Is this safe electric wise?

[Bluehaze]

Ok so i brought up an issue before in the forum regarding how hard it is to add cable to the positive side.  I made a suggestion of getting a thick wire to come out of the positive side and having multiple wires connect to that as oppose to the positive terminal itself where the screw is only so long.  Below is my solution. This was bought from radio shack cost less than 10 bucks i think.   This allows me to add 1 more positive terminals to the battery.  I dont think i will use all of those slots.  However i found it way easier to deal with rather than cut into the existing positive wire.  I have 3 more mods i am going to do that require me to have access to the positive terminal.  Right now i have the nautilus horn connected 20amp fuse, my blue underlighting 3 amp fuse, and ligther kit to power my gps 20 amp fuse.  I will still add  heated grips.   So is this a safe setup? I am not sure if being in the open like that is a bad thing?  If you notice the one wire coming from the positive terminal. that side actually has a strip of metal connecting all those screws together.  In the box its rated at 15 amps.

Is this dangerous?  As you can see i do have fuses that are attached to the positive but they are after this contraption. 

[philward]

Personally I would have the fuse before your new bus - ie directly after the battery.  That way if anything were to contact the bare metal terminals of your strip and short it to ground (the bike frame) the fuse would blow instead of turning your electrical system into an arc welder.  Alternatively you could come up with some sort of insulating hood - like they have on the positive terminal of the battery.

Also, do you really need your gps on a 20A fuse?  That must be one hell of a gps!  (I would have though it better to run that off the regulated 12V supply, eg the headlight circuit - it would also switch with your ignition)

[scottpA_GS]

Hmmm... I think too much bling for the little GS. Adding that much crap you are asking for electrical problems. I would ditch the lights at least

[lowcountrygs]

I agree on the cover, also maybe a fuse and relay before it so you don't drain your battery by accident.

[Bluehaze]

Thanks for the input.. the fuse.. between the battery and this "bus"  should it be 20 amps? or can it be larger and still be safe? I am not exactly sure how much amp the nautilius and the heated grips would pull at the same time.. I guess i will find out and just go a few amps higher than that. 

[Paulcet]

Did you say the bus was rated for 15 amps?  Is that per circuit? or the whole thing?  If it is for the whole thing, you will want to fuse at that 15 amp limit.  And you don't want a higher rated fuse after a lower one:  If the fuse in front of the bus is 15 amps, the 20 amp going to the lighter socket will never blow.

If I was doing this, I would fuse each major circuit, but not each individual item. 


You would have a major circuit for critical/safety items, the things that you definitely would want to get fixed before riding again if one is blowing a fuse.  Then you have a major circuit for each high-current thing such as heated grips.  And finally you have a circuit for non-critical eye-candy such as underglow lights or whatever.

Finally, make sure the wire and connections are heavy enough to withstand as much current as your fuse will deliver.  Oh, and cover the bus with something to prevent accidental contact with metal items.

[fred]

Yeah, you should cover the bus. One day you are going to reach in there without paying attention and you will regret it.