Givi brakelight kit issue

Problem I am having:

Went for a ride the other day and was told my taillights are out.

Not sure how long they have been out, could be since I bought the bike.

I know the brake lights worked when I got the bike (& still do) because I tested them after installing these.

Taillights, I'm not so sure of, more to follow.

After buying the bike in May 06 I installed the Givi 46 with brake light kit and Kisan kit.

The Givi is wired into the brake circuit by two wires in the tail.

Spliced into ground wire (black) and brake wire (yellow)

Looking at the wiring diagram I don't see a fuse that protects the tail lights anywhere (am I wrong?)

Now to throw a wrench in my troubleshooting...

I was out riding in some crazy hot desert temps a few weeks back and was using my phase change vest which requires the insert packs to be soaked in ice water. I soak the packs in a plastic tub lined zipper cooler which I thought was waterproof. Turns out taking a few twisties threw the cooler around a little bit too much and the cooler leaks. When I pulled over to put on the vest I noticed about 4-6 oz of water in the bottom of my Givi trunk.

For those of you who don't have a Givi or no brake light kit, the Givi is wired by two spring loaded contacts in the bottom of the trunk which mate to a fitting on the Givi mount rack. Brake kit wires go from mount rack to above mentioned bike points in tail.

I would be safe to assume that the water could have easily shorted out the tail lights and maybe not the brake lights. As I have been tearing the bike down to inspect why they are out I couldn't find any posts where people have had a similar issue. I have seen many complaints that the spring loaded brake light contacts don't hold up for long (vibration, corrosion etc...) and this issue (Wiring up extra tail / brake lights scroll down near bottom of page) is close but not what I am doing (only using brake light no tail lights to Givi).



Anyone else with the brake kit have issues with shorts, burned out bulbs in the tail or tail/brake lights going out?

I'm going to change out the bulbs and keep the cooler in the electrical free side case instead but just wanted to check with others to see if I am going down the wrong path.

Thanks

There is a fuse called "Tail & Marker" that is for the front running lights and the tail lights.

Do the running lights work?

Rogue said:

There is a fuse called "Tail & Marker" that is for the front running lights and the tail lights.Do the running lights work?

Click to expand...

The running lights do work, which to be sure, I assume are the front turn signal lights.

When I turn on the key (bike not running) I should see front turn signal lights (running lights), brake lights, tail lights, license plate light and instrument cluster light. (everything except headlights until the bike is running)

I am seeing everything above (minus) the tail lights.

Bulbs appear to look fine.

Looking at the wiring diagram closer I see the fuse you are talking about.

Not sure where it is on the bike.

What puzzles me is it looks like if the fuse were blown, the running lights would also be out.

If I am going on my water shorting out the circuit theory I wonder how it only got half of the circuit (if I find the fuse still works)

Thanks for the reply,

Back to the garage...

Bad connection?

Do you have a volt meter?

I would check voltage at the connector at the rear of the bike that the tail/brake light assembly plugs into.

I do have a voltmeter and both connections checked out fine.

I replaced both bulbs and the problem is fixed :blink:

Hopefully it lasts.

One thing that bothers me is the right side Kisan unit has something loose inside.

When I pulled it off and shake it something inside rattles.

Seems wierd to me that both tail lights burned out at the same time.

But I guess if I just happened to not be braking at the exact time the water in my trunk shorted out the contacts it could have blown half the bulbs. (Bulbs are dual filament 1 brake light 1 tailight)

When I get back from Reno I will look into getting a replacement Kisan unit. They have a 1 year warranty and they are only 2 months old.

Your problem is easy to solve> If all connections for the hot wire are good and you have 12 volts to ground that wire is circuit is good. Most problems with 12dc wiring problems like you have is usually the ground wire not making a good connection for a ground.

To check run a ground wire to your battery ground and see if the light brightens make sure bike is running. if it doesnt either bad connection

going to the bulb or whole brake light unit is bad. I am assuming the connectios on your givi box are ok.

I would look for aa bas connection of the ground wire from fuse block to bulb and chect every connection betwee.

goodluck

weekend rider said:

Your problem is easy to solve> If all connections for the hot wire are good and you have 12 volts to ground that wire is circuit is good. Most problems with 12dc wiring problems like you have is usually the ground wire not making a good connection for a ground.
To check run a ground wire to your battery ground and see if the light brightens make sure bike is running. if it doesnt either bad connection

going to the bulb or whole brake light unit is bad. I am assuming the connectios on your givi box are ok.

I would look for aa bas connection of the ground wire from fuse block to bulb and chect every connection betwee.

goodluck

Click to expand...

Thanks for the ideas. It's working fine with the two new bulbs.

Pretty confident the issue was the water in the trunk, but only time will tell.

I have a question regarding the Givi brake light issue.

My contact switch on the bottom of the box took a crap. I checked with Givi USA (POS website) for replacement parts and got absolutely nowhere. Anybody have a source for replacement wiring for the Givi boxes. Specifically the spring loaded contact switches.

Bull Caca!!!!

bvail said:

I have a question regarding the Givi brake light issue.
My contact switch on the bottom of the box took a crap. I checked with Givi USA (POS website) for replacement parts and got absolutely nowhere. Anybody have a source for replacement wiring for the Givi boxes. Specifically the spring loaded contact switches.

Bull Caca!!!!

Click to expand...

Give these folks a try............ https://www.twistedthrottle.com/

sgoat said:

bvail said:

I have a question regarding the Givi brake light issue.

My contact switch on the bottom of the box took a crap. I checked with Givi USA (POS website) for replacement parts and got absolutely nowhere. Anybody have a source for replacement wiring for the Givi boxes. Specifically the spring loaded contact switches.

Bull Caca!!!!

Click to expand...

Give these folks a try............ https://www.twistedthrottle.com/

Click to expand...

I went to twistedthrottle and they did have the bottom portion of the wiring that goes in the base, but not the actual trunk portion. So I decided to go the way some have and just eliminate these cheezy contacts and rewire for an SAE two wire connector (looks like a trailer connector, but only hot and ground). Although it won't be as easy to take the trunk off the bike, it usually stays on except when I wash the bike - that doesn't happen very often