Does this bike not have a small switch below the brake lever that is pressed down when you hit the brake lever, have you looked at that for any shorting out.
Odd Electrical Problem
- Thread starter Andy64
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Does this bike not have a small switch below the brake lever that is pressed down when you hit the brake lever, have you looked at that for any shorting out.
Andy64
Active Member
I have spent hours trying to get a picture on here, did the WORD doc, can't get that to go on here, tried the email thing, can't get that to attach, tried various other things, absolutely no joy.
These f ing things piss me off, why is something that should be so simple be so f ing difficult.
There is no switch under the lever.
As I can't get a photo unloaded I will reiterate again.
Simple off / on 2 pole toggle switch.
Off side of switch wiring - power cable & the tail light cable
On side of switch wiring - other tail light cable, & that is the total of the wiring
TIA,
Andy.
These f ing things piss me off, why is something that should be so simple be so f ing difficult.
There is no switch under the lever.
As I can't get a photo unloaded I will reiterate again.
Simple off / on 2 pole toggle switch.
Off side of switch wiring - power cable & the tail light cable
On side of switch wiring - other tail light cable, & that is the total of the wiring
TIA,
Andy.
This does not make electrical sense; why would you have two "tail light cables", one to each side of the switch?
What you are calling the "power cable", is it connected to battery negative or battery positive?
Your first post:-
Without a switch worked by the lever, how does the pressing the rear brake pedal work the brake light?
Dave the site owner has to pay the site hosting company for disc space. Images take up a lot of disc space so I suspect he limits the size of individual images.
Read the pm I have sent you.
Andy64
Active Member
OK, got a friend to help get this on here.
The red wire is the power wire that comes down from the high / low beam switch to the off side of the toggle switch.
The brown wire is the tail light wire.
The blue wire is also the tail light wire, to the on side of the toggle switch.
Turning the switch to the on position sends power to both the tail light & head light, turning them both on.
When the switch is in the off position, this is when the headlamp still comes on, for whatever reason the brown wire is suppling power to the headlamp when the rear brake pedal is pressed down.
It has never done this before, only started after this winters hibernation.
Any help would be appreciated please.
TIA,
Andy.
The red wire is the power wire that comes down from the high / low beam switch to the off side of the toggle switch.
The brown wire is the tail light wire.
The blue wire is also the tail light wire, to the on side of the toggle switch.
Turning the switch to the on position sends power to both the tail light & head light, turning them both on.
When the switch is in the off position, this is when the headlamp still comes on, for whatever reason the brown wire is suppling power to the headlamp when the rear brake pedal is pressed down.
It has never done this before, only started after this winters hibernation.
Any help would be appreciated please.
TIA,
Andy.
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Are those factory connections and is the headlights normally packed with paper?
No and no.
Do you have a wiring diagram for this model? Any idea when this wiring “repair” was done and for what reason?
Andy64
Active Member
This is a hand built bobber, by me, there is no wiring diagram, wired by my friend who has been working with motorcycles & electrics for nearly 50 year's.
These wiring systems are as simple as they come, lights, charging system, ignition system.
This issue has only occurred after this winters hibernation period.
These wiring systems are as simple as they come, lights, charging system, ignition system.
This issue has only occurred after this winters hibernation period.
Oh ok. A unique specimen. I can’t really help then as I have no idea how you wired it. Perhaps just try trace what is connected to where and see if anything seems off.
About the same as me. Only I use easily available Lucas colour coded wire on British bikes I wire. So, if there is a problem, anyone who knows the Lucas colour code can help ...
Your friend who wired the bike cannot help you?
All you can do is create your own wiring diagram and check it wire by wire and each fuse. Let us know how it turns out and what you find. Good luck.
Good luck, would be interesting to hear what the problem really is.
Andy64
Active Member
Hello.
I have found the cable that is turning on the headlamp when the rear brake pedal is pressed down, it's the cable that supplies power to the dip beam.
I still have no idea why power is going to this cable when the lights are off & only comes on when the brake pedal is pressed down.
Any idea anyone ?
TIA,
Andy.
I have found the cable that is turning on the headlamp when the rear brake pedal is pressed down, it's the cable that supplies power to the dip beam.
I still have no idea why power is going to this cable when the lights are off & only comes on when the brake pedal is pressed down.
Any idea anyone ?
TIA,
Andy.
Sorry, no idea without knowing how it’s wired. Something is making a connection when it shouldn’t. Wiring may be simple, but we don’t know physically what is related to what. Look for damaged wiring or any off signs in connectors, switches and relays. Trace that wire and see what you find. You could try taking the same gauge wire and run it temporarily from point to point and see what happens. If you can create a working system outside the loom it might indicate something is wrong within it.
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So the first quote above does not make any sense.
Dip beam and main beam are switched (by the dipswitch). As your post #24 showed a round headlight shell, the headlight bulb has two filaments, one for dip, the other for main? Therefore more likely the cable you found is the earth for the complete bulb (both filaments).
If earth cable, depending whether the bike's electrics are negative- or positive-earth, the cable is either the supply from battery negative (negative-earth) to the bulb or the return from the bulb to battery positive (positive-earth). If you have not done so already, follow (and draw?) the complete circuit from battery negative to battery positive.
and post it.
Andy64
Active Member
Firstly I want to thank you all for helping me, good news is, I found the problem, it turned out to be the LED light in the tail lamp, for whatever reason it was sending power to the headlamp, soon as I swapped it out problem solved.
Now it's just waiting for the next issue to raise it's head, hahaha
Now it's just waiting for the next issue to raise it's head, hahaha
Congrats! Glad it turned out simple. LED not being original is I guess an added quirk. For future work you could make an electrical diagram with notations on the new components. It seems systems were changed and I kind of wonder what parts of the electrical system is even close to original. In some respects it’s not really a classic. It’s more of a custom build at least sounds like it electronically. Keep us posted and let’s hope the gremlins stay away! Enjoy riding!
Similar to the more common problem of LED headlight main beam warning light also being lit when the headlight is on dip.
