Topic: Extremely effective and cheap fuse holder replacement.

[liaudio]

We all know how notoriously lousy the stock Fuse holder / fuse box is.  If they are old, the connections get really corroded, can melt the plastic, and even have a possiblitiy of an electrical fire.

In my experience, I have ditched the stock fuse holders all together.  I never liked those cylindrical fuses either.

What works amazingly well is to just cut the wires and crimp on female spade connectors to the feed and draw side.  Then take an appropriate 12v blade type automotive fuse and put that in-line.  Viola!  Cost? About $2!

It not only eliminates the fuse-box, but you can eliminate the connector clip that connects the fuse box to the main wire harness as well. My theory is: eliminating electrical connectors = less resistance = higher voltage. 

I relocated all my eletronics under the seat, so these pictures will look a little different than stock configured bikes.

[bill440cars]

       Now, that looks like a cool idea!   You could have a main one on the battery lead, one for the headlight, one for tail light and horn and one for turn signals, I guess. That way, you could have a problem with some of the lights and maybe not blow the main fuse so you might still make it home. Just a thought.

                                                            Later on, Bill

[oldfordguy]

This is a great way to go, I've done something similar in the past, but I used these cheap insulated fuse holders from the auto parts store.
http://www.partsamerica.com/productdetail.aspx?MfrCode=BUS&MfrPartNumber=HHD&CategoryCode=4017D
Shouldn't have to worry as much about vibration working the connections loose this way.
Matt

[francisew]

Those Bussmann fuse holders look pretty good. I'd like to get some of those, but mount them into something a little more solid, and a little more waterproof. I might make a circuit board to connect things to... Perhaps I'll do the electrical system upgrade at the same time...

Were your fuses originally located behind the horns, under the headlamp?

I'd prefer to keep things in pretty much the original locations, even though I'm all for upgrading the parts themselves (that way it won't take a divining rod to find trouble when comparing against the stock bike schematics/repair manual).

Francis

[chrisf]

I like this one better. And the price is right too...

http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servlet/catalog?parentid=10899&page=1

--Chris

[francisew]

Today I went shopping and looked at fuse holders at Canadian Tire and NAPA. Canadian Tire had some of the single fuse holders, including nice sealed ones. They're about 4$ each. Napa had a similar selection, but also a fuse panel that would hold 6 fuses for 20$. Unfortunately it was really big, and not sealed.

I like the ones Chris posted. If I had run across that, I'd have picked it up.

I picked up an extra socket for adding a second Stop/Tail light LED. It's the correct socket for the original bulbs, and is NAPA/Belden P/N 784864.

[liaudio]

hey! those fuse holders are just WAY too nice!  What part of "cheap" didn't you guys understand?   

The Super-Sports have the fuse box under the horn, behind the headlight BTW. 

I'll post pictures of the relocated electronics to under the seat soon. 

[pyro139]

thank thank you, i have a cb650c 1981 and fuse box is in my bar clamp and want change clamp and couldnt figur what do with bloody fuse box.

[wren]

Don't have pics of this but thought I'd pass on my version.

Bought me 3 of the in-line fuse holders (glass tube type). Took the old connections outa the fuse box and then ran the wires to the new holders thru the slots fer the old connections. Used Shoe goo to secure the wires in place in the box and, leaving enough wire to be usable, lay the new holders across where the old fusses set. Then I took the old fuse box cover, cut the sides open so that the excess stuck out the sides and then just snapped the cover in place. The fuses now sit in the original locations and the cover, besides covering, shows what each fuse does. Made a nice clean application.

[IndianRider]

We all know how notoriously lousy the stock Fuse holder / fuse box is.  If they are old, the connections get really corroded, can melt the plastic, and even have a possiblitiy of an electrical fire.

In my experience, I have ditched the stock fuse holders all together.  I never liked those cylindrical fuses either.

What works amazingly well is to just cut the wires and crimp on female spade connectors to the feed and draw side.  Then take an appropriate 12v blade type automotive fuse and put that in-line.  Viola!  Cost? About $2!

It not only eliminates the fuse-box, but you can eliminate the connector clip that connects the fuse box to the main wire harness as well. My theory is: eliminating electrical connectors = less resistance = higher voltage. 

I relocated all my eletronics under the seat, so these pictures will look a little different than stock configured bikes.

i just did this simple mod last week and it was the best bang for the buck mod ever .. i got rid of the plastic connector as well and as soon as i installed everything and turned the ignition key on, i noticed my neutral and oil lights were BRIGHTER than ever before .. So the old fuse box with its corroded connections was robbing some serious voltage .. thanks for the tip ..excellent mod  .. cheers .. 

[ic455]

Here's what an Advance Auto Parts fuse holder looks like installed (cost was about 4 bucks)

[IndianRider]

looks nice ..

is that a 7.5 amp fuse for the headlight ? i couldnt find a 7 amp fuse too so i put in a 7.5 amp in there ..

[ic455]

Thanks!  Yep, it's a 7.5, the wiring diagram I have showed that it was supposed to be 7.5...I had a 10 in it until I stumbled upon a set of "Motorcycle" fuses at WalMart   Odd thing is, even if I pull the fuse out, my headlight works   I was sick of messing with the wiring so I left it alone.

[ChefJoe]

WOW!!!!!!! That really answered some of my questions regarding moving the wiring under the seat!
I lost my left side cover in a small spill and instead of spending the $149 for a new one, I'm gonna get rid of the big battery, move all that crap and have the middle of the bike nekkid!

Thanks alot for the pics!

[ChefJoe]

Do you need the solinoid if you get rid of the starter motor?

[oldfordguy]

Chef:

No, you don't need the solenoid if you have deleted the electric starter.  All it is is a switch that "turns on" juice to the electric starter.

Matt 

[ChefJoe]

Thanks! What about the rectifier? WHere can that go?

[cben750f0]

here is the set up for my fuse holder .... mine was melted to the s#$t house, so cut it off the backing and attatched the new one on top, so it all fits in the same place.....

http://www.sohc4.us/forums/index.php?topic=313.0

peace

[ChippK8]

I went ahead and did this to my bike.  Easy and cost effective.  I also put shrink tubing around the connectors to eliminate the chance of two fuses touching each other. 

Now just waiting for the new O rings for my carbs to arrive and I should have my bike back on the road.