New Fuse Block, April 24, 2021

So when working on getting the head and tail lights working last weekend (April 17) squeezing the front brake lever a couple of times worked until there was a frazzling sound & about half power to the brake light. Keying off power and then on again had it working again. Unfortunately while looking at the rear light wiring I heard a small pop from somewhere about the middle of the bike and lost all 12 volt power – so no more blinkers, no more brake light.

Working through the harness showed there was still 12v power off the DC-to-DC converter, and on the line to the ignition switch, but nothing anywhere else. Considering the harness is 38 years old it seemed a good idea to simply rewire from scratch instead of trying to chase down the exact point of failure as when fixing one bad wire there are more waiting to rear their ugly heads.

So, to start the re-wiring process i pulled the old harness, clipped off a few connectors that i can re-use, and started laying out new wiring runs, and then figured how out to mount a new fuse block. Sourced from Amazon the 6 circuit block has a common negative bus bar with individual positive circuits out. It took a little bit of finagling but figured out the easiest way to mount it was to take out the existing fuse mounting area on the left side, trim off the brackets to make it flat, and then drill mounting holes. New positive wiring comes into the sides, 12v power in from the bottom, out the top to separate negative lines.

The Duke of Hazard Flasher (September 27, 2013)

Note to Self:  Be careful when working around carbs with the seat open.  If you close the seat make sure nothing that can be damaged is hanging around the seat supports or frame, especially when you are closing the seat to lean on it for leverage.  Fortunatley this is only my hazard flasher and not the regular blinker (turn signal) flashing unit.

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Brake Light Connection (November 22, 2011)

Noticed my brake light wasn’t coming on all the time, even after changing bulbs.  So what do I see when i open up the seat & finally get that 30 year old plastic connector separated?  A slightly melted connector.  This was making intermittent contact between the wires.  Solution, cut the connector out & simply connect the wires directly with bullet clips.

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Brake Light Pedal Switch (September 26, 2011)

This has been a busy month for broken/if it’s not broken fix it things.  I noticed the brake light kept staying on all the time, even when I wasn’t moving.  The culprit – the rear brake switch (right foot pedal) spring has sprung.  No matter how it is adjusted it just keeps staying in the on position instead of springing back to off when the brake is released.  Solution, remove spring & connector.  Brake light no longer works when only using rear brake but since I always use the front brake as well it is not a big deal.

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