Which tools for travel?

[Gmc28]

On 9/11/2019 at 8:09 AM, docc said:

All the fuses in the factory fuse block are "Regular" (APR / ATC / ATO / ATS) blade-type fuses (not Maxi, Mini, or Micro).

For roadside assistance, consider AMA (American Motorcyclist Association). For their $35(?)/year membership, they cover all your bikes and cars as well as kids away at school. Excellent service!

AMA web site is down.  i'll check it out.  if its that cheap, could be slick.  I've always tossed their membership marketing mail, as its just more stuff i don't need and another little recurring bill, but for that cheap if it includes towing, not too bad.

Isn't that large 30A under the seat the maxi fuse size?  i've got the gold Lemans out in the shop, so i can go pull the seat up and look, but easier to just ask here from the desk at work...

Mikko - i've not done the circuit breaker conversion.  i've always been a believer in the notion that finding the "smoking gun" with a maintenance issue is a good thing, as at least then i know what to fix, and a burnt fuse helps add clarity perhaps to the troubleshooting issue.  true that if the headlight (for instance) stops working, then theres not a lot of confusion over which circuit is problematic, but with some issues the burnt fuse can be a "stake in the sand" to help narrow down an issue, at least a little.  Have you had good success with the circuit breakers?

[Gmc28]

56 minutes ago, 68C said:

The link shows these are auto-reset types.  I understand the aviation pop-up circuit breakers which you push to reset but do not see how auto-reset works. Does it sit there clicking on and off with a hard fault like a short to earth?

aviation also uses the auto reset CB's for some things, especially on the larger circuits.... they just cool off, and/or if the fault goes away they "can" reset. 

[68C]

Never come across those in aircraft, although I mainly worked on obsolete stuff. As one of the younger mechs said to me, "Your so old you can remember when aircraft were made from metal".

Conventional CBs do help you find an intermittent fault as it may reset for a while, a hard fault won't.  Could an auto reset mask an intermittent fault?

[Gmc28]

2 hours ago, 68C said:

Never come across those in aircraft, although I mainly worked on obsolete stuff. As one of the younger mechs said to me, "Your so old you can remember when aircraft were made from metal".

Conventional CBs do help you find an intermittent fault as it may reset for a while, a hard fault won't.  Could an auto reset mask an intermittent fault?

good question.  in "middle aged" aircraft (80's & 90's) i can think of a couple setups where a thermal CB will trip, and a warning light illuminates, and you either see it or a checklist directs you to look for it, and it can reset itself with time (which i assume is usually cooling), or you manually reset it once its cool enough, which in that case is more or less like a standard CB, but still physically a little different.  Of course my 1938 T-craft did not have that kind of equipment :->, but the later jets do.  Maybe these automotive cb's give an indication... that would be interesting.  Mikko presumably knows ?

[Gmc28]

wow.  i'm not a "signer-upper" usually, but docc's suggestion of the AMA seems like a good way to go, despite me chucking their constant junk-mail to me...

For comparison, AAA has the add-on option for family, so i could mooch off my wife's membership and pay less to joing, but then you need to upgrade to the higher level of service for it to cover bikes ($135?/yr?).  ok, data point.  But since i've never had to get trucked out of a bad spot to this point in my life, thats many decades of service i would have paid for, so therefore many thousands i would have spent in dues.  So touche.... i gambled and have "won" so far to this point in life, since now i could pay cash for a tow and still come out way ahead.

But the AMA deal... $49 and includes the 35 mile roadside towing/assistance, including canada and alaska.  Not going to usually find that 35 miles will help much in Alaska, but still not a bad start.  My old KTM up there is not the machine that i have the most faith in, and it doesn't get as much attention from me because it doesn't live in my shop each winter for some annual coddling, although i love it, .... so a tow option is a mildly comforting notion for the beast up north every year.  Then, I'm usually on a bit of time schedule when i'm on my longer road trips and away from work/family, so its also comforting to know that if i can't fix something efficiently, then i could tow to a nearby town and shop, and airline home for work, then sort out things from there.  Never has happened yet, and not planning on it, but again, mildly comforting.  But then the AMA deal includes RV's and trailers?  Crazy.  The RV option from AAA as i recall is considerably more than the standard AAA deal, so seems like helluva deal from AMA.  probably some catches in the fine print, but if the price is that low for something i hope to never use, then its a win.

[docc]

Yeah, bud, I'm not lovin' this, but it's real . . .

And , let's face it, I'm not breaking down 35 miles from home. The last breakdown was 310 miles from home. That was a sucky 310 mile tow truck ride.

But AMA had a Recovery Operator to me within two hours on a Saturday evening, in the North Carolina mountains, who was determined to get me home (3am). 

[swooshdave]

For the Oregon AAA you have to get the Plus level which includes motorcycles. $108 year. I don’t use it a lot but when I do... With vintage bikes in the stable you have to have some backup plan.

[Gmc28]

12 hours ago, Mikko said:

You can still trace a active fault because the CB will trip and reset, trip and reset ....What it can do, is not leave you stranded after you've used up any spare fuses and still might have a problem. I run Cb's in my semi truck and they have proven their worth for almost 3 million miles. In the 20+ years i've owned my truck, I've had my share of wiring issues you can bet on that. CB's for me have been a worthwhile upgrade and so naturally, i used them on my bike. 

Interesting.  So sounds like something i'd especially like to look at more for the bikes that i put a lot more miles on away from home area, and that i ride outside of cell phone coverage. 

[gstallons]

16 hours ago, Mikko said:

You can still trace a active fault because the CB will trip and reset, trip and reset ....What it can do, is not leave you stranded after you've used up any spare fuses and still might have a problem. I run Cb's in my semi truck and they have proven their worth for almost 3 million miles. In the 20+ years i've owned my truck, I've had my share of wiring issues you can bet on that. CB's for me have been a worthwhile upgrade and so naturally, i used them on my bike. 

Youre a pretty smart man . We are glad you are on this forum .  BTW , when you get through you are going to have The Batman version of a Scura !

[docc]

2 hours ago, gstallons said:

Youre a pretty smart man . We are glad you are on this forum .  BTW , when you get through you are going to have The Batman version of a Scura !

Holy BatScura, Batman!

[gstallons]

Uh oh . I've created a moniker !

[Tomchri]

Just saying I'm very happy with the Shindengen 847 regulators I got from  Roadstercycle.com. No more problem with the 30amp fuse, regulator and stator has a healty temp.

Cheers tom.

[docc]

With my factory style Ducati Energia regulator the battery light flickers dimly at idle because the battery has higher voltage than the charging output when the battery is at a full state of charge coming in from riding. I still find it kind of annoying, but remind my self, "Ok, look, the battery is charged." 

[Gmc28]

8 hours ago, Tomchri said:

Just saying I'm very happy with the Shindengen 847 regulators I got from  Roadstercycle.com. No more problem with the 30amp fuse, regulator and stator has a healty temp.

Cheers tom.

Thats what i've been using for some time on multiple italian machines, and i also have had my electrical issues go away.  Thing is though, i have to admit that some time back I ended up defaulting to just going through the italian machine electrical the first winter I would own the machine (winter projects, not during riding season :->), which meant the roadstercycle mosfet regulator, upgrading any suspect looking wiring from stator to reg and then on to battery, removing un-needed italian butt connectors, then often also spending the $$ on the hicap cables.  I used to fret over which of those changes was the most important, but ended up drinking the coolaid for "its my toy, and i want it right" to justify the expense in each case.  A wise case can be made for all that being overkill and a waste of some of that money, as well as for the opposite, which is to have a well sorted machine.  over time. i've had success with each of those fixes on different bikes, so i usually do them all now.  The hicap cables worked wonders on my old ST4, whereas just upgrading the wiring and connectors to the VR from the stator on 3 different Gran Canyons seemed to be the real silver bullet for the issues that plagued that model.  The shindengen I also do, but not as clear on whether it really was the answer based on trial & error, since that upgrade was always accompanied by another change (usually the wiring upgrade, which is certainly the cheapest of all those options).

In fact, now that i think about it, i started doing that in around 2005, and since then i have not had a single electrical issue on any of my (modified as described) bikes.  knock on wood.  charging is great, batteries last 7+ years and are only replaced because i figure its time and not because of any bad symptoms (though note i also use deltran batt tenders all winter, always), and no oddball "won't start" issues.  Very possibly just lucky, but the miles, years, and number of italian machines so modified are adding up to what might be a relevant data set...