Hand warmers killing power.

[Ryno56]

So I put some CFR hand warmer elements on my '17 MC, wired them up as per the directions (red-ground, black-low, white-hi) and when I started the sled they weren't working at all. Turned out I had a blown fuse so I changed it and now when I turn the heaters on, the headlight and gauge shut off. The thumb heater still works fine and it doesn't do it if I unplug the elements. I'm going to do some more testing on Wednesday when I have a chance to get back to it but does anyone have any ideas as to what's going on? I do have aftermarket bars and switches but it used to work fine until I decided to change the elements.
I don't get it. Even if they were wired wrong, why would it kill the headlight and gauges?

 

[XCaSSAULT]

My guess is something is grounding out when warmers are turned on. Wouldn’t matter hi or low cause both use the same element just diff circuits. Maybe try with elements removed and in the air/off sled

 

[Ryno56]

I'm sure the elements themselves are not grounding out to the bars, I wrapped them with foam tape first. I really don't want to try to take them back off either because I'd most likely ruin them, but it may come to that.

 

[XCaSSAULT]

U could try a volt meter set on continuity-alarm. Were the meter will beep if a crossed connection is sensed.

One volt meter wire on ground and one on heater wire. If u get a beep then warmers are grounding

 

[Ryno56]

I'll check that tonight. It does make sense that one or both of the elements could be shorted to ground to cause the problem since it doesn't happen if they're unplugged. I didn't check it with just one or the other plugged in, I'll try that tonight too.
Still scratching my head. The hand warmers are basically just a wire short anyway so I don't really get how it's related to the other electronics.

 

[tadder52]

The hand warmers are basically just a wire short anyway so I don't really get how it's related to the other electronics.

The warmers aren't a short. They have a resistance to drop potential over the element. If the warmers make contact to ground they cause a short causing it to use all the amps the sled can provide. This pulls all the power from the other electronics due to the power finding and easier way to ground and thus killing the sled.

 

[Ryno56]

Got it fixed. I narrowed it down to the left hand grip and I cut all the heat shrink off my wire splices and spread the three wires apart and everything worked like normal. Somehow the solder joints must have poked through 2 layers of heat shrink and shorted out. I'm going to redo it all and keep the wire splices apart so hopefully it won't be an issue again.

Thanks for your input fellas.