuse isn't in a bundle it's important to note the above as some bike wiring is and other applications may require larger wire.

Personally I don't think I would replace it right away if you have already performed the repair but having the larger wire certainly wouldn't hurt. Chancesthe #10 ga. onemay be beefier by design. There have been several members that have had their inline fuse holder burn up while the fuse doesnt blow. In this case the #10 fuse holder certainly would'nt hurt but if bike is up and running I'd leave that repairfor the Wisconsin winter months.

 

[bwssr]

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Thanks. I am going to keep a close eye on it. I took a 50 mile ride today and checked it. There were no problems and the wire did not heat up. It would not take me long to put in a fuse holder with #10 wire on it any way. So maybe this weekend I'll tackle it and just get er done.

 

[Ken Bergen]

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bwssr wrote:

Thanks. I am going to keep a close eye on it. I took a 50 mile ride today and checked it. There were no problems and the wire did not heat up. It would not take me long to put in a fuse holder with #10 wire on it any way. So maybe this weekend I'll tackle it and just get er done.

If you're not running aircraft landing lights and heated clothing then what you've done is fine.

Of course if you're running that heavy a load your charging system won't keep up with it anyway and you might want to look into an external alternator.

 

[bwssr]

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Not really running anything extra on it but a few lights and factory stereo. I want to in the near future put in led lights.

 

[Ken Bergen]

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bwssr wrote:

Not really running anything extra on it but a few lights and factory stereo. I want to in the near future put in led lights.

Be careful choosing your LED bulbs, our bulbs for the rear tail and turn lights don't point back but to the side and rely on the reflector to direct the light rearwards. An LED that only puts out in one direction will appear very dim from behind and the ones that putout in all directions may not fit in the housings.

 

[DaveO430]

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It didn't short out, that indicates the current took a "short" path to ground. What it did was burn up from a bad connection between the fuse and the terminal. Wouldn't have mattered if it were 12 or 4 ga. wire if the fuse connection was bad.

 

[wingsam41]

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DaveO430 wrote:

It didn't short out, that indicates the current took a "short" path to ground. What it did was burn up from a bad connection between the fuse and the terminal. Wouldn't have mattered if it were 12 or 4 ga. wire if the fuse connection was bad.

While I agree the wire wasnt the weak link in the system, I have noted some of the crimped ends and overall construction on some of the 10 G. holders seem a little beefier and better made though not all. It would probably benefit everyone to inspect their fuse holders a little more often-especially before and after long rides-just as many of us dowith our stator wiring.

I currently run heated grips and a heated vest on my SEI (although not during the summer-) and I am still using the dogbone fuse. Mind you I carry spare dogbones and keep a keen eye on the solenoid connector but so far so good. I dohowever, have straight soldered connections on my stator and regulator wires.

 

[DaveO430]

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Nothing wrong with the dogbone fuse except after 15 or 20 years they crumble. At least it has good connections. If I were going to use an inline fuse I would find a maxi fuse holder. A lot more contact area on the terminals.

 

[wingsam41]

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DaveO430 wrote:

Nothing wrong with the dogbone fuse except after 15 or 20 years they crumble. At least it has good connections. If I were going to use an inline fuse I would find a maxi fuse holder. A lot more contact area on the terminals.

Yes-I bought 3 new dogbones. Pre-emptively changed the one that was there after cleaning it's contact points, then carry the extra 2 just in case.

BTW-where's the GL1800 pics in your gallery Dave?

 

[roscoepc]

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Ken Bergen wrote:

BTW: What in blue blazes is an EC harness? :?

An aftermarket electrical harness that's supposed to correct certain "defects" in the GL1200 electrical system. Back in '06-'07 I researched both the EC harness and the Dave Campbell harness and decided that there wasn't enough "real world" benefit to install either one on my bike.....



Here's a link to the EC harness page. I won't post a link to Dave Campbells site due to the amount of pop-up's I got the last time I looked at his site!!:shock::shock::shock:



http://www.electricalconnection.com/wire-harnesses/hrns_gl1200_charge.htm

 

[Ken Bergen]

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roscoepc wrote:

Ken Bergen wrote:

BTW: What in blue blazes is an EC harness? :?

An aftermarket electrical harness that's supposed to correct certain "defects" in the GL1200 electrical system. Back in '06-'07 I researched both the EC harness and the Dave Campbell harness and decided that there wasn't enough "real world" benefit to install either one on my bike.....

Yes I looked it up and it was something I'd heard of before.
Alzheimer's maybe?

It all looks like smoke and mirrors to me.
You spend the money expecting great things and you see them even if they're not there.:shock:

 

[neoracer]

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have had two ato 30 fuses melt,traced the problem on one to too much current(excess of 24 amps continuous) and one to a loose fuseholder,one of which was my fault since it was an off shore replacement,not from an auto parts store,last one i installed has been doing fine,next time i have a problem i'll use a 30 amp maxi fuse holder which has 10ga leads
normally my sei runs 14 amps thru the fuse,but that with an all led lights system and an HID headlight,standard bulbs would probably increase this higher,and with brakelights on would probably be in the 20's range,considering i usually run driving lights the system normally runs about 21-22.5 amps thru the fuse,using a cig lighter adds another 8 amps to the system for about 20 secs
on my "poorboy'd" aspy the fugures are pretty much the same thru the 50 amp fuse to the alternator but the stock 30 amp fuse only runs 14.5 amps continuous
thank Arknapp for the explanation of why this happens,on a stator system power runs thru the dogbone regardless of whether the load is on the bike side or from the battery,on the aspy it runs thru the alternator/battery side of the bike and only power used by the main bike system goes thru the dogbone

 

[machinehead]

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Nice quick fix bwssr , feels good when a roadside fix actually gets you home and that cold one seems to taste especially good.

 

[GoWing]

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EC stand by their products, great customer service. Contact Lewis, let him know what happened and he might send you out a new harness.