Seeking BASIC Electrical Advice, possible blown relay

[Lord la la]

While hooking up some auxiliary LED driving lamps into the Honda auxiliary harness, I discarded the kit supplied illuminated switch and substituted a non-illuminated toggle on/off switch.

The illuminated switch had 3 prongs to accept 3 wires from the LED light harness. Two of the three LED wires were red, and one was black.

The toggle switch had only two leads, both black so I assumed polarity didn't matter.

I connected the two red wires from the LED harness together and connected them to the toggle switch. I then connected the LED harness black wire to the toggle switch,

I heard a "click" and in a nanosecond the LEDs flashed on and off.

So in an effort to figure out what i had done wrong:
I checked the LED light circuit fuse, it was good.

I replaced the toggle switch with the kit supplied illuminated switch, nothing....

I plugged the LED lights into the harness lead normally used for my GPS, nothing...

I plugged my GPS into its harness lead and it didn't work...

I connected the LEDs directly to the battery using the illuminated switch and they WORKED.

But my GPS and heated grips now don't work.

Obviously I'm no electrical genius, but I'm guessing that I've shorted the Honda auxiliary harness relay (?)

So I'm seeking two bits of advice.
1. Does it sound as if I've blown the relay, and if so how do I check it?
2. How do I hook up the three wires to the two wire toggle switch?

TIA for any advice...

 

[silverhound]

More likely you blew the 7.5 amp fuse that came with the aux. harness relay.

My guess on the wiring is that the black is a ground and if you're not using the three prong switch you should connect it to a grounding point. The two red wires probably complete the circuit so they are the ones you should connect to the switch. This is just a guess though without actually seeing the set-up so I disavow any responsibility for having your bike explode if I'm wrong.

 

[ziggie]

I would check the inline fuse first,like said.prob just blew it.

 

[Lord la la]

Thanks, so I'm guessing that I'll have to remove that freakin' side panel again(?)

And...can the black wire (ground) go directly to the negative battery terminal?

 

[Lord la la]

Too late, I've already removed the side panel...I guess it's in the battery compartment!

 

[670cc]

The 7.5 amp fuse that silverhound suggested checking is in the fuse box next to the battery. No need to take the side cover off to get to it. OOPS, you just discovered that.

 

[silverhound]

When you wrote that you had checked the LED circuit fuse I thought you were referring to the the inline fuse on the harness (which really should have blown before the relay fuse) so that's why I suggested to check the relay fuse which also would explain why your GPS and heated grips didn't work either. The relay fuse is right next to the relay in the battery compartment.

Anyhow, the fact that you connected the both red and the black wire to the switch and then turned it on would definitely explain why you have blown a fuse somewhere and the relay fuse should have prevented the relay from getting fried.

 

[Lord la la]

Thanks all... Silverhound, you read correctly. The LED inline fuse is 15A, so no surprise that the Honda accessory fuse blew first as it is only 7.5A.

Anyway, now that I have stripped my red bodywork off.... does anyone want to swap? My red, for your white, silver or black?

BTW, it's all good now. The lights work fine.

 

[670cc]

Thanks all... Silverhound, you read correctly. The LED inline fuse is 15A, so no surprise that the Honda accessory fuse blew first as it is only 7.5A.

Anyway, now that I have stripped my red bodywork off.... does anyone want to swap? My red, for your white, silver or black?

BTW, it's all good now. The lights work fine.

I would definitely have swapped my grey (some people call it silver) for your red panels anyday, but too late for me because now mine's burnt orange. I painted mine since I didn't see any hope for a swap.

BTW, 15A is way overkill for an LED lighting system unless you're running about a dozen light modules. Typical 10 watt LED aux lamp pulls less than 1 amp.

 

[silverhound]

BTW, 15A is way overkill for an LED lighting system unless you're running about a dozen light modules. Typical 10 watt LED aux lamp pulls less than 1 amp.

Agree^^^^ Lord La La, do yourself a favor and switch that 15A fuse with a 5A which is still probably overkill for the LEDs but will at least prevent the 7.5A relay fuse from blowing if you have another short in your LED circuit (whether by accident or by intentionally hooking ALL the wires together on a switch ).

Glad you got it worked out!

 

[MZ5]

Anyway, now that I have stripped my red bodywork off.... does anyone want to swap? My red, for your white, silver or black?

Mmmm... Red bodywork...


I SOOO wish I could strip and ship mine to you conveniently. Silver is not my favorite color, though I'm glad it's not black...

 

[ziggie]

I would also rather have red,not sure I could get it all back on with out a manual or something.