close call and a question

[dpotter58]

I was riding through town this afternoon on a three lane highway; I'm in the middle lane. I'm approaching an intersection and the light turns green for me. There is a line of traffic on the right and the lead car does not move when the light changes. There are several vehicles including vans and a large SUV behind it. I'm thinking one of them will get tired of waiting and pull around the lead car so I'm slowing down keeping an eye on the line of cars. I'm doing 30-35 tops; my bike has stock exhausts so it's not loud. I never heard the siren on the sheriffs car that pulled out in front of me. I lock up all brakes, down shiffting like a mad man. He sees me and stops dead in the lane right in front of me. I end up with my front wheel less than 2 feet from the front door of his cruiser. I stop, he looks at me and takes off...

I get my $hit together and ride down the road to a place I can pull off and wipe. I see my tach is dead and turn signals don't work. I check and no neutral or brake light...I pulled the side cover and find the 20 amp signal light fuse was blown. How did the fuse blow?

[prometheus578]

The fuse box is under the seat... and shorted out when you wet yourself.

[xswilly]

i've had this kind of thing happpen with my enduro bike
downshifting causes the engine to rev up high
maybe a power surge from the high reving blew the fuse
I had a missed shift on my enduro and it took out every bulb on the bike

[prometheus578]

I was sort of thinkin' the same thing, Willy. I mean...he applied no more load to the system than he would have making a normal stop(brake lights, maybe a turn signal), but there must be something more. I figured with the rapid downshifting, he'd hit some pretty high RPMs, but figured the regulator would sort that out.
I tend to agree with you... but don't know why it should have done that.

[Ken Talbot]

I'm still leaning towards your first theory, Prom. Either that, or there is a bit of wiring somewhere underneath that has rubbed itself bare but is sitting just clear of any other grounding point. The sudden stop could have let that bit move forward just enough to touch, resulting in a quick, momentary short, just enough to kill the fuse. ??

[LoserShoes]

Is the battery strapped down good and solid? Might have moved enough to touch the Positive terminal to ground.

Steve

[dpotter58]

Battery is tight. I didn't wet myself and the pucker factor should have lifted the seat off the wires...Freaked me out though.