LED Issues....

[mrnyc01]

Jesh... Electrical problems killing me!

Ok... So I had LED's wired in my fairings for months now. No Problems! So I had 2 pods left over and put on in the front and one in the rear. It's always been on a toggle switch. I flip the switch and the lights (none of them) work and I notice smoke coming out from under the fairing. Well I take it apart spent several hours sorting out and got everthng to work. All lights front and back. So I go to work and flip them on in the the garage. NOTHING! I come home and look at the connections and the wires are burnt thru again... like they are shorting out. The wire is actually getting hot and burning thru the rubber insulation. Now mind you this my second bike. I wired my first one with no problems now all of a sudden I am having shorting issues. The only thing I can see is that you know the led's have this little flimsy wire and the harness I have it going into is thicker gauge wire (some I had laying around). It's the kind that is solid, maybe copper or something. About the same gauge but maybe just a little thicker. Should this make a difference? Do I need to buy the wire similar to the led wire? Need help... iratating the crap out of me!

 

[BigRod1300]

The diff wire should not be that issue. You said you added two pods...did you get the +/- reversed on them switching the polarity? OR maybe a connection has come loose letting the wires get close to the motor / exhaust and melting thu it??????

 

[mrnyc01]

The diff wire should not be that issue. You said you added two pods...did you get the +/- reversed on them switching the polarity? OR maybe a connection has come loose letting the wires get close to the motor / exhaust and melting thu it??????

Hmmmm ok I can check the other 2 pods.. but would that allow them to work for a while? I would think if that was the case it should not work right from the start. I should also mention that it is shorting or burning thru the wires between the battery and the toggle switch. I had the negative grounded to the body and the positive to the batt....???

 

[wht_scorpion]

he might need a relay on the toggle switch to much power for the leds

 

[BigRod1300]

he might need a relay on the toggle switch to much power for the leds

Could be.....???So the burn out is between bat and switch, before any pods? I ground and power at bat. Well power is at additional fuse block.

 

[mrnyc01]

Hmmm a relay huh.. interesting. Any specific type of relay? Scorp can you link me a pic?

Rod... I originally had the the ground going to the - batt and the power going to the + side of the batt. That's when it was smoking and no lights came on. After I checked all the wires I did see something I thought was crossed.. but basically started from scratch with the front and rear led's. Then like I said it worked fine for a couple of days then it burnt out again. I will have to take the right side fairing off to see if there is any burnt wires from the switch to the led harness. But from I can see now, it's only from the batt to the switch.

 

[mrnyc01]

Also..I was looking at some sites that sell LEDs and their wiring instructions say to use a fuse. Like below.... I never used them on my GSXR 750 before. Thoughts?

 

[mrnyc01]

Bump

 

[riccoh]

if it was me I would put the switch on the ground side, just for safety, u loose the switch, no problem. If you have it on the hot side, if you loose the switch you couls start a spark and load other systems....

 

[mrnyc01]

if it was me I would put the switch on the ground side, just for safety, u loose the switch, no problem. If you have it on the hot side, if you loose the switch you couls start a spark and load other systems....

Thanks Riccoh... i might give that a try...

 

[Sloto200]

I would always use a fuse if adding anything electrical. If your wires are burning through, you are drawing to much current for multiple assymblies it sounds like. You might have to run 2 pods off of one power source. I dont know how those pods are wired internally so that could be an issue too. I'd install fuses and 2 different circuits and see if that fixes your problem.

 

[BigRod1300]

Most LED draw very little power at all. Deff get a fuse in there and see if that helps...or if the fuse pops right away?

 

[Sloto200]

Most LED draw very little power at all. Deff get a fuse in there and see if that helps...or if the fuse pops right away?

I know LED's dont draw much power but something is not right if all he did was hook up to more LED pods. Something is causing a power draw... dunno if it is a bad LED pod or a short...the short could be anywhere after the switch though if it doesnt burn through anything until after you turn it on.

 

[BigRod1300]

Where do you have the switch mounted? Can you disconnect the two newly add pods....see if that help. May be a bad pod, but should burn out there instead of where it is. WHen the line burns...what do you do...replace that run of wire ( bat to switch ).....????

 

[mrnyc01]

Where do you have the switch mounted? Can you disconnect the two newly add pods....see if that help. May be a bad pod, but should burn out there instead of where it is. WHen the line burns...what do you do...replace that run of wire ( bat to switch ).....????

The switch is mounted on the left side panel. Right under my grip. I will take my left fairing off tomorrow to see if it's burnt out anywhere else. I was planning on adding the fuse (3amp) on the power side close to the batt. And then turn it on and see if the fuse blows right away or not. If all else fail...I will just take the last 2 I added off. Maybe something is wrong with one of them. IDK....???

I will let you know what I find out..

 

[BigRod1300]

 

[mrnyc01]

Ok so here is the update that will trip you out.

Took the left fairing off and no more burnt wires. So I started my investigative work. I turned switch on (after I replaced burnt wires). The right fairing and front and rear LED’s did not work. Also wired in fuse and it kept blowing. So I just cut the wires on the front and rear lED’s. So now in essence it’s back to the way it was before I put the front and rears on when everything was right with the world. So I said ok now why isn’t my r/s working? So I take off that fairing, peel the tape back on my led wires. Now here is where it gets scary and crazy. I had all my red leads spliced together and wired to harness male connector. All my white spliced together and wired to harness. Well the red was determined by the tape marker on the harness. On my l/s fairing it was the opposite. So my question is if I didn’t touch the fairing wires to start with, why were they working before hand? This is what got me scratching my head. So I reversed the wires on one side and started to put the front led on… ok no problem, all led’s lit up. Connected rear… no problem. Connected l/s fairing …all works well. No blown fuses.

So again I ask. If it was wired backwards in one fairing from last year, why was it working with no problem until I put the front and rear on?

 

[BigRod1300]

Could it be that when wired backwards then add two more....it loaded it just enought to cause an issue, or went from right to wrong then to right with the wires. WHich realy sent it into over load?

Atleast you have working now....hope it stays good.

 

[mrnyc01]

Yeah thanks Rod. It just bugged the hell out of me. I should have been going thru this last year! But yes.. since I added the other two I can see why the load became too much. But at the very basic level, the r/s fairing should not have worked at all? ???

But whatever... it's working now and all LED's are siging in harmony! Hopefully no more problems!

Thanks to all that helped out!!!!