Blown 20A head fuse

[Metallicat]

So I found the fuse box and discovered I have a blown 20A head fuse. I guess if i was more familiar with my sled I could have located the fuse box instead of cutting my trip short. I think I still have a problem though. What would cause this fuse to blow? Positive lead grounding out? Speedometer and ignition were cutting out before it finally died.

 

[Rockmeister]

Most likely a short to the frame somewhere.
(Will most likely be on the Blue/White wire.)
Look for anywhere the wires cross a frame member.

Check the wire bundles closely towards the front of your sled, where they come upward and towards the rear.
The wires tend to chafe in this area.
This wire also comes up the steering post, check that area closely.

Also make sure nothing other than factory stuff is connected to your Blue/White headlight wire, it is already pretty heavily loaded and can't handle much more load.
(We SENSE this wire for some for the YamaHeaters, but has no added load.)

Hope this helps!

Rock

 

[Metallicat]

Thanks Rock! That is what I needed to know.

 

[dhkr123]

This actually makes perfect sense.

The main fuse only isolates the BATTERY from everything else. With the main fuse disconnected, the stator still generates enough power to run everything.

You have a short to ground somewhere.
Possible locations:
- Between stator and secondary fuse panel,
- Along the "load control relay" circuit (controls lighting -- lights off until after engine is running).
- Between the main fuse and the stator-to-secondary-panel wire.

I am also absolutely certain that despite what Rock says, it is NOT in the handle bar. The main line does NOT run up the handle bar -- all the wires running up the handle bar come off the secondary fuse panel, so would have blown one of the secondary fuses rather than the main. Overloading your headlight circuit will NOT blow the main, it will blow the headlight fuse in the secondary panel.


Also note: don't run the engine until you find where the wire is broken. If I were designing the wiring on these things, I would have added a second set of main fuses on the A/C lines close to the stator. You could actually damage your stator or (slightly more likely) rectifier with your short. Especially since it is intermittent.

 

[Rockmeister]

Yo! dhkr123!

How did you possibly get "the main fuse is blown" from what Metallicat posted?

So I found the fuse box and discovered I have a blown 20A head fuse.

With the headlight fuse blown, the short is most likely IN the headlight circuit, which DOES run up the handlebars which has good chafing possibilities.
Just about any short anywhere in the electrical wiring can draw the system voltage down & cause issues elsewhere, such as with the ignition & speedo.

I never stated, nor inferred that the main line ran up the bars.
Just stated the most likely possibilities from the information given.
The idea is to help others out.

You have posted a ton of posts in very little time.
Most are rather argumentative and/or arrogant.
Both of which are not really helpful.

Need to read the posts a bit better dude.
And be more willing to help, than be arrogant.

Metallicat:
You are welcome Metallicat!
Let us know what you find and if you have any further issues/questions!

Rock


PS Good electrical tape (Scotch 33+ or like), Wire loom, & liquid electrical tape are very helpful to repair damage caused by chafing.

 

[Metallicat]

Hey Rock, sorry for asking a stupid question, but the fuse labeled "HEAD" is for the headlight? I thought that maybe the label meant that it was the leading "master" fuse just before all of the secondary fuses, and if it blew then none of the other fuses would receive power. But at any rate, with this fuse blown I had no electrical to the starter either. So does that make any sense at all? I checked power to the ignition and saw that I had none, then looked at a wiring diagram and saw that power first went through a fuse box.

 

[Rockmeister]

Lemme look at the diagram, you may be correct!
I may have made an assumption myself.
BRB


Update:

The wiring diagram doesn't make it very clear.
Main fuse is labeled as MAIN in the schematic.
Headlight is labeled as HEADLIGHT.

Will look at mine this afternoon and get back with you!

 

[dhkr123]

Hey Rock, sorry for asking a stupid question, but the fuse labeled "HEAD" is for the headlight? I thought that maybe the label meant that it was the leading "master" fuse just before all of the secondary fuses, and if it blew then none of the other fuses would receive power. But at any rate, with this fuse blown I had no electrical to the starter either. So does that make any sense at all? I checked power to the ignition and saw that I had none, then looked at a wiring diagram and saw that power first went through a fuse box.

Precisely WHERE is the fuse that is blown?
A blown headlight fuse should isolate the headlight circuit from the rest of the electrical system, meaning that if the short was in the headlight circuit, burning that fuse should allow everything else to work perfectly. So *IF* it is the headlight fuse that is burned, then one of three things must be true;
1) in the process of burning that fuse, it drained the battery (highly possible),
2) the headlight circuit is shorted to something else which is ALSO shorted to ground (HIGHLY unlikely),
3) it is a coincidence (murphy's law) and you are chasing down more than one problem.

This is where I got the main fuse thing from: (other thread) "When it died the first 2 times I wiggled the 4 prong connector next to the battery and that seemed to fix the electrical problems temporarily." -- that plug would be right next to the main fuse.

 

[Metallicat]

Quick Recap:

1. Sled speedometer readout started flashing warning light with oil indicator flashing on and off.

2. Speedometer gage started to cut out and then would stay off.

3. Ignition would start to cut out and sled would backfire and then stall.

4. On hopes of it simply being a loose connector next to the battery I would wiggle the wires next to the battery and it would start again (could just be coincidence).

5. It did this 3 times over 30 miles and then it finally died for good.

The fuse that is blown is labeled "HEAD" in the fuse box but I don't think this is the headlight fuse since I had no power to anything until I found and replaced the bad fuse last night. Now it will crank over.

 

[Metallicat]

I have 5 fuses labeled IGN, C/W, DC, SIG, HEAD. The HEAD fuse is fed by the red/yellow wire. The diagram I have from the RX model only shows 4 fuses. So I am assuming the short on my sled is on the R/Y wire somewhere. Anyone know of a particular trouble spot for this wire on the RS Vector? If it is the same R/Y wire as on the RX then it seems that a lot of components depend upon its function (it is highlighted as one of the fuses for ignition, starting, signal, grip, lighting). So maybe that is why this single fuse rendered everything useless.

 

[Rockmeister]

The Red/Yellow feeds through the Ignition switch then changes to a large Brown wire.

Then the Brown feeds up to the Engine Stop switch on the bars, and to the Load Control Relay.
From the Engine Stop Switch on the Bars it then changes to Red/White, feeding the ECU & Starter Solenoid.
The Red/White feeds countless other things on the sled, including ignition, fuel pump relay, etc.

So these are the most likely areas for short.

Have some ideas to help find it, will PM you with my number.

Rock

 

[Metallicat]

Thanks again Rock'n Meister!

 

[LJ 452]

From the Owners Manual.

 

[buddah]

Metallicat,

Check the wire from the kill switch to the fuse box.......going from memory I think it is brown/white.......we found a little rubbed spot on my RX-1 after it died.......TWICE...........acts like kill switch is depressed......turn key and absolutely nothing happens.......a bud put some liquid tape on it at the end of last season so I really don't have any time on it to see if it's fixed......

 

[Metallicat]

Hey, thanks EVERYONE, dhkr, LJ, rock, buddah, and everyone who chimed in on my other post for your help! Rock gave me a good place to start. I'll have to dig into it after Christmas. My wife is a serious Pole, and the Poles don't start decorating until Christmas Eve, and then there is the food that must be prepared...