1500 Main Fuse

[Chuck A.]

Have a 2003 1500 Nomad. Added a trunk 4 months ago. Connected the tail and brakes light on it. Went to start the bike a few hours ago and the power to/from the switch was dead. The main fuse was melted. Plastic was melted and the port on the plug for the fuse was partially melted. Had to use a knife and awl to get the fuse dug out in pieces from it's slot. Bike ran fine until parked a month ago after a half hours ride. Hasn't been ran sense. I really don't think the fuse ever blow, I think it was the plastic from the fuse running into the fuse connection that cause it to loose connection after it cooled and plastic reharden. Anyway, I cleaned all of the connections on the main fuse relay block and added dielectric grease with the new fuse. All is working good now. A short would have blown the fuse but a heavy load will heat it up. To lighten the ampload, I did replace the 2 trunk lights with LED's tonight. The tail light and the saddle bag lights are already LED's. Looking at LED's in the turn signals now.

[ringadingh]

Check all the ground connections to make sure they are clean and tight, and the rectifier plugs (under the LH engine case) these have been known to cause high current draw and melt connections over time.

[DragonLady58]

Originally Posted by ringadingh

Check all the ground connections to make sure they are clean and tight, and the rectifier plugs (under the LH engine case) these have been known to cause high current draw and melt connections over time.

What He Said! It could also be a accumulation effect of several different connections. These bikes are years old, and road grime, vibration, corrosion in light bulb sockets can't help ....I check (clean should it need it) the main ground wires several times a year
When I work on my bike, I steadily look and check the wiring harness. Chaffed wiring along a frame member also can hide and be extremely hard to locate.
One thing nice about LEDs is the extremely small load they put on the system.

[Chuck A.]

Originally Posted by ringadingh

Check all the ground connections to make sure they are clean and tight, and the rectifier plugs (under the LH engine case) these have been known to cause high current draw and melt connections over time.

Yep, I did that in late summer last year before I headed on a road trip. 600 grit sand paper and added dielectric grease in 90% of the connections at that time. Oh well, time will tell.

[DragonLady58]

One thing that I would suggest, is to add a couple of extra ground wires. I have a aux. ground wires from battery to the frame, frame to engine, then another from battery to engine. Yep, Should one get dirty, theres others, that will help with the electricial loads.
Automotive systems have several diff. grounds that help along the car body and chassis. Its all a game of resistance....resistantce heats things up, and helps components fail...
When you use accessories that are grounded to the frame, always use star washers, and use weatherproof connectors when connecting to your harness or battery.

[Loafer]

Good reading from all of you...

Last summer a few of us made a trip over to Lake Placid and a M/C place called the 'Tail of the Pup'. After several hours of good eats and live music, we headed north to Plattsburgh. Then we stopped for some non-believers to put rain gear on. While everyone was passing me (sitting on the side of the road) my bike not starting. Brought them all back to me. 2 1/2 hours of wtf? A friend showed up with his trailer, 106 miles later he had us home. Two days of going through everything with friends via the phone. Nothing! On the third day a friend of my son showed up with everything that would be needed to find the problem. Twenty minutes, he says the ignition switch is fried. I had one in the house and almost sold it a couple of times. New switch and a full check up, the bike runs awesome!
I have had the bike since it was put together at the dealer 4/29/01.
So tell me...what caused this event to happen?

[Chuck A.]

Got distracted last night and didn't finish before hitting the post button,,,,,,,,,,


What I found was the fuse slot and the 4 wire male plug connection had the slightest of corrosion on it. Looked good just had a white tint on the metal plug parts. I changed the fuse last night. As said before it was not blown,,,,, just the plastic part of it was melted to the relay. I cleaned all the plugin blades but was limited on cleaning the fuse port blades. Rode for 2 1/2 hours today before the engine shut off due to power. After it shut off a third time, All I had to do was wiggle the fuse in it's slot and power came back up. After I got home, I remove the starter relay, where the fuse is housed, Broke it apart and found corrosion and melted plastic was only letting the fuse make partial contact. Chalk this one up to resistance from lack of a solid connection, causing heat, melted the fuse to start with. Had it been a shorted wire it would have blown the fuse.

[DragonLady58]

Well, theres a art to tracking down electrical problems on these bikes. Usually, a severely melted plug is caused by 1 of three things. 1st is a over current situation. Usually the wiring under the left cover shorts, melts, and the alts and regs throw out too much current. OR, 2nd, is a severe ground situation. The wires short to ground, and all the batt amps flow through smaller wires, melting them and the connectors.
3rd, is the resistance situation.
Its not easy for the novice to find these. I myself, have been a professional bike mechanic for over 30 years, and I'm still suprised from time to time, having to hunt for that fraking gremlin....
Alot of the time its the charging system causing low battery charge rates (bike not starting) or over charging. The dual alts on the Nomads put out ALOT of voltage! But, a good many its corrosion or loose connections on the engine ground wire on the rear of the engine, shorts to ground under left hand cover or rect. leads ground out.
If your talking about the 30 amp main fuse on your starter relay behind your fuse block, a simple small LED isn't gonna blow that fuse. Nor a couple of them. A small 18/20 ga. LED wire will melt on about 12 to 15 amps.That 30 amp fuse is fed directly from the battery.
If your talking about the 15 amp fuse in the lighting circuit on the fuse block, probably have a pinched wire behind a fender strut cover, or between a bolt on accessory somewhere.
One thing that'll help, its its hot enough to melt the wire on the relay or a spot on your fuse block, it should melt the insulation on the wire where the dead ground is at or where its drawing all the current. If its a clean pinch under a piece of metal, that will be harder to find.
Sit down, take your time, look over everything on your wiring harness from the headlight bucket, under your tank, under your seat. It should make itself pretty obvious when you find it if the fused circuit is over 15 amps.
These bikes only have a single or a couple of 10 amp fuses. The rest are 15 amps. And the starter relay fuse is 30 amps....

[DragonLady58]

Originally Posted by Loafer

Good reading from all of you...

Last summer a few of us made a trip over to Lake Placid and a M/C place called the 'Tail of the Pup'. After several hours of good eats and live music, we headed north to Plattsburgh. Then we stopped for some non-believers to put rain gear on. While everyone was passing me (sitting on the side of the road) my bike not starting. Brought them all back to me. 2 1/2 hours of wtf? A friend showed up with his trailer, 106 miles later he had us home. Two days of going through everything with friends via the phone. Nothing! On the third day a friend of my son showed up with everything that would be needed to find the problem. Twenty minutes, he says the ignition switch is fried. I had one in the house and almost sold it a couple of times. New switch and a full check up, the bike runs awesome!
I have had the bike since it was put together at the dealer 4/29/01.
So tell me...what caused this event to happen?

Ever hear the addage, 'They don't build them like they used to?' Probably component failure, from condensation inside or dirt/corrosion buildup on contacts.
Had a old ElectraGlide I rode for over 20 years. I used alot of the Old Stock components when me and my dad built the bike. I had replaced the ign switch panel in the dash with the older unit from the late 60's/early70's. all those years of usage, almost every day, no failure. Quality of materials, things were just build heavier and lived longer. Like the new toggle switches, aren't as heavy built as they used to be.
I've had 3 electricial failures on my bike, all from riding thru heavy rain storms. Several days afterwards the failures happened. All in the charging system, I now run a old Indian front fender mud flap to keep crap off the regulators right below the radiator. Water doesn't help those items....helps keep rocks and road debris off the lower radiator tank, also helps with water spray off wheel getting under left hand cover.