Stopped after a longish ride and cut the bike off. Went to start it again, and it did, but no dash lights, radio or gauges. I had something like this happen before and it turns out the post had corroded/melted on the old breaker.
This breaker looks normal but i am wondering if it is starting to fail, it has down this a few times when I hit the break, it would break and reset. This is the only weak point in the circuit.
I am a ways from home and replaced the 20a circuit with a 30a circuit breaker. What's the verdict on doing that? Is there anything else I should check?

 

Check the condition of the ground between all the electricals in the fairing and the rest of the bike.

Oversizing a breaker is generally a bad idea.

 

In general it's a bad idea but if it's all you can get and will get you home then I say go for it.

I'd put a 20A breaker back in it at the first opportunity though.

 

A friend had a 25A inline fuse in his saddle bag I wired in. Some piece of mind it will crap out before my wiring burns, will get a 20 when I'm back in town. But do these breakers go bad periodically? I think mine is a year old

 

I know this doesn't help but I live on the philosophy that anything man made can fail at any time. Even right out of the box.


Although Chineses parts seem to fail at a much greater rate IMO.

 

Well I wired in my fuseable link and rode home about 50 miles. I am running a 30a breaker with a 25a fuse as a fail safe. I tried overloading the circuit by using all the accessories I can, fog lights, both turn signals/hazards, horn, brake, all at once and it didn't blow.
I did notice that my volt gauge was reading higher than normal (nothing alarming) from 12.9 to around 13.3v. The indicator was less erratic when I turned on my turn signals as well. Is this because of the higher amps that are flowing. Nothing burned up so far.....

 

When your bike is running you should see you about 14.4 volts on it
sounds like your voltage is running a little low

 

Circuit breakers can get hot, then open.
After cooling, they can be OK.

I knew of that problem and when I lost all electrical on my Sportster, I trailered it home. Same thing with other models.

Worked fine the next morning.

(It was working but started to miss bad after a ride and getting gas. I pulled over and turned off the bike. Then turned on the bike and nothing! Not even a horn.)

Only think in the circuit that would kill everything was the circuit breaker or the battery.

Replaced the circuit breaker ($6.00 from Harley) and its been years now without a problem.
CB was a cheaper fix than a battery.

I'd never replace a proper fuse amperage with a larger fuse.
Good chance of burning out parts and wires.
Find your problem first!

 

there are more circuit breakers than just the main on your bike. there are breakers for lights, ignition and a couple more circuits. those are 15 amp. on a bike that old i would replace all of them.

 

Where would those other beakers be?