Dont ya hate it when.........................

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Hunsta
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Dont ya hate it when.........................

Post by Hunsta »

Dont ya hate it when........you take the longest hardest possible way to find a problem with your bike and it turns out to be something that should take no more than 2 minutes to fix?
Put a nice new Dyna coil and leads on my R65 today. Must say, nice crisp starting it has now. Mmmmm. Anywho, had a couple of little fix-em-ups to do while I was at it and one of them was to find out why I had no tail light. Had stop lights, but no tail. So I start by changing the bulb for what I knew was a good one. No dice. So I then put a test light on the wiring and no power. So I trace the wiring back through the loom all the way to the headlight, but no broken wires there. So I sat there scratching my head thinking what it could be, and concidered running a new wire from the headlight to the tail. In the process I unscrewed the fuse box and low and behold, a bloody blown fuse. :oops: What a dill I felt. I didnt even think that the tail light alone would have its own bloody fuse. Needless to say, fuse changed, tail light working. :roll:
So from now on it will be check the bloody fuse first. :lol:
Craig
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Zombie Master
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Re: Dont ya hate it when.........................

Post by Zombie Master »

I hate when that happens too. But, you have to ask, why did the fuse blow?
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Hunsta
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Re: Dont ya hate it when.........................

Post by Hunsta »

Zombie Master wrote:I hate when that happens too. But, you have to ask, why did the fuse blow?
Yes I did ask myself that question and as I didnt see anything untoward in my exploritory adventure to find the problem, it could have been just one of those things. The fuses where the ones that were on the bike when I got it nearly 4 years ago now.
Its an 8 amp fuse so if it blows again I`ll just stick a 30amp one in and wait for the smoke. That should identify the problem :lol:
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vanzen
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Re: Dont ya hate it when.........................

Post by vanzen »

Don't ya hate it when .............
You seek to find the source of a problem, and can only remedy the symptom ?

As ZM, I'd be asking "why" until an answer was found.
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Rob Frankham
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Re: Dont ya hate it when.........................

Post by Rob Frankham »

You can have an educated guess as to how serious the problem is by examining the fuse...

If it's a mechanical fracture, it will probably be due to vibration and not an electrical problem at all.

If it's burned out but there are no major signs of overheating and no great gap in the fusible link (the metal bit), it's probably just an old fuse... a combination of vibration and subsequent local heating over a long period.

If theres a smallish gap, that's a sign that too much power is being drawn... normally too many aftermarked accessories attached after the fuse although some 'tired' electrical components can draw more that their rated current while still appearing to be working normally

If there's a big gap in the link and signs of burning or melting of the link, then you have (or have had) a serious short and, unless you have a pretty good idea what caused it, you really need to find the problem... and putting a bigger fuse in probably isn't a particularly good idea...

Rob
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Duane Ausherman
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Re: Dont ya hate it when.........................

Post by Duane Ausherman »

As usual, Rob treats a very important subject. Don't ever think that a fuse is actually good because it "looks good" and has zero resistance. It can have a break down in the cap end that only shows up with significant current draw. Found that one a few times. It can have a bad holder that just doesn't make contact.

I am sure that the list can go on.

While I love fuses, they too can and do add to electrical problems. Don't assume.
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Hunsta
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Re: Dont ya hate it when.........................

Post by Hunsta »

Rob Frankham wrote:If it's burned out but there are no major signs of overheating and no great gap in the fusible link (the metal bit), it's probably just an old fuse... a combination of vibration and subsequent local heating over a long period.
Rob
This was what I found. A very small gap, and the fuse had been in the bike since I purchased it nearly 4 years ago.
Rob Frankham wrote:and putting a bigger fuse in probably isn't a particularly good idea...

Rob
Oh if we on ly had a "tongue in cheek" emodicon. I was joking :roll:
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