Switched Fuse Block Installation

Over the years I’ve added more than a few electrical accessories to my Harley ride. I dumped the terrible stock horn for an air horn that fits inside the stock horn cover. I’ve added gps and heated jacket relays. There’s a Powerlet outlet for my cheap and very portable tire air pump. An LED voltmeter is the crowning touch for a check on the highly inaccurate stock meter on my bagger.

After all that, I decided that I needed a switched fuse block harness from easternbeaver.com to make sense of the wiring nightmare I created. The harness comes with a relay and socket that allows it to be switched on and off with the ignition switch when wired into the bike’s electrical system.

I replaced the marine-grade ST blade fuse block from Blue Sea Systems with a PC-8 fuse panel from easternbeaver.com. The Blue Sea unit, although covered, was open to road dust and rain splash under the left side-panel on my Harley bagger. I used duct tape in an attempt to cover most of the openings.

• Above is the easternbeaver.com harness that I ordered. It comes with a 30-amp fuse and the relay, complete with a relay socket. Had I the ability I couldn’t have built a harness of this quality — and all for approximately U$37.00 which includes shipping.

• I kept this harness when I used it to power the PC-8 fuse panel. easternbeaver.com does make a harness specifically to fit the PC-8 that includes a battery lead to power the two unswitched bus connections.

• Above is the marine-grade Blue Sea fuse block that was installed under the left side cover. It’s an ST Blade Fuse Block 6-circuit with negative bus. I’ve replaced it with the fuse panel, below.

DISCONNECT THE BATTERY.

REMOVE THE FUSE FROM THE easternbeaver.com WIRING HARNESS

• I used 3M Dual Lock tape on the back of the Power Center 8 fuse panel. There’s a good explanation of Dual Lock tape here. Don’t use Goo Gone or anything similar to clean the mating surfaces. It leaves a residue behind.

• The ignition switched lead, with the blue connector pictured in the wiring harness photo at the top of the page, can be connected to any wire you choose that is switched on with the ignition switch. You’ll hear the relay click when the power is turned on.

• One final thing: Prior to installation, I removed the fuse from the wiring harness for obvious reasons. Don’t do what I did and forget to re-install the harness fuse after the job is complete. I scratched my head for a while trying to figure out that the harness needed its fuse.

Are you looking for an LED voltmeter? Look no further.