Alright guys so I was working on my bike today, did some mods, got the R6 tail light mounted. Squeezed the brake lever a few times and my brake light went out each time. On the forth or so squeeze  There was a loud pop accompanied by smoke, but since I was in the dark I couldnt quite find where it was coming from before it stopped. So my question is, is this fuse the culprit that needs replaced? Also any ides what coulda caused this? I may have reversed the wires on the front brake lever, or maybe i have the tail light wired wrong. Or is the fact that its an led tail light and it could be drawing too much current? Thanks!   Again is this little guy the culprit that needs replacing?

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That is not a fuse. It looks like the dual diode. The dual diode isolates the neutral switch from the side stand switch and works with the side stand relay to kill the bike if the side stand is down and the bike is not in neutral.

Your real fuse is UNDER the rubber cover where the starter relay plugs into the wiring harness. There may be a fuse right out in the open which is a spare fuse, not the real one.

Ill go and see what I can find. Ive never seen a fuse on my starter relay :/ atleast that I know of. Be back with more pics soon

Ok forgive me if I chose the wrong thing to take pictures of. But if im not mistaking this is my starter relay. And I dont have a fuse on it at all not even on the bottom I tried buying a replacement relay once and it woudnt work with the bike. Was it that metal strip on the back that melted by chance?

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A little history please?

What rear is the bike?
Any idea what a previous owner did?
Have you seen signs of patched and doctored electricals?

That melted thing bears some resemblance to the innerds of a blown fuse. But I've not seen that on a GS500. Out fuses always have been the auto dual leaf orange thingies with 20A stamped on the back.

That's a different connector than I'm used to seeing on that starter relay. I can look at some older harnesses when I get home in a few hours. I think I have an 89 in the pile. I have seen a separate plastic cube with a flip open cap for fuses on 89's. Still they were the standard auto type fuse. Sometimes they were mounted on an ear off the back of the battery box but I don't see that in your picture.

 Bike is a 1992.  No clue what the previous owner did to the bike besides stripped it and left it sit since 1999. The  wiring seems pretty stock and unaffected.  Again I'm the first one to touch this bike much less get it to run in 10+years that relay was the only one that worked with the bike. I bought a GS relay with the fuse and the bike wouldn't do anything. Moment I put this relay back in it worked perfect. Is this relay even for the GS? Or by chance do I have some foreign relay on the bike.

So you did some electrical mods, and immediately afterwards electricals started popping? Are you sure your mod was correct? What did you do?

Do I understand correctly that your brake light went off each time you squeezed the brake lever (instead of getting brighter)? Obviously, this does not sound right.

That is correct.  I knew that was a flub on my part. But the main mod electrically was the swap to the r6 taillight. I swapped wire for wire and it illuminated no issue. I'm curious if I accidentaly caused a short somewhere from my flub at the master cylinder wiring where I reversed the two.

I have seen front brake switches blow the fuse when the wires were worn and touched the handle bars or handle bar mounts. One side of the brake switch is +12. A short there takes out the fuse.

Alright, hopefully this weekend I can try and maybe find a way to mount the 20 fuse in place of that piece of metal and see if that solves my issue. If not Ill probably shoot myself trying to chase down this issue. 

Alright guys, solved it. Ended up soldering a 20a fuse between the two pieces of metal and got all my power back. Redid the connections and put them in the proper place on the master cylinder, and fixed all the wiring with the r6 tail light. Works like a charm now!

Good fix but get a fuse on pigtails and connect that so you can replace the fuse without needing a soldering iron.  A roadside breakdown you won't have a soldering iron.

Next challenge is what did the PO do to the wiring so you don't have the right starter and fuse?

 

QuoteNext challenge is what did the PO do to the wiring so you don't have the right starter and fuse?

have no clue, I bought this bike for 100 bucks and an xbox. The guy "claimed" he worked at a bike shop. But everything was wrong on the bike. Even the clutch and axel were installed backwards 0.o

Quote from: aaronmact on January 19, 2014, 10:55:31 PM

QuoteNext challenge is what did the PO do to the wiring so you don't have the right starter and fuse?

have no clue, I bought this bike for 100 bucks and an xbox. The guy "claimed" he worked at a bike shop. But everything was wrong on the bike. Even the clutch and axel were installed backwards 0.o

Couldabeen Farfromsober

+1 on the inline fuse, I bought one the other day for $2 at an auto parts store.

PS. Make sure you have a tool kit, I changed my fuse the other day in 20 degree (F) weather with a single blade pocket knife. It sucks! Between sears and HF i put together a kit for $20 that fits under the seat.