I just put on some 16" ape hangers on my '93 FXRP and soldered in 15" wire extensions. Headlight, tail light, turn signals and gauges all work fine. But my start button and kill swith don't. I havn't tested the wires with a voltometer yet. When I soldered the wires I did one wrong which was tripping a breaker. I fixed that problem but it didn't fix the most important buttons on the bike. Another problem is for the left side controls (high/low beam, turn signal, siren) the blue wire is getting warm. Not hot but warm. Any ideas what could cause these problems?

Also on a side note in addition to the apes I put on Screamin Eagle heads. Before I go dyno it what kind of gains could I be looking at with my A/N big sucker and thunderheader exhaust?

 

I would go back through and double check all wiring for continuity from the switch to the connector first. Possible bad connection or cut/knick in wire insulation causing a short.

 

If you are still using the stock hand controls the most likely cause is a pinched wire when you re-installed them. Easy to do the first time you play with the hand controls. Take it apart and see if it works unbolted from the bars.

 

agree on possibility of pinched wire, it is the gray wire.

 

Yup, wiring them wrong or badly. A pinched wire is possible, but since you've already found one miswire, it's a good bet there is one or two more.

You now need to make *sure* the color code of the wire going into your extension, is the color on the other end. If that means pulling it apart, then that's what you need to do. You do not want electrical issues haunting you....

Did you also pull the pins out of the connectors?

 

Check the routing of the wire positive to positve, red to red etc...
Check your splice points. They could be making contact with the handle bar from the inside. A foreign contact will cause a heating of the wires.

 

The splicing looks pretty professional. Soldered and shrink wrapped, so I think grounding is out of the question. I have triple checked the wiring because I keep thinking that's the problem but I can't find anything wrong. Also I spliced in wires of the same color. I did however nick the red and and a white wire but I electrical taped them. Is it a possibility that I separated the wire from the switch?

 

Also, I tried manually engaging the solenoid. Nada.

 

You need to open up the switch covers to check to see if wires separated from the switch or if they are possibly pinched. If everything is ok check each wire with a continuity tester from the switch to the connector.

 

Thanks for all the input everyone I'll do some fiddling around tomorrow and give ya'll an update. I'll have some badazz pics when all this is done.