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[Michael]

Fuses blowing every few minutes on the EFI at the moment... it seems to be the lighting circuit as noting blows when the lights are off, but a 20A fuse does when lights are on. I suspected the tail light wiring as water gets in pretty easily there and... lo' and behold... rusty broken wiring. Lucky I carry some spare connectors and a leatherman tool eh? Quick cut and replace job (loom getting very short now, not much spare wire left) and I have a bike that hasn't blow a fuse... yet.

Question is, what size current (and therefore gauge wire) is the lighting circuit likely to draw when everything is on? Headlamp main beam, pilots, nacelle lights, stop and tail plus an two indicators? Also, the factory fuse is 20A, but I have now run out (using all my spares in my attempts to fix the issue!)... is 25A still OK to use... obviously higher rated, but depends on the gauge I suppose.

[Martin C]

To work out the (theoretical) current draw, you just need to add all bulb wattages on the circuit that can be on together (i.e. include only 2 indicators unless you have a 4-way hazard set-up) and divide the total by 12. A slightly higher fuse shouldn't be a problem.

[Martin C]

To work out the (theoretical) current draw, you just need to add all bulb wattages on the circuit that can be on together (i.e. include only 2 indicators unless you have a 4-way hazard set-up) and divide the total by 12. A slightly higher fuse shouldn't be a problem.

[Michael]

60W main beam, 2 x 23W indicators, 2 x 4W pilots, 4W main beam nacelle light, 4W neutral light, 4W indicator warning light and 26W stop + tail = 152W total... divided by 12V = 12.7A. Cheers Martin! I knew it would be easy so any wire gauge above 15A and a 15A fuse is the lowest for the main lighting loom.




Now, what output is the stock alternator on an EFI?! 152W seems like a lot for a paltry wee magnet and a couple of turns of copper wire...

[Gwilly]

Hi Michael, You still playing with that wiring??

Looking at fuse replacement specs the other day on the Landrover site.

Amazed to find they use the same as on the old Enfields.

Bit of Leeway but near enough for the EFI>>>>>>>regards, gwilly the helpful..

[Gwilly]

And always get home BEFORE DARK...........

[Michael]

Arghhhhh... yes, am still playing with the wiring. Honestly, the wiring loom is made out of cheese, chocolate and rust on my bike! BTW gwilly, where did you find the wiring diagram for my bike




Another failure today... this time in the headlight, possibly the source of the original issue. A push fit connector melted right through and shorted to the stem or the inside of the headlamp casing. I could only insulate it up with tape for the moment (side of road fix), but will have to do more leckie magic when I get home tonight... before dark.

[Martin C]

Michael, I suspect you may just be dealing with symptoms as they arise, rather than the underlying cause of the problem. I'd put money on your bike having inadequate and/or corroded main earth connections, consequently the circuit resistance increases and things overheat & melt, or fuses blow. Clean up all earths and run some extra (thick) earth wires from the battery earth terminal to bare-metal on the frame, then smear all over them in grease or vaseline (supposedly better).

[Michael]

Cheers Martin... will do. Corrosion in the tailight is the main issue, but the headlight wiring also suffers a little. Will run a new earth from battery to frame, possible from tailight to frame too. Two questions: how thick is extra thick? And... vaseline - is it worthwhile smearing some on every connector?

[Michael]

Hauled out the complete wiring diagram for the bike tonight... I think that the most damaged wires are attached to the ignition switch. One is a fused red wire that runs to the reg/rec and the other is unfused red that runs to the rear brake switch and ultimately to the tail light. His one also links to front brake switch and the rh switchgear. Will check... but how to check the reg/rec isn't the issue?