Topic: 77 550 ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS - NEED HELP!

[sniper1]

So I'm out riding this morning, 74 degree day, sunny, perfect. Rode for about an hour, i'm about a mile from home and all of a sudden the bike dies. No electronics at all, no lights, no horn, no nothing. Any thoughts on where to start? It does have a new battery. Bike has 11,000 miles on it. Just the other day, I put some bar end mirrors on it and had to move the throttle assembly up a bit on the clubmans.

Anyone with thoughts or ideas, or anyone with some electronic skills in the Virginia Beach area who wants some free beer who would be willing to offer assistance is welcome.

[bollingball]

Check your main fuse is it blown holder clean and tight?

[skamagedon]

died like turning off a switch, or wound down died? fuse or RR?

[TwoTired]

Another owner who forgot to clean the fuse clip contact area?

Or, maybe the key switch came unplugged from the stress of moving wires during the bar change.

[sniper1]

Ok, thanks for all the advice. I pulled the fuses, which I initially thought looked good and low and behold, the main fuse was blown. I ran and got another 15A, stuck it in and just did a 10 minute ride with no issues.

I think I'm back in business for now.

Thanks again all!

[TwoTired]

Clean the fuse clips or have plenty of "spare" fuse for the next time.

[sniper1]

THanks Twotired. They were pretty clean already, but did a little touchup while I was there.

[TwoTired]

OK.  Not to press the matter too hard.  But, I've noticed that the oxidation on them can be transparent, fooling the eye.  Even clear oxidation is resistive, creates heat, blah blah...

If you haven't found a reason for the fuse to blow, and the fuse "blew" under the end cap where you couldn't see it, it wasn't from an actual over current, it was from fuse clip heating.  If not corrected, it will just do it again.

FWIW

Cheers,

[sniper1]

Twotired,
An interesting thing I noticed on the blown fuse was that there was a small in the "cap" of the fuse. Does that mean anything to you? Is that normal in a blown fuse? I never saw that before.

[TwoTired]

Twotired,
An interesting thing I noticed on the blown fuse was that there was a small in the "cap" of the fuse. Does that mean anything to you? Is that normal in a blown fuse? I never saw that before.

I think you left out an important word in your query, but...

The fuse element always blows near the center if caused bay a true over current.  If it goes near the end cap, then external heating has helped melt the fuse element, and this usually means resistance in the fuse clip to fuse connection heating, though it can also come from a faulty solder connection at the wire to fuse terminal join.

Cheers,

[bollingball]

Sniper There was a small (what ) in the end cap I don't understand what you ment to say ??

[sniper1]

There was a small hole, about this size of a pin hole in the center of the top portion of the metalic cap of the fuse assembly. The element did blow in the center as well, but that small pin hole in the cap struck me as odd.