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Install a Fuse Panel (Fuzeblock) to clean up messy wiring

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22K views 46 replies 20 participants last post by  Dam Guy  
#1 · (Edited)

Fuzeblock Mod


This mod fixes messy wiring due to added accessories.

Added accessories are generally connected directly to the battery, and each accessory needs it's own fuse protection.

Over time, the wiring for accessories becomes difficult to manage, and it takes up a lot of room. In some cases, you can't even close the battery cover.

One solution is to install an accessory 'Fuse Panel', that relocates much of the under-seat wiring to a different location.

Here is a photo of my 'BEFORE' wiring:

Image


And here's a photo of my 'AFTER' wiring:

Image


The difference between the photos is the installation of a fuse panel.

This Mod has the following benefits:

• Eliminates excess wiring underneath the seat / inside the battery compartment.
• Reduces the number of wiring connections to the battery posts.
• Relocates in-line fuse holders to a common fuse panel.
• During service, the technician can disconnect the battery without having to interpret the accessory wiring.

There are several aftermarket fuse panels available.

http://www.centechwire.com/marketing/spotlight.html

http://www.whitehorsegear.com/motorcycle-circuit-manager-fuse-block

http://www.cyclenutz.com/Blue-Sea-6-CircuitNegative-Bus_p_51.html
 
#2 · (Edited)

I chose the FuzeBlock FZ-1 fuse panel (approx $85.00) because of its compact size, and that it has a built-in Relay.

http://www.fuzeblocks.com/

The Relay is an important feature, because it lets you determine which of your accessories are 'Switchable' (controlled On/Off by the Ignition key), and which of accessories are 'Non-Switchable' (power is constantly made available to them, even without the Ignition key).

Toggling between Switchable or Non-Switchable power sources is accomplished by simply changing the positions of the fuses inside the fuse panel.

This modification is recommended to anyone that has 'rats nest' wiring underneath the seat, and is determined to finally clean it up.

Besides the cost of the fuse panel, the mod will take about 2-4 hours, and you should have a basic understanding of 12V DC wiring, and circuit fusing.

For my fuse panel installation, I found an appropriate location behind the left-hand Side-Cover.

There, on the side of the battery compartment is something called an Accessory Mounting Bracket. It's a stock item.

Here is a diagram that shows the bracket (Part item No. 5):

Image


And here's a photo that shows its location. (The bracket is indicated by the white arrow between items 4 & 7).


Image


 
#3 · (Edited)
The Fuzeblock FZ-1 has three main components:

  • a Circuit Board with Relay and fuse slots,
  • an outside Front Cover,
  • a rear plastic Backing Plate

The first step of the mod is to attach the Fuzeblock Backing Plate to the stock Accessory Mounting Bracket.

To do that, I just drilled two holes through the backing plate and through the mounting bracket. (The two open holes that you see on the mounting bracket were already there).

Position the Backing Plate so that the four corner holes are completely clear of the Accessory Mounting Bracket.

CAUTION: Use a protective shield of some kind behind the mounting bracket while drilling, or you could accidentally drill right into the ECM wiring bundle!! That would be a very costly mistake.

Use short bolts, with hex nuts on the back side of the Accessory Mounting Bracket.

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Here's another photo of the Fuzeblock Backing Plate attached to the Accessory Mounting Bracket.

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Next, cover the bolt heads with Electrical Tape, so that the bolts don't accidentally 'short out' on the backside of the Fuzeblock Circuit Board:

Image








 
#4 · (Edited)

Next, attach the Fuzeblock Circuit Board to the Backing Plate (the four screws are supplied).

Don't install fuses at this time.

Image



Next, begin to transfer your Accessory devices to the new Fuzeblock.

Accessory device 'positive' wires (+12V), which are usually colored red, connect to the terminals on the left-hand side of the Fuzeblock.

Accessory device 'negative' wires (Ground), which are usually colored black, connect to the terminals on the right-hand side of the Fuzeblock.

Accessory device number one will be located on the top pair of Positive/Negative terminals. Accessory number two will be on the next pair of terminals down, and so on. Up to 6 Accessory devices can be added.

If any of your Accessory devices had previously used an 'In-Line' fuse holders, then you won't need them anymore, and they can be cut off.

Just make note of what value the fuse was inside the holder. That value of fuse will then be installed inside the Fuzeblock panel instead.

On a piece of paper, write down the Accessory device, what value of fuse it will need, and whether power needs to be available to it all the time, or only when the motorcycle is running.

The position of the fuse (plugged into the left side of the circuit board vs. the right side of the circuit board) determines whether the Accessory has 'Non-Switched' power (Constant 12V), or 'Switched' power (Ignition switch needs to be On).

NOTE: Accessory devices with high current draws, or greater than 10 Amps (such as the 20A Stebel Horn), should still remain directly-connected to the battery. That's because the Relay on the Fuzeblock circuit board has a recommended rating of 10 Amps.

Once the Accessory devices have been transferred to the Fuzeblock, you'll need connect the Fuzeblock to the battery.

I used 10-Gauge black wire to connect the Negative terminal on the top of the Fuzeblock to the Negative post on the motorcycle battery.

I used 10-Gauge red wire to connect the Positive (+12V) terminal on the top of the Fuzeblock, first to an In-Line 30 Amp Fuse Holder, and then to the Positive post on the motorcycle battery.


Image

 
#5 · (Edited)

To control the Switched function of the Fuzeblock for Accessory devices (Fuzeblock refers to this as a +12V 'Trigger'), I tapped into the nearest convenient Switched power source that I could find: the rear tail light.


I used a Quick Splice Tap Connector, such as this one:

Image



You don't need a wire as thick as the ones going to the battery, since you only need a small trigger voltage for the Relay to operate.

The diagram below indicates where I tapped into the Grey wire leading to the tail light. (The W/B is for the brake light, and the B/W is a ground)

Image



And here's what the physical connection looks like (The blue Tap Connector is for something else).

Next to the white connector housing for the tail light, I pulled back the gloss black cable sleeve a bit, and then tapped into the Grey colored wire.

Image





 
#7 · (Edited)

Once the battery connections, and Switched power source connections are made, install the appropriate fuse values for each Accessory device, choosing either Constant or Switched power.

If you don't know the value of the fuse for an Accessory device, look up the specifications on the Vendor's website, or google it.

Install the In-Line (30 Amp) fuse on the red wire leading to the Positive side of the battery.

Test Non-Switched Accessories first, and then Switched Accessories.

Here is a photo of the Fuzeblock with the Cover Plate installed, and the wires secured:

Image


 
#8 · (Edited)
For my installation, I used the following configuration:

  • DDM HID Headlights - Switched power
  • Gerbing Heated Jacket - Constant power source (since it's rated at 15 Amps, I didn't want to stress the Relay)
  • LED Side Marker Lights - Switched power
  • Rear Cowl LED strip - Switched power

I left my Trickle Charger and Stebel Horn connected directly to the battery, each with its own In-Line Fuse Holder. (By the way, the bright little red box in the photo is a Relay for the Stebel Horn. I tucked it in behind one of the mounting grommets for the left Side Cover.)

The 30 Amp In-Line Fuse Holder for the Fuseblock was labeled 'Accessory Main'.
 
#13 ·
Good job. I likie, but only problem is that's the spot where most mount their Monster LED power box or steble horn. I'd have to find someplace else to put it. Good clean work though:bigthumbsup:
 
#14 ·
I thought people were installing the horn behind the RIGHT side cover!?

Looks like there's more room on the right side for a horn than the left side, so for me, the left side was the better choice for a fuse panel.

(i have a Stebel inside the headlight bucket, and a TFI fuel controller behind the right side cover)
 
#15 ·
Interesting, I've been thinking about doing something like this.... What I don't understand is why wouldn't they include a power in fuse on the panel instead of making people use inline fuses for getting power to the block?
 
#17 ·
Doesn't take any space to route the circuit board traces through one of those spare fuses before sending it to the relay and accessory fuses :)

for an accessory panel there really isn't a need for 2 spare fuses, just one for any critical accessories you wire to it, like a HID ballast.

Also, if you're doing this with this specific panel, keep your trickle charger cable direct to battery, if you connect it to this, you'll likely fry the block and everything attached to it because of the installed diodes which will stop any current from flowing back through to the battery.

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#18 ·
A d please don't get me wrong, the fuzeblocks panels is the best looking panel I've seen, but dealing with electrical for as long as I have with some of the companies I've worked for, I question anything that doesn't make sense to me, and this is a one of them... a fuse panel that requires inline fuses for power going to it, if you think about it you'll probably see it how I do and laugh a bit :D

That being said, ill probably order one next month :)


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#37 ·
A d please don't get me wrong, the fuzeblocks panels is the best looking panel I've seen, but dealing with electrical for as long as I have with some of the companies I've worked for, I question anything that doesn't make sense to me, and this is a one of them... a fuse panel that requires inline fuses for power going to it, if you think about it you'll probably see it how I do and laugh a bit :D

That being said, ill probably order one next month :)

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Probably a bit late to answer this but the reason for the inline fuse is to protect the wiring to the fuse box itself. You need some pretty decent wire as the main feed wire. If this was to get chaffed and short to earth it would flow a lot of heat before the wire finally burnt through!
So get that inline fuse as close to the power source (battery) as possible. Then hopefully in a fault condition the fuse will burn through and not your bike!
Makes sense to me! :bigthumbsup:
 
#19 ·
Thanks.

Yes, I understand your point. You could email Fuzeblocks and ask them about the logic in that. Seems like a good company, and the owner is likely to respond.

BTW, I did bypass the Fuzeblock and connected straight to the battery with 2 accessories:
The Trickle Charger, and the Stebel Horn.
 
#20 ·
Thank You very much for the write up. I have been thinking about installing one ofthese fuse blocks and thanks to your write up I feel more comfortable about it. It's not that I have a rats nest on my battery but I don't want it to get that way. Thanks again!! :bigthumbsup::bigthumbsup::bigthumbsup:
 
#21 ·
I probably will write or call just to see if they had reasons for designing it the way they did... who knows, maybe they'll rework it to a 2.0 version. It doesn't look like a cheap product that was just thrown together, which makes me wonder why they didn't fuse the power in directly on the board.

Of course, assuming the relay can handle 12 volts... a power in fuse realistically shouldn't be needed at all, but the extra peace of mind of protecting the box and everything attached to it is worth it :)
 
#22 ·
Finally installed mine

I've had the Fluzeblock for over a year and had not installed it. I finally got around to it when I wanted to install a 12v power adapter (cigarette lighter outlet) and wanted to have it switched. I only have the 12v and some LEDs off the power block now, but I have some plans to add more to it in the near future. I wanted to thank asviewedfrommars for the great step by step installation. I did one thing different ... I used industrial velcro to attach the block to the frame. This way I didn't have to drill any holes and I could easily remove the block when installing more stuff. The velcro holds it very well. It doesn't hold it tight to the frame like bolting it on, but it's not going anywhere !! Here is pics from my install.

 
#24 ·
Slight variation

Mounted mine horizontally cos I'm not keen on drilling in to the bike also. This means that you can use the existing 6mm holes in the bikes mounting bracket.
Glued the screws in to the plastic mounting plate first so they did not turn when doing up the nuts inside.
 
#25 ·
Mounted mine horizontally cos I'm not keen on drilling in to the bike also. This means that you can use the existing 6mm holes in the bikes mounting bracket.
Glued the screws in to the plastic mounting plate first so they did not turn when doing up the nuts inside.
View attachment 77056
:bigthumbsup:
 
#27 ·
nice, will be buying this for the bike with all the extra stuff we can do i have like extra long screws in battery with lots of eye terminals for all the wires. and i have to push hard with seat. been thinking about this for a while.

was looking for marine fuse switch combo but i think this is shorter and with relay:bigthumbsup: