Charles Durning's Journal --
I finally got fed up with the crappy fuse box in my CBB GT. The problem is a loose connection between the glass fuse and the terminals in the fuse block. The loose terminal can be a source of numerous electrical issues. The fuses have always been a bit loose and nothing I did seemed to resolve the problem. Another red flag is the area where the glass fuse is in contact with the fuse block terminals was darkened. Also I could feel warmth on the contacts for the lights after a short while with the lights on, not good. That is most likely from arcing due to a weak contact. My first solution was to replace the fuse block and fuses with an original. Well that was no better. I have had this problem with other cars and decided to use the same solution on the GT. That solution is to convert to modern ATC/ATO fuses. Ideally converting to a 6 or an 8 circuit fuse block would be best but I didn't want to take the time to identify the circuits and make a new mount for the larger fuse box. What I did do was convert to a 4 fuse box. The fuse box I found has the same mounting spacing so no new holes were drilled. I only had to run a drill through the mounting holes of the new fuse box so the original screws would pass through. Because there are more than 8 wires connected to the original fuse block I got some spade 2 to 1 adapters so I could hook two wires to each terminal as the factory arrangement. In the original factory fuse block the 2 top fuses are paired for the lights. That is one feed for 2 fused circuits. On the ATC fuse block none of the circuits are paired. That issue was resolved with a jumper wire. The original factory fuses are 17/35 amp. In my opinion that is too high amperage fuse given the size of the wires. Thus a 6 or an 8 circuit box would allow a fuse appropriate to the wire size. I'll tackle that later. I currently have 15 amp fuses in each circuit with no issues. While I was in there I installed a sub fuse block for added accessories such an another power port and the future A/C. To make that work I ran a new 10GA hot wire from the starter to an insulated stud terminal. That serves 2 purposes, 1) takes the additional electrical load off of the factory harness, and 2) gives easily accessible 12 volt power under the hood. That fuse block is powered through a relay so the accessories are turned off when the ign key is off. The net result is the head lights appear to be brighter and the heater fan actually blows some air. And finally I took the time to hard wire in a lead for my float charger.
Posted 2017-04-03 08:28:59 by charles durning
I finally got fed up with the crappy fuse box in my CBB GT. The problem is a loose connection between the glass fuse and the terminals in the fuse block. The loose terminal can be a source of numerous electrical issues. The fuses have always been a bit loose and nothing I did seemed to resolve the problem. Another red flag is the area where the glass fuse is in contact with the fuse block terminals was darkened. Also I could feel warmth on the contacts for the lights after a short while with the lights on, not good. That is most likely from arcing due to a weak contact. My first solution was to replace the fuse block and fuses with an original. Well that was no better. I have had this problem with other cars and decided to use the same solution on the GT. That solution is to convert to modern ATC/ATO fuses. Ideally converting to a 6 or an 8 circuit fuse block would be best but I didn't want to take the time to identify the circuits and make a new mount for the larger fuse box. What I did do was convert to a 4 fuse box. The fuse box I found has the same mounting spacing so no new holes were drilled. I only had to run a drill through the mounting holes of the new fuse box so the original screws would pass through. Because there are more than 8 wires connected to the original fuse block I got some spade 2 to 1 adapters so I could hook two wires to each terminal as the factory arrangement. In the original factory fuse block the 2 top fuses are paired for the lights. That is one feed for 2 fused circuits. On the ATC fuse block none of the circuits are paired. That issue was resolved with a jumper wire. The original factory fuses are 17/35 amp. In my opinion that is too high amperage fuse given the size of the wires. Thus a 6 or an 8 circuit box would allow a fuse appropriate to the wire size. I'll tackle that later. I currently have 15 amp fuses in each circuit with no issues. While I was in there I installed a sub fuse block for added accessories such an another power port and the future A/C. To make that work I ran a new 10GA hot wire from the starter to an insulated stud terminal. That serves 2 purposes, 1) takes the additional electrical load off of the factory harness, and 2) gives easily accessible 12 volt power under the hood. That fuse block is powered through a relay so the accessories are turned off when the ign key is off. The net result is the head lights appear to be brighter and the heater fan actually blows some air. And finally I took the time to hard wire in a lead for my float charger.
 <fuse block> |  <adaptor terminal> |  <IMG 1598> |
 <IMG 0745[2]> |  <IMG 0746[1]> |
Posted 2017-04-03 08:28:59 by charles durning
