I have a 2023 800 trail. I installed a couple of light pods and noticed that one of the wire connectors wasn't connected securely, so one light would go on/off sometimes when riding.

Before I could get back home and replace the connector my charging fuse blew. Same thing happened about 1k miles ago when installing a light bar.


Could it be the light pods/wiring that blew the fuse? I have them on relays and fuses connected to the bus bar under the hood.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Explain your relay system.

Light —> fuse—>relay—>bus bar (power)


Switch—>relay

So from the bus bar(power) it goes to a relay, then a fuse, then to the light. And my switch just goes to the relay.

I'm almost positive that's how it's done up. I'd have to look.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

So your 23 Z800 has a buss bar or acc block? Is that block hot all the time or is it also powered through a relay(no power with key off)? And when you say the charging fuse gets blown, is that fuse listed as "charging"? I ask because on previous models the charging circuit just dumps in the system power (just ahead of the main fuse) and charges the battery through it first. No fuse...other then the main 20 or 30 amp fuse. 

It is the accessory block that came installed from the factory. It has a negative post and then one that is hot all the time and another that is only hot when the key is on.

Yes, the fuse that is labeled as charging and it is a 40 amp.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Wish I could find a wiring diagram for the 23...it would sure make running this down easier..

I just checked and it is actually labeled as Charge Fuse 40A

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Well..blowing a 20-40 amp fuse is serious...regardless of what it's said to be for. Takes a dead short to do that.

That's why I assumed it was something to do with either the lights, or user error. Because it's only happened twice in 2k miles, and both times I was either installing a light, or had an issue such as a bad connection.



Forgive my ignorance. What qualifies as a dead short?

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Forgive my ignorance. What qualifies as a dead short?

Oh any short that has low or no resistance between positive and ground. Like straight from hot to ground....the kind of thing that causes fires.

Well that's just awesome

Could this be a result from the hot wire to my light grounding out against the frame or the ground wire? I didn't notice that happening, but my wire harness has two sets of leads and I taped one set up. It would be my luck that they somehow touched each other.



Then again, wouldn't that just blow the fuse on the wiring harness?

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Worth checking.

I checked the wires and Everything seemed fine. Went riding today and the voltage dropped to 12.8 while riding. Pulled the charging fuse and it has a black spot on it, but isn't blown. Put it back in and voltage went to normal.

Well, rode again and the charging fuse blew again.

So I removed the pod lights and their entire wiring harness. Now I have only one harness to a 22%u201D light bar.

Volts stay between 13.5 and 14.2 with the light bar activated.


When I had the pods and the light bar activated the volts would dip down to 13.2-13.3ish.