SuzukiSavage.com - 3 wire to 2 wire tail light

corey v84 Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 60	3 wire to 2 wire tail light 04/30/15 at 13:15:59 ok so I found some tail lights in wanting to put on my bike, but there 2 wire..I know one wire is tail and other stop. I the other wire on the savage harness a ground? If so should I just snip it back and tape it back to the harness? The tail lights I'm getting grond to whatever I mount them too
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Ed L. Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline "We All go a Little Crazy Sometimes" Norman Bates Posts: 2808 Sunny Florida Gender:	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #1 - 04/30/15 at 13:23:44 I think the Savage has a dedicated ground wire for the rear turn signals and you really need to use it and not a chassis ground to the fender. Not really sure, it's been a while since I worked on the rear lights on my bike but I remember something threw a monkey wrench into wiring the new lights in.
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corey v84 Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 60	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #2 - 04/30/15 at 13:28:35 It's gonna be for a tail light/ brake light not turn signals
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Gary_in_NJ

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Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light
Reply #3 - 04/30/15 at 13:33:04

corey v84 wrote on 04/30/15 at 13:15:59:
ok so I found some tail lights in wanting to put on my bike, but there 2 wire..I know one wire is tail and other stop. I the other wire on the savage harness a ground? If so should I just snip it back and tape it back to the harness? The tail lights I'm getting grond to whatever I mount them too

I believe that the 2-wire tail lights are just that, tail lights. They don't have a stop (brake) light.

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Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light
Reply #4 - 04/30/15 at 13:33:37

Ed L. wrote on 04/30/15 at 13:23:44:

I think the Savage has a dedicated ground wire for ~~the rear turn signals~~ everything and you really need to use it and not a chassis ground to the fender. Not really sure, it's been a while since I worked on the rear lights on my bike but I remember something threw a monkey wrench into wiring the new lights in.

Frame is also a ground but not as reliable thru all the components.

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corey v84

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Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light
Reply #5 - 04/30/15 at 13:40:29

Gary_in_NJ wrote on 04/30/15 at 13:33:04:

corey v84 wrote on 04/30/15 at 13:15:59:
ok so I found some tail lights in wanting to put on my bike, but there 2 wire..I know one wire is tail and other stop. I the other wire on the savage harness a ground? If so should I just snip it back and tape it back to the harness? The tail lights I'm getting grond to whatever I mount them too

I believe that the 2-wire tail lights are just that, tail lights. They don't have a stop (brake) light.

No there dual filament bulbs, tail and stop

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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28660 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #6 - 04/30/15 at 13:42:41 Connect the ground wire to the socket base...
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old_rider Serious Thumper Offline Backyard Bill Productions Posts: 3147 flordia panhandle Gender:	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #7 - 04/30/15 at 20:46:36 Ground wire to the base of the light, hopefully the base is metal. If the base of the light is plastic, you will have to ground it to the bottom of the socket somewhere. Check to see if there is a metal strip going to one of the mount bolts, if so, that is your ground point.
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Steve H Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 1223 Spartanburg, SC Gender:	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #8 - 05/01/15 at 02:43:48 Spelling nazi: If we use the correct words in the correct context, it promotes understanding. there: a point or place, a way of calling attention to someone or something their: belongs to them they're: contraction for they are Sorry...I'm off my soapbox now. Carry on.
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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #9 - 05/01/15 at 08:33:13 Thanks Steve. I agree. And, I tend to be more ready to disagree with those who don't know what word to use. I don't call that spelling. A spelling mistake is speling. The wrong word is a different matter. There are many ways to make sure they're choosing their words correctly..
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Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light
Reply #10 - 05/01/15 at 09:10:38

Brake......and break are also words that seem to be used improperly on this site more often than you would expect - but we do have members who are using English that may be a second or third language for them - so we do have to consider that possibility.

Brake shoes, brake lever, brake pads, brake light....etc.

Break my heart, break the bank, spring break, break in the weather...etc.

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justin_o_guy2 Serious Thumper Offline What happened? Posts: 55279 East Texas, 1/2 dallas/la.	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #11 - 05/01/15 at 15:47:43 Nobody is wagging a finger at the English is a second language crowd. Now that you mention it, it's been a while since some of our truly Global friends have been around.. Wonder how they are doing..
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Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light
Reply #12 - 05/02/15 at 09:30:15

If your replacement unit is dim or not working, run a ground wire to the back of one of the mounting studs. The bulb socket grounds via those anyway.

I use a tombstone taillight, did not run a separate ground wire, and it is as bright, or brighter, than the stock light.

And the factory rear signals can safely be replaced with one wire bullet lights. The new units ground through the fender.

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corey v84 Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 60	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #13 - 06/02/15 at 13:09:10 So I finally got around to putting my tail lights on, hook everything up like its supposed to be..tail light comes on, but when I press the brake it blows the fuse for my lights..now the light grounds though the body and I ran the ground wire off the harness to the light and it still blows the fuse
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Dave YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 18099 Camp Springs, Kentucky Gender:	Re: 3 wire to 2 wire tail light Reply #14 - 06/02/15 at 13:41:05 Do you have any proof that this is actually a tail/brake light? You need to confirm that the 2 wires go to the base of the bulb and that neither one of them is a ground wire. You said the bulbs were dual filament - but what does the socket look like? Does it have two metal contacts at the base....or just one?
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