That's a bit strange. In the 07 manual I have the wiring diagram for the main harness (#1 page) shows the ignition side of the switch going to;

Starter Relay, no fuse
Instruments, 15 amp fuse
Lights, 15 amp fuse
Headlight, 15 amp fuse
Ignition, 15 amp fuse
Engine Control (ECM), 15 amp fuse

While the accessory side of the switch feeds a single 15 amp fuse that goes to;
Stop Light Switch (foot pedal)
Speedometer
Right grip harness (for the brake lever switch)
Left hand grip harness (for the horn)
Headlight (not sure why as the headlight doesn't come on, maybe aux lights?)
Rear light harness (to get power to the brake light)

 

your right i was looking at b57 instead of b45. that would have not lasted very long. it still has the 40 amp fuse before the switch. the only burning i can tell is from the inside of the switch on the ignition side. i dont want to open the switch in case it is requested to send to the GOV

 

Don't bother, I can tell you exactly what you would see, a lot of melted plastic and a pair of carbonized contacts.
Its nothing more than a simple heavy duty (not heavy enough in your case) three position on-off-on rotary wafer style switch.

 

I've seen the exact thing happen on a clearance light on a truck one time, it pretty much burst into flames while we were standing right next to it.
A loose/hot/corroded/burning connection won't necessarily blow a fuse but it IS a good fire starter and can be the cause of all the problems you've been having.
FYI, i've been a high voltage lineman over 30 years.

 

Citoriplus, did you have this problem too or did you have an ignition fail giving you a switch to tear a part? Do the contacts just carbon up, causing the heat to build to the point of fire? Do you know of a heavier duty ignition switch or is there no solution to the size of the original stock switch? On the below 40 degree days, I run electrically heated hands, feet, body and legs on my longer rides, so I'm pulling higher amps from the battery, not the ignition switch, but it still kinda causes me great concern! I'm allergic to fire between my legs, the allergy runs in my family...

 

You sure that Harley didn't say "THATS NORMAL" .

 

Nope, never had onme apart or had one go up in flames on me.

At least not on a Harley, I have however seen the same exact thing happen in older electrical equipment.
They just don't use or need that kind of switch much in this day and age of micro circuitry and solid state switches.

As far as a heavier duty switch goes, I doubt there is one that's readily available and I would have no idea where you could get one if there was.

But on balance I think that what happened to this particular switch was more of a fluke than an inherent design problem. After all the MOCO has been using the same switch design for a long time now without a major problem being reported so I think its probably just bad luck that this one went up like it did. If youu make a million of something, chances are very good that a couple of them are going to fail for one reason or another. None of which have anything to do with the basic design.

I must however take issue with your statement that your family has at least some kind of monopoly on that particular allergy.

I can state unequivocally and categorically that my family jewels are EXTREMELY allergic to fire and would not be at all happy with ANY kind of fire between my legs.

 

No he didn't, I will copy the link and email him.
Thanks!

 

Well, now I don't feel so bad. My electrical problems only tried to kill me while going down the road. At least they didn't try to burn my family jewels up and leave me potentially still alive.

C#

 

TK,

What is the status of this? I am suffering from melted switch syndrome. 2008 Deluxe with Tmax, hmmmm.