driving lights...............ughhhhhhhhhhh

[scubaman458]

ok, for 1 second i hooked up my cobra light bar to see if it works, following the "hook it up to the dark blue/white stripe wire" rule, which stated that i did not need a relay. oh well..... the tail/meter 10amp fuse keeps burning out, no neutral light, etc.....
the starter button (on the throttle side) looks in good shape inside.
did I fry the ignition / starter relay? (the block to the right of the fuse block) I have a 98 standard. and before you say it, i will in the future use a relay with an inline 15 amp fuse...

[Ricky-D]

If you keep testing the circuits ("the tail/meter 10amp fuse keeps burning out") you may well burn up something!

Right now it's just the fuses and maybe a connector,,, that cooked a bit,, leaving you disconnected. You'll have to hunt it down however, to find out.

The fuse should protect any other of the components you mention.

***

[scubaman458]

its working again! i believe the switch on the light bar was shorted out.. whew............

[John Schmidt]

You need to understand however, if you're running those lights through the start switch as part of the headlight circuit you are asking for trouble down the line. And Murphy's Law says it will happen at the most inopportune time....usually middle of the night and middle of nowhere. Do use an external relay and wire those lights totally separate from your headlight circuit. That way if one circuit should happen to go out you still have lights to get you home.

[scubaman458]

well, i just realized today that my tail / meter circuit is shorting out. everything else is working great, including the cobra light bar... any suggestions where i should start looking?

[R J]

There is a connection under the rear fender.  It is there so you can remove the bottom 1/2 of the fender.

Proceed in this manner.

1.  Get a firkin relay in those Cobra Lights and make it a separate circuit.
     Like John said, is something screws up in the headlight circuit, you still have lights to get home.    I had MGM wired without a relay and I fried the starter relay.   No pretty, but it can be fixed real easy.    Go to Jeff K's generic list and the replacement wiring is about 3/4 down on the right side.   The parts are originally for a older model Gold Wing.

2.   Once # 1 is completed, then proceed to finding your short, or your screw up in the wiring.   Whenever I have a problem, I always look at the last thing I added even if it is a year or more old.   You will usually find it there, if not, then start at the fixture that blows out and start tracing wires.  It is a pain in the arse to have to do it that way, but it is the only way I can find it.

[RonW]

well, i just realized today that my tail / meter circuit is shorting out. everything else is working great, including the cobra light bar... any suggestions where i should start looking?

did you happen to notice whether the Tail/Meter fuse was shorting out before you wired in the light bar?

[MacDragon]

You need to understand however, if you're running those lights through the start switch as part of the headlight circuit you are asking for trouble down the line. And Murphy's Law says it will happen at the most inopportune time....usually middle of the night and middle of nowhere. Do use an external relay and wire those lights totally separate from your headlight circuit. That way if one circuit should happen to go out you still have lights to get you home.

Hava a Cobra lightbar that I installed making it independent using its own switch and the inspection station in Mass would not give me a sticker because it wasn't linked to the low beam where they would go off when high beams were on.

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

You can use the low beam power wire to trigger your relay for your driving lights so they will function with only the low beams on. Still keep your stock switch on your lightbar in case you just want to turn them off.