New bars, now electrical issues
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 129
Likes: 1
From: Western WI
New bars, now electrical issues
Installed some WG bars with internal wiring on my bike last weekend and im starting to have an issue with my left blinker and im wondering if anyone could shed some light on this for me.
I clipped my wires when i did the internal wiring, did it all myself. soldered them and used heatshrink tubing on all of them, then wrapped them in electrical tape.
Now the issue I am having. yesterday when I was riding my left blinker started flashing and it wouldn't shut off. (spontaneously it came on) so i pulled in the clutch turned off the bike and started it back up and it was off for about 1/4 of a mile and then it came on again. wiggled my wires by where i soldered them and then the blinker didn't work at all. played with the wires some more and now it works. but twice since then i have had my blinker turn on and olny wiggling the wires will make it stop and then its fine. Why will it start blinking and not stop? is the connection on one of my wires bad? Thanks
I clipped my wires when i did the internal wiring, did it all myself. soldered them and used heatshrink tubing on all of them, then wrapped them in electrical tape.
Now the issue I am having. yesterday when I was riding my left blinker started flashing and it wouldn't shut off. (spontaneously it came on) so i pulled in the clutch turned off the bike and started it back up and it was off for about 1/4 of a mile and then it came on again. wiggled my wires by where i soldered them and then the blinker didn't work at all. played with the wires some more and now it works. but twice since then i have had my blinker turn on and olny wiggling the wires will make it stop and then its fine. Why will it start blinking and not stop? is the connection on one of my wires bad? Thanks
Cruiser
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 239
Likes: 1
From: Temecula CA
The fact that you wiggled the wires where you soldered them tells the story. You need to make sure your solder job is correct. A lot of people just gloop on solder but thats not going to last. Check on youtube for soldering if you aren't sure how good your solders are. The only other thing that comes to mind is a pinched wire.
What's weird is they came on instead of blowing a fuse. Makes me wonder if your running light wire is somehow touching the blinker wire.
The other thing to do is stagger the cuts so they aren't side by side.
Here's a video on soldering that explains it well (unless you are sure they are perfectly fine). I was doing it wrong for years and now my solders are so strong i can't pull them apart.
What's weird is they came on instead of blowing a fuse. Makes me wonder if your running light wire is somehow touching the blinker wire.
The other thing to do is stagger the cuts so they aren't side by side.
Here's a video on soldering that explains it well (unless you are sure they are perfectly fine). I was doing it wrong for years and now my solders are so strong i can't pull them apart.
Last edited by CACruiserHD; Aug 16, 2014 at 09:47 AM.
Thread Starter
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Cruiser
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 129
Likes: 1
From: Western WI
I had my dad who is an electrician help me solder them so im boggled that wiggling the wires fixes it. plus they are all seperately heat shrunk. so I was wondering if maybe a harelys default if there is a bad connection is for the blinker to stay on...
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 2,557
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From: Texas
A pretty typical reason for this kind of problem is that when you soldered the wires, you left a sharp peak in the solder when you pulled the iron away or you have a stray wire sticking out which will eventually poke through the heat-shrink tubing. Look at the how-to video and you can see he leaves the ends of the wire sticking up and these ends will quickly poke through the heat-shrink and short out to adjacent wires or to ground. His technique is solid with the exception of leaving those ends sticking out.
Last edited by skinman13; Aug 16, 2014 at 10:48 AM.
Stage I
Joined: Nov 2019
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From: usa
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 4,998
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From: Iowa
That's why I use crimping junctions for wires https://www.elecdirect.com/crimp-wir...4aAs1yEALw_wcB Solder joints are prone to cracking and possible bad flow when done to junction multiple wires together. Soldering should really only be done to non-pliable surfaces like connector ends, PCBs, and headers.
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From: South Carolina
Replace the wire from the handlebars with the help of an electrician.
Last edited by Dan89FLSTC; Nov 26, 2019 at 05:07 PM.
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