LED tail light need resistor?

TAlber8

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Replaced tail light with LED assembly and having issues.

Original one worked fine, was just looking nvm for brighter and tidier.

With LED, Signal on dash is flashing, whole assembly goes off if I hit the brakes. I figured this was from cheap assembly but I noticed if all is unplugged, the same effect happens. Plug old assembly back in and it works.

should there be a resistor in here somewhere?

kinda odd the dash light flickers too, not steady.
 
Anytime I got weird tail-brake light issues I suspect grounds FIRST.
Not all chincon wiring follows black is ground conventions..... mebby try swapping wires round til it works?
I got some goofy rear LED turn signal issues on WJL I ain't figgered out yet either...
 
Replaced tail light with LED assembly and having issues.

Original one worked fine, was just looking nvm for brighter and tidier.

With LED, Signal on dash is flashing, whole assembly goes off if I hit the brakes. I figured this was from cheap assembly but I noticed if all is unplugged, the same effect happens. Plug old assembly back in and it works.

should there be a resistor in here somewhere?

kinda odd the dash light flickers too, not steady.
What year Special? I assume it's '78, '79, or '80 Special II. These bikes had a detector for a failed lamp. If the lamp circuit is open, the fail light illuminates on the pilot box. In your case, the LED lamp is detected as a failure.
 
Yes, the voltage draw of the LED is so low, the light checker thinks it's burned out. This happened on my '78 when I installed a LED tail light bulb. The dash warning light came on full time. My "fix" was simply to remove the dash bulb, lol. Eventually, I took the light checker unit right off since it wasn't doing anything anymore. I then used that dash spot for a voltmeter .....

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Sooo... yeah the yellow wire on the light was the ground, not black.

looks like if I want to keep the brake light on dash I need a resistor though, it flickers.

actual brake light works as expected though
 
Heh. I swapped out both brake light and headlight for LEDs. And I thought that the flicker in my LED headlight was a special feature, to catch the attention of vehicles.

When I got the bike years ago, I got rid of various warning lights. At the time, I figured, "What do I need a warning light for? If the headlight is out, I should be able to tell, 'cause it's really hard to see at night." Wonder if the light checker would be on, if it still existed.

The brake light is just a bulb I got off eBay, intended for cars. No idea if it has a built-in resistor; although I've tinkered around with LED bulbs enough to imagine that it probably does. It works, although I find it a bit dim as a running light. As a brake light, it's good and bright.
 
The brake light is just a bulb I got off eBay, intended for cars. No idea if it has a built-in resistor; although I've tinkered around with LED bulbs enough to imagine that it probably does. It works, although I find it a bit dim as a running light. As a brake light, it's good and bright.
I recently swapped the 1156 and 1157 lamps on my Eleven Special for LEDs. They are definitely brighter than the incandescent lamps they replaced. I put red LEDs in the taillight and amber LEDs in the turn signals. The OEM lights showed up very well, but these leave no doubt. Even so, I still consider myself invisible, even with a safety cone colored helmet.
 
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