melting fuse

[antonio carroccio]

Héy Huub, I did the homologation of my bike also in Zwolle.

The guy there use to ride a Moto Guzzi. Member of MGCN.

 

'cos my bike pass the test, whistling!

[docc]

AArrgghh!!

 

I thought I had this solved! My 30 amp use had got so hot as to fail without blowing. I replaced the holder out of the fuse block and thought it all good.

 

Today, my 'battery' light came on full and bright making me think the 30 amp fuse had gone up. Sure enough, the fuse had burned off at its tips without 'blowing.'

 

The holder was surely 'loose' and I tightened it and applied copper anti-seize-Guzzi-make-it-go-stuff.

 

It was 12,000 miles/18 months ago splicing in the regulator fuse holder. The battery voltage is 12.71 and the charging is 13.41 at 4000 rpm.

 

What gives? Why so much heat?

[dlaing]

AArrgghh!!

 

I thought I had this solved! My 30 amp use had got so hot as to fail without blowing. I replaced the holder out of the fuse block and thought it all good.

 

Today, my 'battery' light came on full and bright making me think the 30 amp fuse had gone up. Sure enough, the fuse had burned off at its tips without 'blowing.'

 

The holder was surely 'loose' and I tightened it and applied copper anti-seize-Guzzi-make-it-go-stuff.

 

It was 12,000 miles/18 months ago splicing in the regulator fuse holder. The battery voltage is 12.71 and the charging is 13.41 at 4000 rpm.

 

What gives? Why so much heat?

13.41V is too low.

Check/Clean the connections close to the regulator.

Could be your regulator is toast.

My guess is that the battery is fine, but needs a good charging (IMHO with a charger that does not exceed 15V)

Once again, I'll suggest GEI failure was related to a charging problem.

[docc]

I would think if there were voltage spikes all the bulbs would be victimized first. No, the GEI are suspect in their own right.

 

I have that IR temp reader that I intend to use on rear drives on the South'n Spine Raid. Looks like it's time to spray regulator fuses also.

 

I'll open the connectors for the regulator and exchange dielectric grease for copper antiseize and hope for good electro-karma . . .

[Guest frankdugo]

most electrical problems are a result of connections not being tight.that is the cause of fires{home-auto -what have you}when a connection is not tight -spark jump between wire&connection is a potential source of fire.heat melting of device -fuse,relay,circut breaker is first stage. my two cent

[docc]

After 10-15 miles I found the fuse at 150 degrees F while most of the the other fuses and relays were 93-103. It occurred to me the fuse holder had its rubber cap on and I'll check the temp with it off to see how much that may dissipate the heat.

 

13.4v seems to be a good charging rate for a battery at 99%.

[dlaing]

After 10-15 miles I found the fuse at 150 degrees F while most of the the other fuses and relays were 93-103. It occurred to me the fuse holder had its rubber cap on and I'll check the temp with it off to see how much that may dissipate the heat.

 

13.4v seems to be a good charging rate for a battery at 99%.

True.

For a Hawker Odyssey, 12.71V is about 90% charged, according to a chart here

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/tech.htm

I suppose if it is 20F, a 99% charged Hawker battery may read as low as 12.71 Volts.

A weak battery can draw more current from the charging system and burn the charging fuse...a common event after not riding for long time.

This may be how I cooked mine.

But it can be a question of the chicken or the egg coming first.

Bad connections, weak battery, failing regulator or alternator, they are all interdependent.

I can only speculate that an old battery and or weak connections occur first more frequently than the other failures.

[docc]

Just to bring this thread full circle, look at this Nasty Hiccup Thread with pictures and a real solution.

[docc]

Once again, I'll suggest GEI failure was related to a charging problem.

 

What he said^

 

[Greg Field]

Recently, my '04 Ballabio began cooking fuses, at unpredictable intervals. One thing I noticed right away when changing the fuse was that the contacts in the fusebox for that fuse put markedly less "clamp" on the contacts of the fuse than did hte other contacts in the fusebox. The new fuse slid in and out almost without resistance, whereas the others were difficult to remove and insert. This loss of tension could've been a result of all the heat or coul've been the cause of the heat.

 

To find out if there might be another cause, I pulled all the plastic covers under hte fusebox, so I could pull it out where I could get a good view of the wiring to the box. That revealed the real cause: Green corrosion all over the output (to battery) connector. So, I did what Docc did, cutting the stock fuse out of the circuit and plumbing in an outboard fuse. It seems to be working, but only time will tell. If it does not, I'll just replace the wires from the regulator with a new harness of good, tinned 10-gauge wire.