Skooled by a light bulb

[dcarver]

Two electrical gremlins remain on project ATK

 

1. Kill switch doesn't

2. Tail light bulb has brake light on too

 

Thought I'd go after #2, seemed easier. Noticed that it worked ok when cold, then the brake light would burn continuously after it warmed up.

 

* Took 2 minutes to undo 2 hours of careful wire harness routing to expose the entire loom.

* Start at the brake light switch, looks good, but disconnect anyway. No joy.

* Check wiring harness, starting at handlebar switch, all the way back to brake light. Looks good - no shorts.

* Check wiring harness connectors - looks good.

* Break out the 12 VDC test light then disconnect the taillight/brake light harness connector.

o Test the source leads with 12VDC light - and it works perfect. Tail light is taillight, Brake light is brake light. Works as should

o WTFO? Turns out the OEM bulb is bad! When brake light post is energized only 1 filament lights. When taillight post is energized, BOTH filaments burn.

 

Well, just phook me. There's two hours of my life gone..

 

[ionbeam]

And when a DIY guy is redoing the whole wiring harness themselves they need to be sure that the tail light wire goes to the 8W filament in the tail/brake bulb and the brake wire goes to the 26 watt brake filament. If it is a brass base, 1157 style bulb the two offset nubbins on the bulb base will always key the bulb into the socket with the correct orientation.

 

[Big Sky]

I had a weird gremlin something like this. The tail light/brake light lamp (the one with two filaments) had a broken filament. If I remember correctly, the broken filament wagged around inside the bulb until it contacted and stuck to the tail light filament, and thus the brake light burned continuously on one side.

 

[yamafitter]

I had a weird gremlin something like this. The tail light/brake light lamp (the one with two filaments) had a broken filament. If I remember correctly, the broken filament wagged around inside the bulb until it contacted and stuck to the tail light filament, and thus the brake light burned continuously on one side.

The new LED replacement bulbs for the 1157 basically eliminate the above possibility. The LED bulbs normally handle vibration better and have a longer lifespan making this type of bulb a good choice for this type of application.

 

[dcarver]

Good comments, all.

Part of the reason I started with the anti-KISS method is that the dual sport kit had been installed by a friend, so I had no knowledge of what was doing what. Come to think of it, I still don't but that's another story!

The original bulb was very difficult to remove without breaking - it had staggered pins and all, like the 1157, but it was in tight. Used an old sock to protect my paws as I just knew it would break. It didn't, but still. The 1157 went in perfectly.

The assembly is made by Acerbis - I'm not very impressed. The rubber seal around the lens is already cracked and broken. The Chinese made light bulb wasn't correct for the socket. I should compare an 1157 to whatever the OEM bulb was, just out for curiosity.

The LED bulb is in my future..

 

[yamafitter]

Two electrical gremlins remain on project ATK

1. Kill switch doesn't...

If I remember correctly the kill switch just shorts the ignition signal from the rotor to ground through the bars. Some of the kill switches of that era provided a poor path to ground and where ineffective. One way to test is to disconnect the wire going to the kill switch and then with the bike running touch the bare end of the wire to a good grounding point. This will tell you if the problem is in the switch or elsewhere in the harness.

Good luck.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Well..., you finally got it -- success (feels good, don't it?).

Vibration at the rear extremeties is often an issue -- especially on big-singles and (some) parallel-twins.

You'll often see the 'pros' in the back-room substituting known good parts (like out of a new box in the parts dept.).

Just to let you know you're not alone -- a little story:

Way back in the mists of time, little Italian bikes were street legal w/o a battery. To do that they needed a bright brake/stop light. (Instead of a special S/L mag. coil)They used the magneto's primary circuit's electricity -- with the brake stop-light switch in the "ground" side. Electricity from the ignition primary flowed either to "ground" at the S/L switch or, through the stop light filament to ground. So..., with a 'blown'/broken S/L filament in the bulb, when the brake was applied -- the engine would die (no complete primary ignition circuit) ... WTF?

But, like your story, it can be solved...

 

[dcarver]

hmmmm

Edit

Actually, I need white leds (bottom of lens is clear for plate illumination..

 

[Patriot]

electrons are FM -> fookin' magic

I can measure the pendulum, drop the ball, shoot the bullet

Nobody can convince me that an electron can move from point A to B but never be in between :blink:

FM I tell ya...

 

[FJRAE]

Anyone know if those leds cause a rapid blink rate requiring a diode to correct back to normal?

 

[dcarver]

Two electrical gremlins remain on project ATK

1. Kill switch doesn't...

If I remember correctly the kill switch just shorts the ignition signal from the rotor to ground through the bars. Some of the kill switches of that era provided a poor path to ground and where ineffective. One way to test is to disconnect the wire going to the kill switch and then with the bike running touch the bare end of the wire to a good grounding point. This will tell you if the problem is in the switch or elsewhere in the harness.

Good luck.

Yep, exactly the case. This ATK uses a 89 XR600 engine. The black/white wire from the cdi (rotor ignition signal) gets grounded. My installer had connected the ground lead to a 'blue' wire (??not sure where it goes??) instead of a green (ground) wire. Once connected, all is :yahoo: .
It was a tad more difficult as the original kill switch had been long gone, the bike has been apart for over 10 years..

 

[yamafitter]

electrons are FM -> fookin' magic

I can measure the pendulum, drop the ball, shoot the bullet

Nobody can convince me that an electron can move from point A to B but never be in between :blink:

FM I tell ya...

Electrons can be at A AND B at the same time. It's called Duality.

Anybody that says they understand Quantum Mechanics doesn't.

 

[Patriot]

Anyone know if those leds cause a rapid blink rate requiring a diode to correct back to normal?

the ones I've used as replacements (classic '83 Goldwing) have that "circuit" built in...so plug and play

 

[Auburn]

electrons are FM -> fookin' magic

I can measure the pendulum, drop the ball, shoot the bullet

Nobody can convince me that an electron can move from point A to B but never be in between :blink:

FM I tell ya...

Electrons can be at A AND B at the same time. It's called Duality.

Anybody that says they understand Quantum Mechanics doesn't.

Wait 'til you get a professor who starts talking about hole flow...will turn your whole prospective upside down... :blink: Good to see you have the ATK running DC :clapping:

 

[ionbeam]

electrons are FM -> fookin' magic

I can measure the pendulum, drop the ball, shoot the bullet

Nobody can convince me that an electron can move from point A to B but never be in between :blink:

FM I tell ya...

Electrons can be at A AND B at the same time. It's called Duality.

Anybody that says they understand Quantum Mechanics doesn't.

Wait 'til you get a professor who starts talking about hole flow...will turn your whole prospective upside down... :blink: ...

And then they start telling you that electricity actually flows from negative to positive.

 

[dcarver]

Anyone know if those leds cause a rapid blink rate requiring a diode to correct back to normal?

the ones I've used as replacements (classic '83 Goldwing) have that "circuit" built in...so plug and play

What is this you speak of?

 

[FJRAE]

Anyone know if those leds cause a rapid blink rate requiring a diode to correct back to normal?

the ones I've used as replacements (classic '83 Goldwing) have that "circuit" built in...so plug and play

Cool, thanks.

 

[Patriot]

Anyone know if those leds cause a rapid blink rate requiring a diode to correct back to normal?

the ones I've used as replacements (classic '83 Goldwing) have that "circuit" built in...so plug and play

What is this you speak of?

had to look it up

https://www.superbrightleds.com

 

[wfooshee]

In all honesty, the bulb is the first place I would have looked. Anytime the taillight and brake light actions get crossed up, there's a broken filament touching the other one. Seen it a hunnert times. Sorry you lost all that time in the harness . . . .

In some cars it leads to all kinds of bizarre behavior, like dash lights going out when you hit the brakes, stuff like that.

Wouldn't have been able to help you with the kill switch, though. Them old non-electronic bikes confuse me. How can shit work without chips and circuits black boxes and stuff??!?!?!