(rookie) Wiring tailight and pressure switch

[harsh-times]

Hello All,


I'm new to this site and to my 83' xs650 bobber. Previous owner chopped a bunch of items off of the bike and it has 7 rolls of electrical tape covering the wires. I needed some help wiring the tail light and pressure switch as they weren't connected at the time I picked up the bike. I tested pressure switch. found hot wire to pressure switch and other wire from switch to taillight. works great when switch is on. I wanted to know how to have the tail light on while bike is on and when switch activated how to have it get brighter. Just needed some easy instructions or a diagram with the use of crayons if necessary. I'm a rookie in the electrical dept.

Thanks for your help!

 

[jayel]

Hello All,


I'm new to this site and to my 83' xs650 bobber. Previous owner chopped a bunch of items off of the bike and it has 7 rolls of electrical tape covering the wires. I needed some help wiring the tail light and pressure switch as they weren't connected at the time I picked up the bike. I tested pressure switch. found hot wire to pressure switch and other wire from switch to taillight. works great when switch is on. I wanted to know how to have the tail light on while bike is on and when switch activated how to have it get brighter. Just needed some easy instructions or a diagram with the use of crayons if necessary. I'm a rookie in the electrical dept.

Thanks for your help!

nothing says shoddy workmanship like wrinkles in the duct tape I assume by pressure switch you mean the hydraulic brake light switch, the tail light/brake light is a dual element bulb, one element is used as the tail light (the dimmer one) and the brighter one comes on when the brakes (and switch) are used, check here
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61
lots of wiring diagrams should find what you need

 

[Bigzakdaddy]

If I understand you correctly, you need a running light.

You should have two wires coming from the tail light. Most fixtures are self grounding. The power wire that is powering your brake switch, should split off before the switch and run to the less bright filament. The brake switch runs to the brighter filament. Make good connections, should be an easy fix

 

[harsh-times]

Thanks for the quick response jayel! definitley some shoddy ass work done here. yes the brake switch when the rear brake is applied. yah I looked at that link. all the diagrams give me a headache. Does anyone out there have a simple explanation on how to wire this? Some of the diagrams I looked at have the power going to the switch and then the switch going straight to the taillight. tried that route but it's not on until you activate switch. Maybe my switch is jacked up? any other dummy out there have this situation. not looking for signal lights or any other accs. just want the light bulb to stay on and light up brighter when braking. no front brake either, previous guy decided to shave all hardware/mounts off! haha!

 

[harsh-times]

okay, i'll try that when i get back into town. Maybe that was my issue. I thought one was ground and one was power. I didnt even thing about the unit being self grounded. Thanks for the response!

 

[Phail]

You have one wire from the battery directly to the light. Another wire from the batter to the switch then to the light. There should be two wires on the tail light. One is brake, one is light. It's grounded through the housing (usually).

That will give you a running light and a brake light.

Wow... Just thinking... I knew nothing about motorcycles 6 months ago.

 

[harsh-times]

Thanks! I'll try it out when I get back tomorrow! Yes, there are two wires on the light. I just assumed the green was for power and the black was ground. I didn't even think of it being a self grounded unit. Electric is not my strong point..haha! This is my first bike, learning as I go!

 

[harsh-times]

All wired up! looks and works great! thanks everyone for the help!!