Main Fuse Issue

[nickjtc]

This is verrrry interesssting (ad Arte Johnson used to say on Rowan and Martin's laugh-In) and I wonder if any of you chaps (and perhaps chapesses) have experienced it.

Went out for a nice (first ride of the season) ride the other night. Got home, parked the bike. Had some free time today so decided to go for a ride. Got togged up, checked the tyre pressures, wheeled the bike out of the garage, turned on the key..... nothing. At first I thought that maybe something had been left on.

The main (30amp) fuse had blown, probably when I turned the ignition on. (??) Just to be sure there was an issue I replaced the fuse and turned the ignition on and started the bike. It ran fine for a couple of minutes, then poof, the fuse blew again. Not having any more fuses, and realising that there is in fact probably something amiss I started poking around. No obvious shorting scenarios are presenting themselves.

So before I really start tearing in to the beast: has anyone had this happen before? Ideas?

Thank you.

[Mustang]

the key switch is a known problem for shorts .......they fall apart internally .............look there first .

second is a short in the wiring harness where it goes into the key switch

[RJS]

Hi Nick

Check the thread about Steamer 'Key barrel' - the actual switch is down below steering lock and can corrode from wet getting down barrel.

Is your key still operating smoothly or could your barrel be disintegrating (like mine did) & be shorting out the switch ? - see my modification !

My main fuse blew the other day because my modified 'screw driver' joggled out and shorted. Have now cased the shaft in shrink sleeving.

Hope you get sorted,

Rodger

[nickjtc]

Key switch. Hmmmmm, I would never have thought of that. No, the key slides in nicely and it turns quite smoothly, just as it should. However I will look into that as a possibility. I have some other ideas, too, and will report when I have had a chance to look into them.

Thanks for your help thus far.

[nickjtc]

The only change from when I turned the bike off last week and turned it on again on Sunday was that I had put my GPS in its holder on the bars and fished out the auxiliary power feed which was scrunched up in front of the battery box under the seat. I always bundle wires together with cable ties to keep things neat which means the '+' and '-' might be adjacent to each other, but this assumes that I have been careful enough to insulate them from each other. 

In my elecktrickery fudging I must have not done quite good enough a job in keeping '+' from '-' and my jiggling was the catalyst that led to the blowing of the fuse.

Note to self: keep '+' away from '-' or make sure they are well insulated! 

[RJS]

Glad u sorted it - useful reminder to us all when we start spaghetti wiring !!!

Stay between the hedges !

Rodger

[Bixxer Bob]

It's also an abject lesson in getting together the full story before asking the question.  If you hadn't thought about the GPS, you'd have had folks advising all sorts of surgery to find the fault, when there wasn't really one at all on the bike.

Not trying to give you a hard time, just a lesson for the rest of us 

[nickjtc]

Yes, indeed. Sometimes it just takes a little rational thinking and a couple of quiet beverages to sort things out. As Occams Razor suggests "the simplest solution with the introduction of the fewest variables is usually the correct one."

[Mustang]

Yes, indeed. Sometimes it just takes a little rational thinking and a couple of quiet beverages to sort things out. As Occams Razor suggests "the simplest solution with the introduction of the fewest variables is usually the correct one."

my theory is "what was the last thing I did to bike ?"
thats usually where the fault is .............................