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Saturday, July 3, 2010

Electrical problem fixed this time

I had electrical problems on the shovelhead awhile back. I thought it was headlight related, but I couldn't repeat it.

http://tearitupfixitrepeat.blogspot.com/2010/06/electrical-problems.html

So I put a bigger battery in it and I thought it was a bad ground so I fixed that.

http://tearitupfixitrepeat.blogspot.com/2010/06/bigger-battery-and-broken-oil-bag.html

Last Saturday the bike died on the road again, but I pulled the headlight fuse and it went home just fine.

So we're back to headlight problems and voltage issues.

I have been using the old harley push button to ground the VW Hi-Lo latching relay. I'm not sure if the relay is sticking or the button is sticking, but neither will be a problem in the future.

I bought one of these switches from Radio Shack. Rated for 10 amps at 125 VAC, so a 6 amp high beam at 12 VDC shouldn't be a problem. The center position is off, so I can kickstart the bike without the headlight on. Also if I something else is causing my issues then I can turn off the light without pulling a fuse.




I also bought one these to monitor my voltage and charging, too. If the bike starts running crappy, I take a look and see how the battery is.


Here's the dang the relay. It's going bye-bye.

Solder the wires to the switch.



Here a little info on how I do electrical connections on a bike. I take the insulation off the connector, then lightly crimp the connection on to a stripped wire that has rosin on it already. Then I solder the connection on and tug check it once cools a bit.

Then some shrink wrap.


I use these cover connectors for most things, too. I like them because I can take things apart if needed or bypass a switch if needed for roadside repairs.

.Works
The switch is installed and works.


Here's the ground for the voltage gauge.

Here's the voltage gauge on the dash. I'm lucky that the old relay set-up has an extra power connection right where I need it.


Switch, dash, and gauge installed. That should be the end of dead batteries on the side of the road.

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