Dogbone fuse/ fusible link

The Rats Nest has been having a couple of hiccups lately and I just assumed that it was carby related as I haven't done anything to them since Alex80 sold them to me back in 2013 to replace the rat pee frozen original ones. On the savage bumps on the dreaded driveway it felt like I was over fuelling and I needed to pull in the clutch and rev the engine to clear it. Today while taking some slow tight corners ( pegs scraping) I noticed similar breakdown and loss of power. After happening a couple of times I noticed that my voltmeter, temp gauge and USB charger was showing around 9-10 volts ( there is some voltage drop in the Vetter fairing cig plug).
I assumed that I had a charging fault and luckily I had just received my new lithium 18000ma jumpstart charger pack in the mail from China so I wasn't too worried. I removed the tail light fuse that also runs my 2 18w running lights and figured that I would jumpstart the bike and run on battery power until I made it home. As I took off to the next job with a reduced electrical load I noticed the Voltmeter was reading up around 13.5v so I wasn't too worried. Finished that job and didn't bother to use the jump start pack as it all seemed fine now, when I was finally riding home I noticed voltage was varying again and the bike was unevenly running at times. I did experiment with the ignition switch in case my voltage drop was caused by a faulty switch causing the voltage reduction. When I shut down the Rats Nest and turned the ignition back on there was no circuit/dash lights, I realised that I was now a member of the failed main fuse club :yahoo:
I actually believe that the fuse had actually failed due to a stress fracture in the fuse rather than melting from a short. This fracture caused an intermittent fault as it failed and reconnected as I was riding and the engine/bike was now running on charge circuit alone and at low revs loaded up as per over fuelling/ weak spark. As the Rats Nest has fairly low mileage ( 38k miles) it still had its spare fuse in the cover which was fairly corroded/ oxidised and when I went to use it half one tang fell off. I managed to support it between the 2 screws and once again the Rats Nest was up and running. I will probably replace it with an auto resettable circuit breaker when I can figure out where to mount 2 of them ( one for an accessory feed) but I think tomorrow I will just replace it with fusible link wire.

I wonder how long it took a person to figure out that blown fuse before Al Gore invented the internet... :shock:

Tony, do you rememberwhere you got that volt meter/USB charger?

Definitely a weal link on these old wings, Now I want to go out and look at mine :good:

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147080#p147080:1s1j4wbe said:

brianinpa » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:12 pm[/url]":1s1j4wbe]
I wonder how long it took a person to figure out that blown fuse before Al Gore invented the internet... :shock:

Tony, do you rememberwhere you got that volt meter/USB charger?

Click to expand...

One of my favourite Chinese sites, Buy in Coins

Thanks! I wasn't aware there was anything like that out there.

I don't know that it is that accurate Brian but at least it gives you a guide to work off.

That's what I am mostly looking for: a ball-park idea, not an exact reading. The other option is cutting a hole in the right side cover of the Vetter fairing and installing one right from the battery. I am just not sure I want to put a hole in the cover.

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147132#p147132:3qs6gvse said:

brianinpa » Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:11 pm[/url]":3qs6gvse]
That's what I am mostly looking for: a ball-park idea, not an exact reading. The other option is cutting a hole in the right side cover of the Vetter fairing and installing one right from the battery. I am just not sure I want to put a hole in the cover.

Click to expand...

I had a 2" voltmeter mounted just inside the Vetter faring on the left side! No hole needed! I wired it to the accessory connection in the fuse panel so that it goes off when the key is off.

Problem I have now is, no more faring, no place to mount my meter! :cheeky:

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147141#p147141:1k03n0zc said:

mcgovern61 » Thu Apr 23, 2015 8:54 pm[/url]":1k03n0zc]

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147132#p147132:1k03n0zc said:

brianinpa » Thu Apr 23, 2015 6:11 pm[/url]":1k03n0zc]
That's what I am mostly looking for: a ball-park idea, not an exact reading. The other option is cutting a hole in the right side cover of the Vetter fairing and installing one right from the battery. I am just not sure I want to put a hole in the cover.

Click to expand...

I had a 2" voltmeter mounted just inside the Vetter faring on the left side! No hole needed! I wired it to the accessory connection in the fuse panel so that it goes off when the key is off.

Problem I have now is, no more faring, no place to mount my meter! :cheeky:

Click to expand...

I have a fairing if you are looking to buy one... :shock:

Actually, I put a water bottle there, so that spot is out.

Actually, I put a water bottle there, so that spot is out.

Click to expand...

Other side open?

For some reason, not enough space.

:smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: Brian trying to sell Gerry a fairing :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:

I picked up some clamp on ( handle bars) cig plug sockets that you could wire up for the volt,temp usb charger..

I have a power outlet in the fairing. Last night I ordered one on fleabay.

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147165#p147165:11ukmong said:

Ansimp » Thu Apr 23, 2015 10:26 pm[/url]":11ukmong]
:smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: Brian trying to sell Gerry a fairing :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:

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Worse.....Brian trying to sell Gerry the faring Brian just bought from Gerry!! :shock: :smilie_happy:

:smilie_happy: :smilie_happy: :clapping: :clapping: :smilie_happy: :smilie_happy:

Cant blame a guy for trying. Hopefully Brian was trying to make a little markup on it. Otherwise he would be following my path to wealth, buy high sell low. It works every time.

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=147235#p147235:2boegvu0 said:

BigBro » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:05 am[/url]":2boegvu0]
Cant blame a guy for trying. Hopefully Brian was trying to make a little markup on it. Otherwise he would be following my path to wealth, buy high sell low. It works every time.

Click to expand...

Who? Me? Would I do that? :blush:

I was intending on changing the dogbone fuse to an auto resetting circuit breaker. When I was at my wholesale he had these small fusible links that we a couple of bucks each. As they are thicker through the middle and a little longer with the screw hole placement I put an L bend in the 30amp one to install it. It is still slightly longer than the original one and fouls the cover slightly, it closed up with a little distortion. In future I will trim a little of the overall length before installing these links. As it is another beautiful autumn day I just wanted to ride. The old sad looking spare replacement dog bone fuse actually fell apart as I was removing it, so it definitely was coroded / deterioated and would of failed sooner than later.

Interesting. This is what I see around these parts:



I can see where that kind would be nicer Tony!