help with wiring tail/brake lights

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oldpot

New Member
Jun 21, 2012
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ok help needed to wire these lights up as it does not tell you what the brake/tail/ground wires are these are the lights

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Fits-for-Motorcycle-Rear-Tail-Brake-Light-Silver-License-Plate-Led-New-/400539831761?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d4208cdd1&vxp=mtr

i tried a few ways with what someone esle told me here ,

[/URL][/IMG]

i just need to know which wire goes where
i got
yellow
red
black
and got black and green on the brake

and how can i check tyo see if the lights are not faulty as i tried a few ways and not even got ant sort of light to come on yet
 
Last edited:
dracothered

dracothered

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Jul 25, 2012
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Howell, MI.
oldpot said:
ok help needed to wire these lights up as it does not tell you what the brake/tail/ground wires are these are the lights

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-Fits-for-Motorcycle-Rear-Tail-Brake-Light-Silver-License-Plate-Led-New-/400539831761?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d4208cdd1&vxp=mtr

i tried a few ways with what someone esle told me here ,

[/URL][/IMG]

i just need to know which wire goes where
i got
yellow
red
black
and got black and green on the brake

and how can i check to see if the lights are not faulty as i tried a few ways and not even got any sort of light to come on yet
Click to expand...
To be honest the only wire that I could say for sure is the black wire, which should be your ground wire. The other two you need to just test them to see which one is the brightest and that one will be the brake light.

EDIT
Found this on another one like it on Ebay

Wire Setup:

Ground: black wire
Running Light: yellow wire
Brake Light: red wire
 
Last edited:
O

oldpot

New Member
Jun 21, 2012
159
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MICHIGAN
yep , i think i sorted the wires out
black=ground
red=brake
yellow =running

i set it up like with the pic and when i turn it on switch the lights come on and the brake works BUT when i turn it off i cannot get the brake lights to work only when the lights are on , i need the brake lights to come on without the tail lights being on??? and cannot work out why its not working .
 
2door

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
You'll need two power wires. One that goes to the switch for running lights and the other to whatever you're using for a brake light switch. Just a jumper would suffice going from the power in side of your light switch to the power in side of your brake light switch.
Currently you're eliminating power to the brake light when your running light switch is off.

Tom
 
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oldpot

New Member
Jun 21, 2012
159
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MICHIGAN
yep took me about hour to work it out , i had to move one of the brake cables to the on switch , now got good tail/brake lights and turn signals hope there better than the Chinese cheap ones.
question how long will the battery last before charging (well i am using 8 aa battery's at the moment)i will not be using tail light a lot just mainly turn signals and brake light.
 
2door

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Your battery life will be determined by the wattage of your lamps and how much they're on. There really is no easy, accurate way to tell you "how long". You'll have to experiment. There are formulas for fiqureing amp draw and battery capacity but math isn't my forte. Just turn them on and and start watching the clock.

The higher the Amp Hour rating of a battery, the longer it will last under load. Your double A batteries won't give you much light time, I can tell you that. I'd suggest a larger battery with a 5 or better AH rating. You'll get a lot of good light that will last you a while. And they're rechargable.

Tom
 
kitesrfun1

kitesrfun1

New Member
Jun 12, 2013
50
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0
california
hey guys, could someone direct me to links or a list of all the parts (wires, switch,etc.) needed to set up the signals? I'm assuming some of these parts can be snagged from a Radioshack? Is soldering required?
 
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bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
3
38
Lebanon, PA
To figure amperage, add the wattage of all your lights. For example, I have a 5w headlight and a 3.6w brake light. Together that makes 8.6w. Take the combined wattage and divide it by the voltage. This number tells you how much amperage you are drawing. I use a 12v battery, so using my example of 8.6w, 8.6 divided by 12 is 0.71A. You then take the amp hours of your battery and divide it by the number you got by dividing your wattage and voltage. Again, using my example, my battery is a 1.2Ah battery. 1.2 divided by 0.71 is 1.69. Therefore, rounding down a bit to account for voltage drop as the battery is drained, I should expect a good solid 90 minutes of light from my setup. But I am also using a generator to charge the batteries, so unless my lights are left on, my battery should never go dead. I plan to run my headlight any time I'm on the bike, which will hopefully help me be better seen during the day and also prevent the battery from over charging. But hopefully this gives you an idea of how to determine your battery run time.
 
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oldpot

New Member
Jun 21, 2012
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MICHIGAN
ty for the explanation , only power from the battery are the led turn lights and now the tail/brake (leds) how can i tell the wattage of them?
 
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bigbutterbean

Active Member
Jan 31, 2011
2,417
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Lebanon, PA
The only way I know how to tell is if it says somewhere on the light housing or if it came with a detailed description saying the wattage. Other than that, I do not know how to tell.
 
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oldpot

New Member
Jun 21, 2012
159
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MICHIGAN
i got 48 leds in my set up 28 for turn lights and 20 for brake/taillights , i checked few of the ebay pagers and it dont say , and tried to Google but found nothing ,i not sure xmas led lights are the same but 70 led lights are 4.8watts , i just need a rough idea , yours is 8.6 watts for 90 minute continuous use, if i get 2x that 3 hours but that be just using turn and brake lights so i should be ok for a few weeks asm i not be using rear light alot as be rare i drive at night,i just have to observe and see what happens , ty again for your input bigbutterbean and harold .
 
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