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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> head and taillight not working, brakinglight works
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Message started by RobSchneider on 04/22/13 at 16:08:34

Title: head and taillight not working, brakinglight works
Post by RobSchneider on 04/22/13 at 16:08:34

I rebuild my bike after a few bodymods, and decided to take the controlunit for low-beam/high beam/blinkers and horn off, because I dont have blinkers or a horn.
So I took off the unit and wires, and used the yellow-white and Black-white cables as + and - for my new headlight (which is an H3 bulb).

Not sure if the above is the problem, but as mentioned in the subject; But when I put the key in the ignition and switch to on, there is no light on the front and none on the back. The brakelight works though.

Anyone?

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by Serowbot on 04/22/13 at 18:31:23

You start doing one-of-a-kind Mods,.. you're kinda' on yer' own figuring out what you did wrong...
You're the only one that knows what you did...
You're just gonna' have to back up, and see where it went wrong...

Sorry,.. we just ain't that clever... :-?...

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by apache snow on 04/22/13 at 18:36:28

As the old country boy said, you ain't gitten no far to it, you got to figure out why. :)

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by oldNslow on 04/22/13 at 19:17:58

Check that yellow wire you ran to your headlite and make sure its live. Might not be connected to anything since you took the dimmer switch out. Tail light gets fed from the ignition(key) switch so it should still work unless that filament in the bulb is broken.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by RobSchneider on 04/22/13 at 22:41:54

Thanks for the replies guys, I know that I should have known better than to just cut some wires...

For the record: I didn't do anything weird, the only mod on the electrical system is the removal of the dimmerswitch. I was hoping that someone would say that there are some wires that need to be connected and problem solved...

Well thanks for the next posts in advance!

I'll keep you posted, fon't hesitate to put your tips and trics here!

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by RobSchneider on 04/23/13 at 06:01:54

btw, there were two yellow cables from the plug of the dimmerswitch. One thin and one thicker. I used the thicker, maybe I'd to use the thin one as well?

PS I only use the H3 bulb, so no low and highbeam, but just one beam.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by oldNslow on 04/23/13 at 07:28:11

I don't know what you cut, or what year your bike is so I can't be more specific, but all you really need to do is find a wire someplace that has 12V at it when you turn the key on. Run that to one side of the headlight filament and connect the other side of the filament to ground. The light will be on whenever the key is.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by RobSchneider on 04/23/13 at 08:01:21

526C6D61736F6E000 wrote:

Thanks for your reply, I was aware of that, but wanted to understand what I did wrong...
My bike is an Suzuki Savage 1987, and I only did cut the wiring from the dimmerswitch on the left side of the handlebar.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by Dave on 04/23/13 at 10:18:42

Do you have a wiring diagram handy? The white wire is the low beam and the yellow wire is the hgh beam......but only after the switch. There is a wire leading up to the switch that brings the power up to the switch....and the Savage usually uses orange for power. The thick yellow wire would power the headlight, and the thin yellow wire probably goes to the high beam indicator light.

Sounds to me like you need to get some power to the yellow or white wire.......they don't have any power if you removed the switch and did not connect them to something.

Also....Suzuki uses a color scheme on the Savage for wiring that makes some sense....although I don't have it all figured out. Solid orange is power, if it is orange with a white tracer.....that means it goes though a switch and may not always have power unless the switch is in the correct position. The yellow headlight wire with a white stripe means that it probably went through a switch. The same for black wires......black with a white stripe means it is a ground that goes through a switch somewhere....it could be that on some of the later year bikes the headlight ground may be run through the starter switch - so the headlight goes out whe the starter is running......I don't have a wiring diagram here to confirm or deny that.

Not sure how the tail light is tied in.....I am at work and don't have a wiring diagram here.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by Dave on 04/23/13 at 11:00:08

OK....Found the wiring diagram in the tech section.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1294779818

If you disconnected the harness and started jumping wires at the connector still on the frame.....this is what the wires do:

yellow wire is the headlight high beam
white wire is the headlight low beam
the black wire with the white stripe aqppears to be a ground that is run through the safety switch system (clutch, sidestand, kill switch, neutral)

It appears to me you should connect the large yellow wire to the orange wire to get power to the headlight, then connect the black whire with the white tracer to the headlight ground....the wiring diagram does not show that wire coming back throug the connector at the frame - so it may have gone from the handlebar control and then over to the headlight.

The wiring diagram indicates that a brown wire takes power from the switch back to the tail light and license plate light, and a black wire with a white tracer grounds it......and this ground is once again run through the saftey switch circuit. If neither of these is working.....it could be your safety switch circuit is not functioning. You should check and see if you are getting electricity to the tail light.....then check to see if you are getting a ground there as well.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by czwij on 04/23/13 at 11:12:07

check your connectors. same thing happened to me and the connector to the brake light was loose. pushed it in and bingo! laser vision.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by Cavi Mike on 04/23/13 at 11:43:26

You should start by getting a multi-meter or at the very least a test light.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by 87 savage on 04/23/13 at 12:14:31

6042554A6E4A4846230 wrote:

You should start by getting a multi-meter or at the very least a test light.

+1....Without a multimeter your working in the dark. Just curious, where are you located that no blinkers, horn, or low beam is street legal?

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by apache snow on 04/23/13 at 13:12:18

I don't know where he is at but turn signals are not required in Tennessee.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by 87 savage on 04/23/13 at 13:21:58

564756545F5244595840370 wrote:

I don't know where he is at but turn signals are not required in Tennessee.

Crazy! Up here in Maine they are very strict >:(

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by RobSchneider on 04/23/13 at 16:37:30

73484552434F545249414C53200 wrote:

Thanks a bunch Dave!

I foun out that the orange wire was the right one, the grey wire in the connector is the rearlight! So I put those two together, now it's all working!

Thanks again!

@87 savage
I'm from the Netherlands, it's an old bike an not required to have blinkers. Horn and highbeam are required but I just don't want them...

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by Dave on 04/23/13 at 18:34:42

Your welcome. I am wiring my Cafe' conversion at the moment, and the wiring is my current project.....so it is fresh on my mind.

Here in the US......we need blinkers, horns....anything at all to try and keep from getting run over!

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by 87 savage on 04/24/13 at 04:52:51

33080512030F141209010C13600 wrote:

Here in the US......we need blinkers, horns....anything at all to try and keep from getting run over!

Yup, and often it's still not enough. It's like we are invisible.

Title: Re: head and taillight not working, brakinglight w
Post by RobSchneider on 04/24/13 at 06:10:09

717C7275626421272928100 wrote:

[quote author=33080512030F141209010C13600 link=1366672114/15#16 date=1366767282]
Here in the US......we need blinkers, horns....anything at all to try and keep from getting run over!

Yup, and often it's still not enough. It's like we are invisible.[/quote]
Safety first guys, Luckily the traffic over here is a lot more structurated than America... But still I need to watch my back ofcourse!
Blinkers are not required, but if you don't have one you have to show your hands:D