Aux lights

[Big Bull]

Ok here I go again trying to be a nice guy. I was installing aux. driving lights on my son-in-law's Rocket III. (The Walmart 55 watt special) I found the plug under the tank that ran to the head light and found that one had constant power. (Yellow wire) So I splice into it and all is well. Find the other plug and do the same thing. Turned the key and they don't work. I also noticed the little bulbs are not on either. But both High and Low beam are workong. So I assume it's a fuse. Sure enough the 5amp fuse is blown. I replase it with a 10amp but still nothing. I tested the fuse and I have no power there. All the others check ok. Ok time has run out and I quit for the night. Today I will put it back to the way it was and go a different route. Now for my question. Do you think I burned something up? The fuse was instant, so why doesen't it check ok with the new fuse? The new fuse did not show blowen. Any way any help would help.
Thanks,

Randy

 

[Bishop]

You doubled the amperage of the stock fuse? That fuse was spec'd not only for the accessory it would have ran but also for the wires it used to run them.

Talk to Geek, I think he had a similar happening when he wired up his side car and decided to just up the fuse amperage and that will make it all better.

You may have something else going on but worst case, you smoked a wire which may be in a loom next to other wires, the excessive heat may have compromised the sheath on other wires in the loom which may cause things to fail now or may cause them to fail at some point down the road when it's really inconvenient.

Do you have a meter?

 

[atomsplitter]

Doubling the amps increases the heat in the wires and the resistance. The old E=IR (Volts equals amps times resistance) is working against you. Increasing the amps carried in the circuit to keep voltage constant (at 12vdc) means the resistance (to flow) increases. That puts heat into the wires and the fuse is only a piece of wire that will melt at a given temperature. Increasing the amp loading of the fuse means the wires carrying the load must also work at a higher temperature. If the wire's insulation isn't rated for the extra heat load it will melt and could ground providing you an excellent opportunity to find a short that burned up part of your harness.

Your best alternative is to wire the aux lights seperately from the headlight switch. I wired the same lights you have directly to the battery. If you want the headlight switch to operate the aux lights use a relay to put battery power directly to the lights and use the headlight switch to actuate the relay. This allows you to use the fuse provided in the light kit to protect the lights and kit wire circuit seperately from the Triumph loom.

Just my 2 pennies.

 

[Big Bull]

You may have something else going on but worst case, you smoked a wire which may be in a loom next to other wires, the excessive heat may have compromised the sheath on other wires in the loom which may cause things to fail now or may cause them to fail at some point down the road when it's really inconvenient

Thanks to all for the replys. If the fuse blew then that should had stopped all current. So the wires should be ok? I hope. Id don't sound good though. Oh well I'll start over tonight and go from there.

Thanks again.

Randy

 

[Geek_Law]

You doubled the amperage of the stock fuse? That fuse was spec'd not only for the accessory it would have ran but also for the wires it used to run them.

Talk to Geek, I think he had a similar happening when he wired up his side car and decided to just up the fuse amperage and that will make it all better.

10A fuses are for wimps. You need to put a 30A fuse in there.

Ok. I'm kidding. I did the same thing as you, except I sprung for 2x halogen lights and ran them off of the tail light circuit. Soooo ... yeah ... don't do that.

Follow Atom's advice. That's how I fixed mine. Run power from the battery to a switch. If you want to use an existing circuit to turn the lights on and off, such as the headlight circuit, then you need to use a relay that has 2x posts for passing power from the battery to your lights and 2x posts for controlling the power, like a switch, from the other wire or circuit that you want to use.

 

[Big Bull]

one more question. What else runs off that little 5amp circuit?

Thanks again.

Randy

 

[Bishop]

Not sure, check the wiring diagram in the service manual.

 

[Big Bull]

I don't have one. The bike belongs to my Son-in-law. I assume it's at his house. It can't be much it's only 5amps.

Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[REGULATOR]

look at the bottom of Juggs post

 

[Bishop]

Big flashing arrow added, because, "stupid hurts"

hahahahaha...