Rewiring Fuse Holder

[Greenbush Road]

Hi All,

Went out for a quick spin yesterday and the bike died. Hmmm.

I had been charging the battery a few days earlier, so I immediately thought I had a loose connection or some such situation. So I popped off the cover, everything looked good, I wiggled a few things and then turned the key. On comes the neutral light and the bike fires right up. Back in business I figure and turn the key to the headlights on position. Bike dies again.

Repeating the proceedure above gets her running again, and I leave the lights off and make it back home.


A closer inspection reveals that the wire running into the fuse holder has a nick in it and that is enough to screw thing up.

I stole a pic from Smithers in a previous thread that shows what I mean:




In the lower left where the cap screws in and the wire bends sharply, thats where the nick is.

Predictably, being old and brittle, in the course of wiggling to verify that this is indeed the problem, the wire breaks off entirely.

I cobbled things back together and drove around the driveway a few times, but I will have to do a proper fix before going back out on a real ride.

How would you guys replace this?

I'm a dope with the electrical stuff and I don't want to cause further injury.

Thanks.

[ByTheLake]

In that picture, the problem is with the BLUE wire.

(sorry, couldn't resist)

I agree that a repair is needed. It may be easiest to just get an aftermarket fuse holder like the one below to replace the original one. The connections are important, so I'd recommend a good soldered connection with heat shrink tubing covering it. Generic inline fuse holders can be found at most auto parts stores or online for cheap.

[Greenbush Road]

Thanks BTL, I appreciate your response to my dopey question.

Seems so simple now, but man, that sick feeling you get when everything just dies put me in panic mode for a while.

At least I figured out what was going on and got back home and I discovered something else that is cool.

Lots of the neighbors on my street aren't the friendliest folks around, but I think that little Honda helps bring out the good side of some. In the 10 minutes I spent by the side of the road tinkering around, three cars pulled over to see what was going on and offer their help, all of them from down or up the street, and all folks I had never met before.

They all knew me though, from seeing that goofy red Honda.

[ByTheLake]

"You meet the nicest people on a Honda"

[Larzfromarz]

I have the same trouble with my stock fuse holder too. BTL suggestion is a good one, just don't cut the blue wire or we're all goners.
You can, if careful, rebuild the holder to retain the stock wiring and look.

[Smithers]

Hehe yeah people want to help but are more curious for a close up look than anything! You can literally take the fuse holder out and connect the wires and keep riding. Just give the fuse holder some TLC and solder some new wires to the contacts to give it a new lease on life. Those wires and connections degrade over the years and cause a lot of resistance. The only reason the electrics still work in these Hondas is because there are so few connections and the wires are relatively short being a motorcycle.