Fuse Panel Poll -- Yes, No, Will, Won't???

Give us an idea how helpful the site is by answering the poll.

I've had my new Fuse Panel in for two years and am electrically trouble free!

 

Yes I replaced mine, but I did wait until the main fuse holder broke and left me sitting on the side of the highway for a while. Now I know how all those Harley riders feel!

 

Bold statement!
See if that same line works at the Doc's office next time! 8O

 

If you're sticking with the old glass fuses... it's simple electronics and physics... the glass fuses are bound together by flimsy slice of metal that will bounce around and flex... you can listen to the noise it makes by flicking it with your finger.. all you need to do is hit a good pothole and let the fuse break itself or bend enough to restrict flow and "pop" itself.. if you plan on keeping these then carry alot of spares and expect problems.. not only that.. but if it does blow.. chance are that it will in the middle... however.. if it breaks at the end then you can't visually see it.. you would have to grab a multimeter and ohm it out, wasting your time and probably pulling your hair out by this time

 

Did mine after finding two wires soldered straight onto the fuse as the holder was missing. They are cheap to buy, if you get the six block you can have two spares easy to hand and blade uses can be bought at any automotive place.

 

Mine had inline fuses when I got it from the PO... on two lines, the other two were wire twisted together. When I tried to pull the inline (glass) fuses apart to check them one simply snapped at the metal end and left itself in the holder. Switched to inline blade type because I'm too impatient to wait on a block from the web.

 

my 1981 550 maxim got new inline fuse holders (for ATC fuses) in 1991 before the fuse block upgrade was the thing to do...

i didnt have any way of labeling them at the time so i put mailing labels on them with which circuit they are. ill get pics one day and IF photobucket will ever work again, i will post them...

i did the seca this week since it was too cold for me to ride...

 

I did mine a few years ago when I first got the bike. The fuses were shot and all cobbled together by the P.O. It made a big difference. I had a pic in my gallery but I deleted it accidentally.

 

The several comments here serve to answer the question of why it is so important to make this upgrade as quickly as you can.

 

Because like the leaking Petcock ... there has been a spike in people having Electrical and Electrical related "No Starts"

I'm getting alot of traffic in my PM's about what to do. I'm recommending that the Fuse Panel gets replaced by everybody who hasn't ddone it yet. It seems like the Moon is rising on these Fuse Panels and if you haven't done it ... it's time to consider getting it done.

I'd like to have the prevent get done before the Summer gets rolling and we start having a bunch of people with No Headlights, No Brake lights and Starting Issues asking about what they should do.

The smart thing to do is replace the Fuse Panel instead of waiting for trouble.

 

unless it looks like this replace it

 

What kind of grease is that? Doesn't di-electric grease, the stuff of spark plug boots, NOT conduct electricity?
What grease goes in other "bullet, male / female" connectors?
What to do about the "plastic on plastic, multi - terminal" connectors?
How are we cleaning these contacts? Emery board? Dental pick? Fine sand paper? a Chemical?. . . this would be good info !

 

The old fusebox when I got my 900 was held together by what could be nothing else except the equivalent of surface tension. Hit a decent bump in the road and you could be in trouble.

Replaced my fuse box with a 4 unit blade type fuse box. Absolutely perfect ever since except for one occasion which took me half a day to diagnose. Yep...looked everywhere as to why the bike was not starting...reason - a fine itty bitty minute hairline crack in the main blade fuse. I also keep a few spares taped in a small plastic bag under my seat just in case, on the road somewhere, in a cold misty forest road miles from home...

 

when I first got my 550, the fuse box looked ok. No visible corrosion, fuses were good. The day I actually fired it up for the first time (you shoulda seen the grin on my face), I realized just how bad the fuse box really was. I could just bump a fuse with my finger and the whole circuit would die. I tried to bend the clips closer together, and they just started breaking off.

Needless to say, the fuse box was replaced the next day.

 

The fuse box on the #1 650 is in pretty decent shape, though I already have the blade block to replace it. Mainly just need some time to get in there and rip and replace. Apparently, the ignition circuit has already been bypassed into an inline glass fuse holder. Heh.

The #2 650 doesn't have much in the way of electrics on it at all. That's why it's a parts bike.

The 750's electrical system is a total wreck. Even before I knew about the blade box replacement, the first thing I did when I got the bike was pull the seat and look at the wiring. Holy crap! What a mess! What wasn't hardwired together was rusted or ripped out, and some other circuit with an inline tube fuse had been added, and then ripped apart. The box is more rust than anything else. I'm going to have to tear the electrics down to their bare minimum and bypass some things more carefully when I finally get to working on it so I don't put too much money into it before testing the engine.

By the way, the "no" and "won't" answers to this survey are kinda redundant.

 

Problem I had was finding fuses.... The fusebox was in perect condition but I had real fun finding replacement fuses so swapped it out for blade fuses and problem was solved

 

I want to one of these days, but my old school box still seems to be decent. I have had ZERO blown fuses or any other problems in the year or so I've had the bike. So other things are higher on the list...

 

Hi Rick O,
This is my fuse panel, would you replace it?

 

Yes. I would replace it. The Problem is those Fuse Clips. They are a point of resistance. That Fuse Panel is obsilite. Why not treat your Bike to a more reliable Fuse Panel and never have to worry about that one suddenly failing on you and ruining an adventure.

I'm sure it looks good.
But, those Fuse pinching Clips will break without warning and leave you in a lurch.

I cut one out that cleaned-up nicely; too.
Coming from ME its sound advice because I'm a "Keep them stock" kinda guy who doesn't DO Mods and chopping.

But, I know those Fuse Panels.
I know the Fuel Tanks
I know there's dirty gas.
I know Alternator Brushes wear out.

Think of it a Preventative Maintenance.

 

If mine is indicative of what the rest of them are like I say replace it. I'm not as hard over as Rick on keeping things stock but I am judicious about what mods I do and I would recommend this to anybody.

Just like others have reported, I had "ghost type" electrical problems several years ago. The box looked good, but I found that when I put my meter on the fuses, my problems went away. My meter probe was making the connection between the fuse holder and the fuse better. When I tried to tighten up the tangs of the fuse holders they started breaking on me.

I actually put my bike in a ditch one night when I lost my headlight due to a bad connection at the fuse block.

It's junk. If it hasn't caused problems it will.