Have put bright/higher watt headlight, spot lamps, halogen turn signals, brake light etc. on my '91 FLHS Electra Glide Sport. Now with all the lights running my ( recently replaced) 15 amp self resetting circuit breaker is cutting off and on. With the spot lamps off it's ok. I figure all total I've added about 8 amps with the 90/100 watt headlamp ( from 55/60 w stock), 55 watt spots ( from about 17w stock ) , halogen turn signals, etc. Since the next matching circuit breaker offered that fits is a 30 amp I am considering going to that so I can run my spots all the time. Question; will the existing wiring be ok with that or should I upgrade to large guage wiring? Recently installed new voltage regulator, has newer battery, voltage monitor says all systems charging A ok. Thanks in advance for any thoughts. BTW this forum is absolutely awesome.

 

Hi from the UK! 1990 FLHS here.

One way around this would be to use a relay for the headlight. That would take 8 amps out of that circuit (except a little power to switch the relay). It would also enable you to wire the bulb with thicker cable, to ensure it is getting all the power it needs. It is possible if you are still using the stock harness that the headlight wires are causing over-heating, carrying the extra current.

 

Thanks GR, so kind of like a starter relay where the relay closes a switch to pull in the solenoid and connect the high amp cable to the starter motor?

 

Same principal. The sort of thing you need is common on cars (autos!) and can be bought at any auto parts store. This link goes on at length, but gets to the point eventually.

You can mount the relays under the seat, near the battery, and run the wires under the tank. I have a couple running other things I have added to my bike, like fog lights, with a fuse between battery and relay to provide circuit protection. This takes some of the strain off the circuit breaker.

Having checked my facts more thoroughly, you probably need two relays, one for each beam! Hope this helps and solves your problem.

 

hmmm... interesting... I did change my headlight bt not gone to 90/100 watt since the bulb hasn't fried yet, but I was thinking of changing the passing lamps too... I'll have to look into that for sure!

 

I run a 55/100watt headlight. My plastic connector melted just alittle bit. I replaced it with a ceramic one. I would definatly do the Headlight relay with all you have got going on. 14 gauge wire is only good for 15 amps. I have my spot wire independently so I can run them alone if I want to. I would use good wire crimp connectors,not the little blue straight thru ones. I use these on my headlight connector.
http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d238.html
Heres a post on the relay.
http://www.harley-davidson-hangout.c...-80w-bulb.html

 

Most excellent!! Thank you all for the great ideas and tips. I'm thinking it will be easier to isolate the spots with a relay or direct hot wire with inline fuse as there's no "high/low" beam to deal with. I'll pull my headlight and check the wiring to see how it looks as I've run the new headlamp 90/100w for probably a total of 15 hrs. or so. Actually, now that I recall it only started acting up when the weather got real hot here in the last month or so.