I'm getting frustrated beyond belief. I have a short somewhere in the bike that keeps popping my headlamp fuse. I have searched and searched and found what I thought was the culprit and repaired it but I still have the fuse getting blown.

It doesn't happen right away I am usually about 2/3 of the way to work on a 38 mile drive when it blows and the same on the way home too. What's strange is that I have not changed the load on the circuit at all. It is the same as it has been for years and never had a problem until now.

I have changed lamps that were in need of it and verified the others. I have opened the fairing and examined the wiring there. I pulled the front wheel off and found what I thought was the issue on the wiring to the front fender marker and repaired it. I have examined the wiring under the seat and in the trunk and found nothing.

On my way in to work this morning the fuse blew again. So where else is there? I am missing something. Anyone have additional ideas where to look?

 

my bike had a short i tore apart the fairing just to realize my new seat was rubbing on a wire i had rerouted from the touring pak so check the grounds under you seat.

 

If it were my bike I'd be looking at the wiring diagrams to see what else is on that circuit. As mentioned above, it may be tail light wiring...

 

I don't know what year or model we're talking about here (I'm on mobile site), but headlight, passing lamps, front running lights, rear running lights, are typically on the headlight circuit. You have wiring running to the hand controls, in the fairing, down the backbone under the tank, under the seat, under both fenders (guys have complained about rear tire rubbing through too), and to the tour pak, if you have one. You also need to look at the fuse. Is it blackened and the center look like it's splattered? If so that's a dead short. If it looks like it just kinda melted apart, that's an overload situation. If it happens after a certain time period, that indicates an overload. If you hit a bump and it pops, that's a short. I understand the frustration in finding electrical issues (I'm an electrician), just be persistent and diligent in your examination. Check where zip ties are around the wiring. Sometimes they're too tight and can cause a wire to chafe through. Good luck. Hope you find it.

 

this is great advice and will help you determine the fault

don;t rule out a problem in a bulb- a filament which can touch a second filament ( run/stop or hi/low) can overload teh circuit

mike

 

Look closer at all the wires, you might have to open the main insulator wrap and look closer... sometimes it's hard to spot, look for discolorations of any kinds and like above said...FUSES...

 

I did not see specific mention of whether or not the OP checked the high beam switch wiring in the hand controls.

 

On my Road King I had a chafed wire between the passing lamp and the bracket it mounts to. Sometimes that wire gets nicked when the passing lamp is adjusted. It's a tough one to spot because it's up inside there, I had to feed the wire out a little.

 

An electrical thread. I get it now. I clicked expecting a discussion about a lost midget.

 

Corroded connectors can cause higher current draw. Check all connectors in the circuit. Clean them & add dielectric grease as prevention for such problems.