Circuit breakers

[angus67]

Ive got a 1980, and the fuse.block is gone. In its place is circuit breakers. Bike runs fine. Non of them have tripped. My neighbor blasted around the hood for a bit. He wants it.
Im wondering if i should go to atc's , or leave it alone. The wiring is in good shape other than this. Po used a decent crimp on the conectors.
Im curious why po did this. Piece of mind? Intermittent fuse blow he couldnt find the cause of? The breakers were installed before the guy i got it from baught it over five years ago, no problems.
They have the proper values, but are unmarked. (10's and 20's) Sure, I could trace wires all day, but im not going to unless y'all advise me to atc it.
Opinions?

 

[fredintoon]

Ive got a 1980, and the fuse.block is gone. In its place is circuit breakers. Bike runs fine. Non of them have tripped. My neighbor blasted around the hood for a bit. He wants it.
Im wondering if i should go to atc's , or leave it alone. The wiring is in good shape other than this. Po used a decent crimp on the conectors.
Im curious why po did this. Piece of mind? Intermittent fuse blow he couldnt find the cause of? The breakers were installed before the guy i got it from baught it over five years ago, no problems.
They have the proper values, but are unmarked. (10's and 20's) Sure, I could trace wires all day, but im not going to unless y'all advise me to atc it.
Opinions?

Hi angus,
FWIW, house electrics have had circuit breakers instead of fuses since perhaps the 1930s and they work OK.
So long as your XS650's circuit breakers are hooked up correctly I don't see any problem in leaving them there.
As to seeing which breaker does what, try short-circuiting stuff to see which one pops.
As to why the dreaded PO swapped to circuit breakers from fuses, I have two guesses:-
1) He became disenchanted with the stock glass tube fuse block, couldn't find a spade fuse block he liked and used circuit breakers instead.
2) Or like you said; he had a short he couldn't find, got sick of replacing fuses every time he guessed wrong and swapped in something he could re-set.

 

[Max Midnight]

If it ain't broke why fix it?
Some folk will modify things just 'cos they can (Ego sum reus) with no reason other than that.
If you can trip a breaker (as in a house system) or disconnect the wires going into it you will be able to establish which function on the bike no longer works.

 

[angus67]

Thanks guys. I'll leave them.

 

[fredintoon]

Thanks guys. I'll leave them.

Hi angus,
"Don't mess with success", right?
If you do end up selling the bike to your neighbor, best you tell him about the circuit breakers though.
" No idea why a PO installed this upgrade" is a reasonable spin on the topic.

 

[MaxPete]

When I was having my own Battle of the Turn Signals on Lucille last year - I installed a breaker because I (literally) ran through two entire boxes of blade fuses in an hour or two (and YES I KNOW that indicates that my electrical troubleshooting skills may be suspect) - and I got tired of trotting off the store for more fuses.

Once I got the problems (and there were waaaaayyyy more than one) solved - I went back to a fuse. Nevertheless, I see no reason why you cannot stay with a breaker.

PRF

 

[fredintoon]

When I was having my own Battle of the Turn Signals on Lucille last year - I installed a breaker because I (literally) ran through two entire boxes of blade fuses in an hour or two (and YES I KNOW that indicates that my electrical troubleshooting skills may be suspect) - and I got tired of trotting off the store for more fuses.

Once I got the problems (and there were waaaaayyyy more than one) solved - I went back to a fuse. Nevertheless, I see no reason why you cannot stay with a breaker.

PRF

Hi Pete,
the next short circuit safari you go on, try this:-
Rather than blow fuses by the boxful or install a circuit breaker, rig up a headlight bulb on two wires across the fuse terminals to test the current flow.
If the (whatever) system works as it should and the bulb stays black or perhaps glows dull red then that circuit is drawing less current than a headlight bulb and is likely OK.
OTOH, if the bulb shines real good then that circuit is drawing more current than a headlight bulb and is likely shorted out.

 

[MaxPete]

Great idea Fred - thanks!

My late Dad was the electrical whiz - me.....not so much I'm afraid.

Pete