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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Electrical issues
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Message started by GatorSavage on 07/14/20 at 15:02:57

Title: Electrical issues
Post by GatorSavage on 07/14/20 at 15:02:57

I recently installed some 10W LED driving lights on my 2007 to improve nighttime visibility, as well as how visible I am during the day. I wired them directly into the headlight low beam wires. They turned on and off with the bike, and everything was working well. After maybe 15-20 min of them being turned on with my trying to angle them and mount them into the correct orientation the bike suddenly turned off. It was completely dead, not a single light worked at all and it wouldn’t start. I traced the problem and one of the 2 main 20A side fuses were blown on the right side of the bike just under the seat. That is weird I thought, why would it happen after 20 min?

I replaced the fuse, checked to make sure there were no exposed wires/shorts and everything seemed good. The bike started right up and I was about 2 miles and 5 min into a ride and the bike died again. Uh-Oh. I checked the fuse and sure enough it was blown. I walked home and came back with some more fuses. I turned the headlight to the high beam (so my new additional lights wouldn’t be powered if that’s what was causing the issue), and this time the fuse popped in 2 seconds. I then disconnected the entire headlight assembly (so my wiring was not even connected to the bike at all). I tried with a new fuse and it popped in 1 second. I ended up walking the bike 2 miles all the way home :( thankfully the route home didn’t have any hills and the bike aint too heavy to push.

After looking online it seems I have a short somewhere on the bike. Now I just have to figure out where. Any advice or things I could check to help me solve the problem?

10W of extra lights isnt too much for the power system is it? I also have an LED headlight and taillight, this should reduce the normal load on the system by a couple watts compared to an incandescent bulb. So overall I should be pulling about the same about of power compared to a stock bike.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Title: Re: Electrical issues
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/14/20 at 15:07:59

You ran it for 15 minutes, on the sidestand?

Disconnect the ignition, hook up a charger,,

Title: Re: Electrical issues
Post by SpamyToo on 07/14/20 at 18:32:01

I would first check your newly added wiring. It may be shorting out on a
metal edge or some break in the wire cladding.

Does switching to high beams remove power to the low beams on this bike? Not all do, some some just add the additional power to high beams and leave the low beams powered.

Title: Re: Electrical issues
Post by GatorSavage on 07/17/20 at 17:42:52

I fixed it!

While doing a very detailed inspection of all the wires near the headlight I noticed I could see a tiny bit bare wire leading to one of the turn signals. I opened it up and sure enough the wires going to the turn signals were causing the short. I think what happened was when I was adding all the new wiring I pulled everything out of the headlight housing to give myself more space. When putting everything back the wire going to the turn signal had extra slack instead of being decently tight. It looks like this got pinched right where the fork-stopper is, thus cutting through the plastic wire protection. Just wanted to give everyone the happy update!

Title: Re: Electrical issues
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 07/17/20 at 18:00:15

Good, another happy ending..

Title: Re: Electrical issues
Post by Ruttly on 07/17/20 at 20:13:00

Ya gotta love it when newbies find and fix their own problem(s)
Very cool good job !