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Headlight wiring gremlin

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Old Jun 1, 2022 | 06:54 AM
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Default Headlight wiring gremlin

Good Morning, I am new to the forum. A few months ago I purchased my new to me 2010 1200 Nightster. The bike has some miles but looks like its been very well cared for. Since I purchased the bike iv gone through some general maintenance. New engine and primary oil, clutch adjustment, primary chain adjustment, plugs, air filter/ throttle body clean, flushed the front and rear brake fluid and added some fresh tires and tubes. Since march 22 iv put about 600 miles and I'm loving this bike. The first moto camping trip of the season is this weekend actually and I cannot wait. I did noticed something funny this past weekend. When you turn the ignition to accessory, and apply the front brake, the headlight will click on or off as you apply or release the brake lever. But wait there's more, if the kill switch on the handle bar is off (aka the bike is free to start) and the break lever is applied it will also prime the fuel pump. The fuel pump dose not prime if the kill switch is engaged however the headlight still clicks on or off. I removed the tank and went through the wiring expecting some botched soldering or wiring job but everything looks good. I only have a wire diagram from my buddies 2016 sporty but so far I'm baffled how and why these would all be tied together. The bike was upgraded to LED headlight and turns prior to my purchase. from what i can see everything seems to be plug and play and the only issue at time of purchase was no resistors were added. I added the badlands load equalizer to resolve the Key light on the dash and the fast flashing issue. The bike runs fine with zero issues on ignition. This only appears to be an issue when key is on accessory so it may not be an issue how ever I thought it was strange. any suggestions? I look forward to contributing on the forum.
 
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Old Jun 6, 2022 | 01:39 PM
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Bump for feedback before i'm pushed to page 2
 
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Old Jun 6, 2022 | 02:57 PM
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It would have been nice if you'd used paragraphs to break up your words into a readable form, it's asking my eyes go funny trying to make sense all of those words without a break.

A motorcycle has a brake lever, not a break lever.
 
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Old Jun 6, 2022 | 03:16 PM
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I’m sure the wires were extended when the tbars were installed. Open up the switch housing on the right and have a look at the wires in the bars. If the wires aren’t tucked in the bars open up the shrink wrap.
 
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Old Jun 6, 2022 | 04:05 PM
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Originally Posted by fskitch
I’m sure the wires were extended when the tbars were installed. Open up the switch housing on the right and have a look at the wires in the bars. If the wires aren’t tucked in the bars open up the shrink wrap.
+ 1 on above ^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^

Additionally, pull the headlight and make sure the wires are not pinched or shorted as it is pretty tight back there with an aftermarket LED headlamp.

Wiring diagrams for your bike are here: 99949-10_en - 2010 Wiring Diagrams | Harley-Davidson SIP



 

Last edited by CoolBreeze3646; Jun 6, 2022 at 04:14 PM.
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Old Jun 6, 2022 | 04:17 PM
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I had added a Badlands run/brake/turn module and although it stated a dedicated ground point wasn't needed (I tapped off the lighting ground)
it was, and did some weird stuff to the way the lights worked until I figured out what was causing it and fixed it.
 
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Old Jun 7, 2022 | 03:05 AM
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There seems to be plenty of posts about where the wires from the control assembly go through the brake lever they can get pinched against the bars. As the wires are in a sleeve you might see that squashed but it will need the sleeve removing to check the wires for damage.

Having extended wires myself the wiring at the bars ought to not of been modified. The extensions should of been added between the plug under the tank and the existing harness. In your picture the wires look quite tight from the bars to the tank.

On the face of it it appears one side of the brake switch wiring is powering something else.

There is a major difference between your bike and a 2016. The 2016 is CAN bus and so there is not a wire per switch.
 

Last edited by Andy from Sandy; Jun 7, 2022 at 03:13 AM.
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Old Jun 8, 2022 | 09:07 AM
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Thanks for all the great feed back, I really apricate the diagrams and helpful information. Maybe ill even improve my grammar some day, until then ill just stay an illiterate motorhead. My badlands connector was plug and play and did not come with the option for a ground. How did you run a separate ground? I did clean up all the wiring with some zipties and though there wasn't excessive play in the lines, there was no stretching or pulling of the lines from lock to lock. Lastly what is the difference between my bike and the 2016. I had already assumed they were different but I'm curious.
 
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Old Jun 8, 2022 | 09:24 AM
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Originally Posted by Andy from Sandy
There seems to be plenty of posts about where the wires from the control assembly go through the brake lever they can get pinched against the bars. As the wires are in a sleeve you might see that squashed but it will need the sleeve removing to check the wires for damage.

Having extended wires myself the wiring at the bars ought to not of been modified. The extensions should of been added between the plug under the tank and the existing harness. In your picture the wires look quite tight from the bars to the tank.

On the face of it it appears one side of the brake switch wiring is powering something else.

There is a major difference between your bike and a 2016. The 2016 is CAN bus and so there is not a wire per switch.
Originally Posted by 1101mobsquad
Thanks for all the great feed back, I really apricate the diagrams and helpful information. Maybe ill even improve my grammar some day, until then ill just stay an illiterate motorhead. My badlands connector was plug and play and did not come with the option for a ground. How did you run a separate ground? I did clean up all the wiring with some zipties and though there wasn't excessive play in the lines, there was no stretching or pulling of the lines from lock to lock. Lastly what is the difference between my bike and the 2016. I had already assumed they were different but I'm curious.
 
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Old Jun 8, 2022 | 11:57 AM
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Originally Posted by 1101mobsquad;[url=tel:20654221
20654221[/url]]Thanks for all the great feed back, I really apricate the diagrams and helpful information. Maybe ill even improve my grammar some day, until then ill just stay an illiterate motorhead. My badlands connector was plug and play and did not come with the option for a ground. How did you run a separate ground? I did clean up all the wiring with some zipties and though there wasn't excessive play in the lines, there was no stretching or pulling of the lines from lock to lock. Lastly what is the difference between my bike and the 2016. I had already assumed they were different but I'm curious.
If you’re referring to my post. I had added new tail lights that required a ground. So I tapped into that under the seat. Everything was good until I changed the front run turn bulbs to white/amber LED then it got weird.
Took a while to figure out as the amber/amber worked fine. Whatever technology is in the white/amber that changes the white run to turn amber didn’t like the shared ground.
And what made it worse is that the Badlands only operates the rear lights but shares the run power connection. Separating the grounds fixed it.
 
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