brake light question....

[code]

K, this may seem stupid.. the DR350 has a brown wire, white with black stripe and black with white stripe wire for the brake light. The light that I received has a (red, black, and white & black wire) assuming ground, brake and tail light wire - it's for a xr apparently. What goes to what?

[jgreene]

K, this may seem stupid.. the DR350 has a brown wire, white with black stripe and black with white stripe wire for the brake light. The light that I received has a (red, black, and white & black wire) assuming ground, brake and tail light wire - it's for a xr apparently. What goes to what?

The black wire with the white stripe on the DR is the ground. Not sure which of the other wires on the DR is the running light and the brake light. I think that the Brown is for the tail light and the White with Black is the brake light. If I had to guess about the new light, Black = Ground, Red = Tail, White/Black = Brake. Good Luck.

[Roadracer_Al]

Here's the good news: you can't catch anything on fire by trying the various combinations. Just don't touch any of the bike wiring harness wires to ground, and everything will be OK.

Just strip and twist the three wires together, test, rearrange as needed until you get a functioning tail light. You want the brighter of the two lights to be your stop light.

When it's right, use solder and heat shrink tubing to make a proper splice.

None of this DAMN twisted wires/electrical tape that quits working when it gets wet bullshit.

[frogman1981]

If you have access to a multimeter, you can use a continuity test to find ground. Thats the only wire that has to be in the right connection.
Or you can test it on a car battery to find ground.

[brownwhale]

Just turn the bike on and use a multimeter, whichever 2 shows a reading of 12 volts are the ground and running light, the remaining one is the brake light

[code]

Well it gets even more confusing now... friend of mine comes over with a voltmeter. Two wires have current, one doesn't. That said, I mark the wires and then go back and attempt to wire'm up. Every combination gives me a result I'm not looking for. Then the battery dies (it's kick, so when it's on and not running..we just drain it). Turn it on, and for some reason..all of the wires now have current and rather then having more current because the bike is running, they have less Like half the current. 12 without the bike running, now dropped to 6 with it running. Doesn't seem right. Ran out of time to mess with it, but something really not right happened... the tail light was on, figured that was good enough to get me to my destination, however, when I hit the turn signal, the brake light would now flash Lovely huh? This wiring scheme is all kinds of f.ed up....why am I not at all surprised. Idea now..figure out how to get my brake light back to working the way it should. Install new turn signals as well. Then, when everything is corrected..map it out...and next winter when I've got more time to f. with stuff, ALL NEW F>KING WIRING. So things match up.

[Rut Row]

ain't this shit fun!

[code]

ain't this shit fun!

Yeah... so much fun So much so, that I figure I've got that to figure out, a shock to put on it, and when I swing by HHR's to pick up the tank I'll have all that and the lighting (brake and turn signals). Figure that's enough crap to warrant taking it to the shop and having them do it all. Ain't got time for that stuff. I wanna

Will probably put in the shop towards the end of this week or so, at least I know everything will be working when it comes out ready for the western, md. deal.

[Rut Row]

I know that feeling well. I probably could done the Wasp myself but didn't want to risk it being down for the entire riding season!

[the dude himself]

First off - if you're nearby come by my place - I've got the garage, tools, and stocked beer fridge to fix this. Easy Peasy. I'm around all week.

Well it gets even more confusing now... friend of mine comes over with a voltmeter. Two wires have current, one doesn't. That said, I mark the wires and then go back and attempt to wire'm up.

When you said they all have current, is this to ground? IE: wire - voltmeter - ground has current?

Every combination gives me a result I'm not looking for. Then the battery dies (it's kick, so when it's on and not running..we just drain it). Turn it on, and for some reason..all of the wires now have current and rather then having more current because the bike is running, they have less Like half the current. 12 without the bike running, now dropped to 6 with it running. Doesn't seem right.

Did you try revving it? Bikes with stators (most bikes except BMW's and a few others) don't generate 12V at idle - typically only around 10-11V. The drained battery would drop that down some as well. At 5-6k the stator should be capable of producing upwards of 20V - the regulator limits this to 14.5V (for battery charging).

Ran out of time to mess with it, but something really not right happened... the tail light was on, figured that was good enough to get me to my destination, however, when I hit the turn signal, the brake light would now flash Lovely huh? This wiring scheme is all kinds of f.ed up....why am I not at all surprised. Idea now..figure out how to get my brake light back to working the way it should. Install new turn signals as well. Then, when everything is corrected..map it out...and next winter when I've got more time to f. with stuff, ALL NEW F>KING WIRING. So things match up.

Black w/ White - Ground
Brown - Running Light
White/ Black - Brake Light

From what you described, I would guess the red is brake, black is ground, and the black/white is running - but a quick metering should show both circuits share a common ground, then you just need to energize the circuits to see the intensity (hook up a battery to see which is brighter).