Short Circuit Risk

[Ryland3210]

WitchCityBallabio identified the cause of fuse blowing on the lighting circuit on his bike. Also found the same potential short circuit on my Cafe Sport, so I thought this deserved its own thread, since it may be a pervasive issue. Sorry if this has been covered before, but I haven't seen it.

 

The stoplight circuit uses the same fuse as the headlight on my bike, so it could be a very unpleasant lights out situation if the cable shorts out at night.

 

Our cables were pinched between the fender and the steel bracket it is mounted to. It was pinched so hard that I had to pry the fender away from the bracket to slide the cable sideways and tie-wrap it to the bracket to keep it from harm's way. Luckily, my cable was still intact, but it was only a matter of time before that would have ended up shorted, like WitchCityBallabio's was.

 

To gain access to this is simple. Just remove the two screws and two nuts holding the plastic cover under the fender behind the stop light.

[Skeeve]

 

But the directions are very clear, thanks!

[Ryland3210]

 

But the directions are very clear, thanks!

 

Once the cover is removed, it's obvious.

 

Cheers,

John

[Woody]

Thanks for the heads-up John. I checked mine yesterday and sure enough, the wire was clamped hard between the frame and fender. The wire had been crimped so hard it left a sharp impression in the insulation but had not yet severed it. I moved it to one side and slipped a small tielock around it to prevent the wire from migrating back if it was so inclined.

[WitchCityBallabio]

Wow....

 

I feel bad now about not mentioning this earlier. I just assumed this was an isolated incident on my bike. I'm glad that you guys were able to check and prevent the short that happened to mine though.

 

[Ryland3210]

Wow....

 

I feel bad now about not mentioning this earlier. I just assumed this was an isolated incident on my bike. I'm glad that you guys were able to check and prevent the short that happened to mine though.

 

 

 

No worries. How could you know how extensive the problem might be? Thanks to you, at least it's been brought to the attention of the forum.

 

It may be an endemic problem throughout the Ballabio/Cafe Sport models maybe more. If the factory didn't know about it, why would they bother to tie the cable away from the pinch point? It isn't obvious by appearance.