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It's a good rule of thumb whenever you're working the electrical system to disconnect the negative terminal of your battery.
This will prevent a spark when reconnecting the battery. It will also
prevent a path back to the battery should you accidentally touch a wire
from the positive terminal of the battery to the frame or any other
metal on the bike. Of course no one would ever do that.
Remember that your bike has a harder time providing power to the bike and your accessories when the bike is at idle.
When slowing down or stopping it's a good idea to turn off any
devices that require a high amount of current (like halogen lighting or
heated gear). Your bike's charging system is designed to provide power
at running RPMs. If your devices are consuming more power than the bike
can provide at idle, you are draining power from the battery.
This one seems to confuse people but there's nothing much to it.
It's called Ohm's Law and he was a cool dude because he came up with
a simple relation between these three entities of electricity -- volts,
amps and watts. When dealing with wiring you want to be concerned with
the amount of current or power a device draws or consumes. That's how
you know what to use for a fuse and if the FZ-1 can handle what you're
trying to power. So here's a rundown that will hopefully help.
Power is measured in watts. Current is measured in amps. Fuses are
rated in amps. Your bike has a 12-volt system. Accessories generally
give their power or current rating. Usually you're concerned with how
many amps the device draws but if you're only given the amount of power
used how do you convert to amps? What about if the opposite is true?
Just apply these simple formulas:
- Power (Watts) = Current (Amps) * Voltage (Volts)
- Current (Amps) = Power (Watts) / Voltage (Volts)
- Example: Gerbing Jacket: 77 Watts / 12 Volts = 6.41 Amps
- Example: Garmin GPS: 1.5 Amps * 12 Volts = 18 Watts
- Example: PIAA 1100Xs: (55 Watts * 2 bulbs) / 12 Volts = 9.166 Amps
If you don't know what fuse to use it's recommended to use a fuse
that's slightly above the amperage rating of the device. Remember that
most fuses will operate above their rated amperage (sometimes up to 50%
more). If you're unsure, get a fuse close to the device's current
rating. If the device is operating normally and it blows the fuse then
step the fuse up.
I don't recommend this method but you can do it. It's better to know what the manufacturer recommends.
There are always issues as well as areas of concern with dealing with wiring.
Too Many Connections
Every time you make a connection it
has the potential to fail for one reason or another. Keep your
connections to a minimum. Butt splices to extend a wire isn't a good
idea if you can avoid it. If you do have to extend a wire consider
running a new one or use a good butt splice. Posi-Locks are some of the
best butt splices I've used. They require no tools, are reusable and
make a very solid connection.
Poor Ground
When connecting any device there's a flow of
current from the positive terminal of the battery, through your device
and then to the negative terminal of the battery (okay, all you
electrical engineers just back off. You have to go one way or the other
so just work with me). Where was I? Oh yeah. If there is a break
anywhere along that path the device won't work. When one device loses
power most people check the fuse first and then look to see if the
power connector is plugged in properly. If it's not one of those,
people get lost. A common issue is that the ground wire is not grounded
properly. Make sure that the ground wire is touching bare metal, that
there's no corrosion on the wire/terminal and that it's securely in
place. This is a common problem (no pun).
Sloppy Crimps
Eventually you'll have to crimp something
while wiring. Crimps are evil things and they make poor connections
unless they are done properly. If you're going to use crimp-type
terminals get the proper crimper. You can get the generic crimpers at
any hardware store but these are usually not sufficient to make a
reliable crimp that is going to put up with miles of abuse. Jim at
EasternBeaver.com has taken the time to write up an extensive tutorial
on crimping. I recommend giving it a read and check out Jim's products
while you're there.
It's a myth that a fuse is made to protect the device it is connected to.
A fuse blows when the amount of current it can handle is exceeded.
The issue arises when the current is already flowing through the fuse
before it blows (which means the device, or a wiring issue, is causing
that circuit to draw more current than it should be). Since the current
is already flowing through the fuse it is also flowing through the
device at the same time. Using the proper amperage of fuse will protect
your device but remember, the fuse will only blow when the amount of
current the device needs is exceeded.
The fuse also has another purpose and it's more important than protecting the device -- the fuse protects your vehicle.
Remember, if the device starts to draw more current that means there
is a short or a wire between the positive and negative terminals of
your battery. The wire gets hot and draws an infinite amount of
current. That's bad and could cause a fire if there isn't a fuse to
protect the circuit. This is same thing circuit breakers do on power
strips at home. They don't protect your TV from a surge, they keep your
house from burning down. If a surge or short causes the TV to draw a
lot of current (which causes heat) it will blow the breaker so the
power cord doesn't catch fire.
Protecting your device is important but the fuse is to keep you from frying your bike or, worse, yourself. |
