The final episode

The electrical gremlin just couldn't be ignored. It was so annoying. While not "mission critical", it was annoying and expensive. Often, when I would stop for gas, my load shed relay would fail. This would require that I remove my camping gear and replace the relay. Unfortunately, these are not your "off the shelf" relays and could only be found at a BMW motorcycle dealer.

I finally got fed up. I removed the subject relay socket first by releasing the clips, then I would push the the relay down, twist and pull up so that I could see the bottom of the socket. Sure enough, it was fried, a near dead short. I thought that I could just remove the relay from the circuit and only be left with the handicap of my lights not going out when I start my bike. Of course, this is how 90% of all the motorcycles in the world work, so it can't be that bad. Once I rewired the circuit without the relay, I realized there was a reason I became a structural engineer and not an electrical engineer. The way I had it wired, my lights would be on all the time, even with the key off. This is no good, I thought. Fortunately, I had a relay sitting on my bench. It came with the Centech fuse block I had ordered but had yet to install. I wired it in the circuit after testing it proving it would work. Unfortunately, my wiring skills once again let me down because I didn't have lights once I got it wired into the circuit.

It was time to call in my good friend and tech guru Jim Bud. His wiring skills are much better than mine. Once he fixed a couple of connections, it worked like a charm. I tested it by running the longest ride of my life, the Three Flags Classic, without a problem. Finally, the demon has been excised for good!