Blackbird brake wiring

Hi,

I'd like to wire in my Givi top box so the brake lights on the box work. I
figured it would be straightforward enough to just splice in the two wires
to the wires in the brake light housing.

However... when I got that far, I noticed that there are in fact *three*
wires going into the housing[1]

There's a blue, a brown and a green and yellow striped one. My GCSE physics
and common sense tells me that they are Neutral, Live and Earth
respectively. However, the brown and green/yellow stripe wires appear to go
into the bulb housing, whilst the blue is connected to the outside edge of
the housing.

At this point I backed away and decided to consult UKRM before I unwittingly
shorted out the entire bike. Could it be that the neutral is connected to
the side of the bulb through the housing, and the "earth" is going through
to the inside of the housing for another reason. Or are bike manufacturers
sadistic enough to alter the wiring colours just to confuse me.

Advice appreciated[2].


[1] Well actually six, as there are two bulbs.
[2] Aside from "Step away from the bike you clueless fuckwit". I've had that
already...

 

Having just played with a CBR6's lights I would say that one goes to earth,
one is the +ve for the "sidelight" (driving light?), and t'other is +ve for
the brake light.

Don't know which is which without a BOL but it won't be hard to work it out
with a meter.

Si

 

Dan White wrote in

You have a mains powered blackbird. <impressed>

 

You should see the size of the bulbs!

 

Make sure you have an extra long extension cable if travelling more than
about 20ft from home.

Rick

 

However... when I got that far, I noticed that there are in fact *three*

Right, with the cover that if you **** your bike up don't come running to me
for help:

I would think as others have said, one will be the earth/neutral, this is
probably the one running to the edge of the housing, one wire will be the
brake light & one the back light.

If you can access connectors in the cables then you could try this [1]

Disconnect a wire
Turn the ignition & sidelights on & see if the brake and / or tail light
works

a) neither work = you've disconnected the common cable
b) the brake works but not the back light = you've disconnected the back
light cable
c) the back light works but not the brake light = bingo, that's the brake
light wire.

Turn the ignition & lights off, reconnect the removed wire, make a note of
the wire & what it does & repeat until you get the right one.

You want to connect your givi box lights to the common cable (a) and the
brake light cable (c)

Alternatively, if you are in south wales vicinity you could pop in
(spannering I cannot do, but basic electrics I can)

[1] if not then get a connector block & be brave & cut them & reconnect
through the block [2]
[2] if you don't know what a connector block is, then step away from the
bike now

 

You *thick* ****.

They are neutral, brake live, and tail-light live.

 

Which of course, dawned on me seconds after I posted it...

But fuckit, gives everyone someone to point at and say, "You *thick* ****".
Which is very important.

and I still don't know which two to splice!

 

If you can wait until tomorrow evening, I have a muttley meter that
you can make use of.

 

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the

Obviously the single phase one, an'all.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19 COSOC#10

 

S'ok. Got a sparky living next door, he's gonna sort me out.

 

Dan White wrote :

Nuetral and live are for mains (AC) wiring. Your bike is DC, which uses
positive and negative. On all modern vehicles the negative side of the
battery is connected to ground (the entire metalwork and frame of the
bike).

To add an extra brake light, you will need to connect one wire of the
new light to the frame ground and the other to the brake light circuit.
On the rear light you describe, the wire which goes to the bulb casing
is the ground. This leaves two wires, one of which is for the brake
light and the other the tail light. Try a temporary connection to one
of these two and if your new light lights with the tail light on, swap
it to the other wire which must be your brake light.

 

Does it do the Drat and Double Drat measurements?

 

No, it demands a medal before doing anything.

 

Oh, yeh yeh yeh - I know the one.

 

It's not perfect, but at least it has red at the max.