Towed...........

[HwyRider]

The 12 ga is a thick wire and will take higher temps to melt through.

[macmac]

12 ga is bigger wire to ground, to insure there is a good ground.

[Jared]

I understand that, but the wires aren't coming together and then going to a ground or somewhere. It's just a junction.

[macmac]

Ground the junction.

[mr500]

Originally Posted by Jared

I understand that, but the wires aren't coming together and then going to a ground or somewhere. It's just a junction.

Yes the wires are coming together then to the gnd on the battery. They are in this connector which is like a buss bar. In it you have 13 gnds coming from the bike and the 14th wire coming off the battery neg which in turn grounds ALL the wires in said junction.

What I did as suggested, is added another extra wire and grounded out to the frame. So I now have 2 gnds to that junction. So far all is working well with my repair job. Ran out 70+ miles yesterday with no problem

[macmac]

On stock bike the ALL the lamps have a ground wire, and the only ground the forks have is bearing rollers and races for them. If you have items like PASSING LAMPS there must be a short bit of wire from the forks to the frame PERIOD.

For Junction 2 which IS a high resistance connection evidently It Should have it's own path to ground created by the bikes owner. Evidently this J-2 is not grounded well enough, and needs a larger gnd closer to IT than IT has.

The larger the wire dia the better the ground is when you are having issues of hogh resistance connections.

[macmac]

Originally Posted by HwyRider

The 12 ga is a thick wire and will take higher temps to melt through.

It will allow more current to flow.

Electricity is like water. Wire is like hose. A spray nozzle is like a connector.

You can run 1/2" ID hose in a garden about 75 feet before you lose pressure.

You can run 5/8ths on ID hose in a garden about 100 feet before you lose pressure.

You can run 3/4" ID hose in a garden about 125 feet before you lose pressure.

After these apx distances adding a sprinkler head is nearly point less. The hoses have added too much resistance.

With wire as it is in use it gets hot, or warmer. The warmer it gets the less flow it has. This is part of the cause of a melt down.

Electrical DIRT oxidation, is like that sprinkler head, which compounds the problem when the wire is at the size for a given circuit.

ALL slip joint connectors are bad connections, and a soldered wire us always better electrically. Wires with connectors are for places to open and remove parts, but that still doesn't make connections a great idea. it just means techs don't have to cut wire and solder it all back