10A indicator fuse keeps blowing (Honda Blackbird)

[Pete]

Hi folks. A few months back I was riding about and noticed my indicators had stopped working. I pulled over, checked the fuse and it had blow, so I replaced it...

...this morning I put a 6mm spacer on top of my rear shock to raise the ride height (can't tell much difference by the way!) and went out to test it. Everything was great for about 30 minutes or so then I noticed I had no indicators again (or brake lights). I checked the fuse - it had blown. "Hmmm" thinks I, but went straight to get another fuse to replace it. I rode off to get back home, all was working OK for about a minute (all indicators and brake light worked) then half way home it blew again. I've ran out of fuses now but have just ordered 10 off Ebay! I'm just wondering if anyone else had any ideas as to what it could be or if you've had a similar problem. I guess it could be a bad earth somewhere, but before I go taking bits off I thought I'd ask you folks.

Oh and I don't know if it would make any difference but the fuse seemed OK until I started using my heated grips. They weren't installed a few months back when this all started...I don't think it could be them because they're unrelated to the indicators and brake light, but thought I'd mention it.

Thanks...

[Guest]

how are your grips wired in...

are the connections at the battery tight,

have you ran a relay, with a rear light feed?

have you checked the rear connections / wires to make sure they aren't shorting on the frame... (indicator/light)

[Colin the Bear]

Does sound like a short. Could be the insulation has rubbed through somewhere and a bare wire is touching the frame.

You on the Bird forum? http://www.bikersoracle.com/blackbird/forum/index.php?

There's a guy on there called Jaws who's pretty good with them.

[Pete]

Cheers guys. I've not got my grips going through a relay this time, no. I decided to go straight to the battery and leave the grips on their own little circuit.

I'm hoping that when I replaced the tank this morning all that happened was it sat on an indicator or brake wire and has cut through a bit, should be easy enough to locate (touch wood!).

Colin, yeah I'm on one called CBRXX, but know of Jaws (that's where I got my 6mm spacer from ). The response I got from that site was to use a bulb tester - hook positive end up to positive side of battery, remove offending fuse and stick other end of the bulb tester in to the positive side of the turn signal circuit wiring (I assume that means inside where the fuse would normally make contact), the idea being that the bulb will come on when a short occurs...will a multimeter set to Ohms do the same thing and just beep where a bulb would normally come on?

I've not delved too deep with electrics so far, but when needs must (and sometimes when I'm just bored) it's time to get down to some wiring!

[Pete]

.......By Ohms I did of course not mean Ohms at all, I meant the little buzzer setting (the one outlined in red at the bottom of the dial...)

http://www.futurlec.com.au/images/DT-830D_250.jpg

[Pete]

OK team it's sorted!

Turns out whoever had the bike before me didn't install the smaller indicators properly and it was down to faulty wiring touching the frame (or rather touching the head of the bolt in the images below to be more precise). The first image below shows the wire itself and the second shows the general location:

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae248/peteblakemore/DSC_0102.jpg?t=1259257797

http://i976.photobucket.com/albums/ae248/peteblakemore/DSC_0105.jpg?t=1259257797

Needless to say I gave the wire a good clean up and re-wrapped them as a temporary measure. I'll get some spade connectors on there next time I'm at Halfords. Thanks again for the help guys.

[Guest]

Glad you found the fault Pete,if I was you i would solder the wires together and then shrink wrap them,spade connectors are ok for a while but will eventuly fail with the egress of damp

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?moduleno=222855

[Colin the Bear]

Butt connectors also work ok.

The meter works the same as a bulb and battery. The setting you've indicated has a symbol for a diode(A one way system). So that will be the diode tester. Probably. I would have thought.

Some meters have a continuity setting which is high range resistance with a buzzer for a low reading. Handy for checking and searching without having to look at the meter.

If you have a circuit the bulb lights up. It's a simple system developed for when a meter isn't available made from bits lying around the workshop.

Put the meter on high range resistance (A big number of Ohms) and look for it reading zero.( No resistance/ bulb lights/buzzer sounds)

The instruction book with the meter can be quite instructional if it's not written in Chinindiangermanofrenchgobbledegook.

[Pete]

Lol, thanks Colin! I'm glad I don't have to play with electrics at the minute, I've been lucky in that I get to avoid them for another few however long it'll be before something breaks again! Just looking at some heat shrink butt things now, they look possible...

And Gary thanks also for the soldering idea. I did think of soldering, but didn't think to shrink wrap it so may well give that a go.