Hi again -

I cut the wires to my front turn signals so I could powerdercoat the bullets black. Now with the bare wires (parts at powdercoater) exposed for the front turn signals, the rear running brake light does not work when I turn the key.

When I depress the foot brake, the brake light comes on. When I press the turn signals, the rear turn signals come one. Same with emergency lights in the rear. All my indicator lights work as well.

Basically I don't have any running lights at all.

I have a 2009 XL 1200C. I am terrible with electricity. I pulled and replaced the "lights" fuse from my manual, and nothing has changed. Any suggestions?

 

do you have a schematic? Simple thing first, check the bulb, the running light and brake light are separate filaments in the same bulb. If that's not it find a local friend that has a multimeter, get the schematic and trace the voltage. Electricity has to have a complete path to flow meaning there has to be a path from the negative terminal through wires and circuitry back to the positive terminal without any break in the path. i.e. if you take the bulb out it breaks the path you should be able to read the full voltage at this point. Place one lead in the center of the socket and the other on the side. Since this is a brake and running light there are two bumps at the bottom of the socket, one for the brake, one for the running light. You have to figure out which one is which.


Oh and cover the bare wires before you turn anything else on, if they make contact with any part of the bike you'll blow a fuse if your lucky and do more damage if your not.

 

Maybe the bare wires are causing a short. Have you tried covering each bare wire?

 

The rear turn signals do not act as running lights on your bike. The front lights do, but the rear ones don't. So, if it is the turn signals not acting as running lights, then that is normal.

 

+1, and WTH would you cut the wires? It's easy enough to unbolt/lift the tank and unplug the damn things.

 

OK, after re-reading your OP, it makes more sense. The way this forum automatically highlights and underlines so many words makes some things confusing (why the hell do we do thatr anyway????).
But I think "onfloat" has it correct. Since the wires are cut, there is no continuity for the running lights to the brake light, therefore it will not work. Think of the old christmas lights....you need a continous curcuit to work them. I wouldn't worry about it, and check it again when you put the front signals back on. At that time I expect it will be corrected.

 

Thank you everyone for the advice. I'll solder the turn signals back on when the powdercoater is done, and let you know if it's fixed. The continuous loop of electricity makes sense to me, thus the bare turn signal wires would interrupt the "flow" of electricity.

Just curious, if my bare turn signal wires did touch the frame (or touched one another and sparked), what is the "worst" that could happen besides a fuse blown? I changed my #8 position fuse, which was labelled "Lights" in my manual, but nothing changed. So what is "worst case" that was mentioned above? What could I have screwed up?

 

See some sparks did you? Well depending on where the flow of trons go a power surge could damage an integrated circuit (what most people call a computer chip).

 

A short can easily blow your bulbs without damaging the fuse... have you by any chance checked the bulbs?

 

I have an LED tail light. Do I need a voltage meter to see if it's bad?