Triumphrat

sandblaster · 11-06-2006

i have tried all the lights hi/lo beam, turn signals , flash to pass,front and rear brakes( thought the rear light adjustment was to tight but the switch is not working at all) let the bike sit at idle till fan kicked on it's ok, i cannot make the fuse blow doing any of it. could the brake light switch be causing the fuse to blow? the left bulb seems brighter than the right till i hit the front brake then it is just as bright. if the rear switch is stuck on it could cause too much draw as i'm riding. do the front and rear brake switches work the bulbs individually?

jimmyj900 · 11-06-2006

Quote:

could the brake light switch be causing the fuse to blow? the left bulb seems brighter than the right till i hit the front brake then it is just as bright. if the rear switch is stuck on it could cause too much draw as i'm riding. do the front and rear brake switches work the bulbs individually?

The brake light bulbs are wired in parallel to the front and rear switches so both switches should have the same effect.

If one bulb seems brighter with the rear brake switch then it probably means that the switch is bad (resistive) and one bulb just lights up with less voltage than the other.

If the bike is miswired in the way I suspect, then it's kind of difficult to determine how much current goes to which fuse.

The way a properly sized fuse works is that it's in a constant state of near failure -- always on the edge of blowing out -- so it doesn't take much to pop it.

If the bike has been working fine for years and has suddenly developed this problem, then you've got an intermittant short somewhere.

Jim

sandblaster · 11-14-2006

i'm dumbfounded i went for a ride today to see if i could tell what was making the fuse blow found out that it does it when i'm accelerating from a stop. the low beam, taillight, brake lights, and guage lights go out. it was 60 degrees so the fan did not need to kick on. i need to get this fixed, toy run is saturday would like to take the thunderbird instead of the harley. any suggestions.

zimtok · 11-15-2006

I would start unplugging things to rule them out.
start with the fan, and then work you way through the other things.
When you get to something you unplug and the fuse stops blowing plug everything else back in. Leave that one thing unplugged and see if the fuse blows.

Good luck.

.

parrycm · 11-16-2006

If anyone finds their fan is seized, I have one.

parrycm@hotmail.com

sandblaster · 11-16-2006

i have let mine sit at idle until the fan kicked on it's ok

jimmyj900 · 11-17-2006

Quote:

i'm dumbfounded i went for a ride today to see if i could tell what was making the fuse blow found out that it does it when i'm accelerating from a stop.

This just gets wierder.

Well, something is flopping around.

Pull the left side cover and check for a wire or cable hanging around the shock or suspension and also check the wire feed thru(s) in the rear fender. If the grommet in the fender has shifted a wire could be shorting there.

Check the wiring in the headlight shell. There are steel straps in there to hold the wiring in place and if the wiring is shifting under acceleration one could have sawn through the insulation.

Best guess for today....

Jim

TravelinManOhio · 11-23-2006

a cheap solution to try is change the light bulbs. you said that one of the tail light bulbs was brighter. in some instances a filliment inside a double filliment bulb will break. usually you lose that lighting source but sometimes the filliment will cross connect to the other filliment in the same bulb with the result of you makers powering your brake filliment when you not actually using the break. when you do use the brake the extra power is sent back through the marker light wires and can cause a issue that appears as a power short. some closed circuits can produce grounds when power is applyed from the reverse end of the application.

sandblaster · 11-30-2006

could something in the key switch or the headlight hi/lo switch cause this?

sandblaster · 12-11-2006

well after much searching and head scratching i think i have solved the fuse blowing problem. the side light as triumph calls it, the small bulb under the halogen headlight bulb has a short and is grounding to the headlight housing, so i took the small harness to it loose and everything seems good so far.