Bike, 96 Ultra....


Knowing a little bit about electricity, but far from an expert, I've come across something interesting that has me scratching my head.

Last Friday night I'm riding and I decide to use my passing lamps with the head light and after a while they go brown and then go out completely while I'm driving. Me, I'm like great, now what am I going to do now... I turn all the lights off and a couple mins later the head lamp comes back on...

OK, I'm going to jump forward a couple days later, I have the fairing apart and I'm looking for a broken speaker wire in the harness (found it) and also found a ground wire from thespeedo gauge lightthat somehow got caught in the speedo cable nut.

While fixing all this, I decide to turn on all the lights and noticed the circuit breaker to the head lampswas getting warm and so was the power wire going to the fuse block. The wire is not discolored or melted anywhere, but almost to hot to touch.

It seems that the driving lamps are over loading the circuit.

Now this is where I asking for your opinions....

The bike is 12 yrs old and spent its life in Miami area, maybe the wiring might have a little bit of corrosion from old age and environment thus causing resistance... not enough to effect the operation of thehead light, butenough so that it cannot handle the load of 3 lamps.

Or, the passing lamps are not factory and have a higher electrical draw thus over loading the circuit.

In any case, I'm thinking about just creating a circuit with its own fusible power source just for the passing lamps and just not worry about it.

What do you think ?

All the wiring in the fairing is clean and in good shape. I did however reroute a few sections, zip tied others... You just can't be too careful.

 

hello TennRider,
you are on the right track. first make sure the lights have a GOOD ground. then you have to know what amps your lights have in total, then add about 15% more to that figure for the SURGE power it will need to power the light. Make sure your breaker AND wiring meet that electrical demand. should be good to go then......

right now the breaker seems to be the weakest link, but if you change it out it may then be the wire size. keep themmated ratings.

good luck !
John

 

Check your bulbs The main headlight might have a 100 watt hi beam and the passing lamps might be 65 watts each Can you run the passing lamps when the hi beam is on? The orig HD wiring doesn't allow this but that could have been bypassed This could explain the hot wire and breakers

 

Thanks John, The fatory circuithas a 15 amp breaker. All the lights are hooked up factory, so I would think that the system would be able to handle the power needed to run everything.

I wonder if a poorground could cause the power wire to heat up under sever draw ?

 

well anything is possible ( remember... if it can happen it probably will ) [>:]

BUT usually, the wire "with " the bad connection( at that point ) is where the heat will build up, you said the wire felt ok? but the breaker was hot? most likely means more current than the breaker can handle, hinse "kicks off" OR possibly the breaker is worn out defective. anyone else out there got an idea? just read another post.......... said they had a problem with someone with too many comments? i hope you don't think I fit the bill? I'm not a know it all........ but have wrenched motorcycles for 25 years ....mostly Triumphs, and let me tell you, Lucas wiring is a living nightmare, giving me a lot of trouble shooting experience. hope i can help someone out like the way i have been helped so many times before....... good luck

John

 

No, the breaker was warm to the touch, but the wire was hot, but only when the passing lamps are on and I visually check the wires to the passing lamps and they seem to be in good shape as well. That is why I was thinking about just putting them on their own circuit.

Is there so way I can check to see that power the passing lamps are rated at ?

The passing lamps do cut off when the high beams are turned on.
I did check the head lamp bulb and it is 55/65 watts.

 

a seperate circuit would be the best route anyhow, I like to use relays with the stock switches( makes them last a lot longer) 55/65 is pretty std., dot thinks anything higher than 65 watts is off road only? huh????? guess they never met a deer in the road at 60 mph.......[:-]

finding unknown amps on any given item you can get by isolating the circuit and running power wire through an amp guage. (most multimeters don't go very high in amp readings)thats why I use an automotive guage. take the reading from the total power used, and get the next size wire guage and breaker.
give that a try.
John