Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech WTH is wrong with my wiring

So, I bought a side mount plate and cat eye taillight from Boogie. I wired up the taillight by itself to test it out, and it worked. When I braked, it also brightened. Good, everything is good. I test the turn signals, and they both work, but when I hit the canceler, I can hear a little 'pop' although, I didn't quite put 2 and 2 together at that point. Kill the bike, mount all my hardware, wire everything up, tape it up, fire the bike up... and the taillight appears to be stuck in brake mode (It's really bright...), and now my turn signals won't work. I checked the fuse box, and I blew the turn signal fuse, which I will be replacing tomorrow.

I guess at this point I should point out that I bobbed the rear fender, so rear turn signals were no more, and I had cut all those wires. Maybe those 4 wires, which were cut, but not sealed over, shorted something? I've capped them all, so that shouldn't be a problem anymore, but I'm still stuck with a permanently bright taillight.

I am terrible with wiring, so any help is appreciated.

I'm not sure what exactly you did but IMO it's never a good thing to leave wires "hanging". You should have used the same wires to power the new bits? If so the connections should be sealed and soldered for best results, not just teed into the existing wires (like with those press together "T" connecters).

As for the bright tail lamp, When you tested it before you finished, was it physically bolted to the bike yet? If not then the ground and one power wire may have been backwards?? When you finshed bolting it up it would have grounded a "live" wire and that may have been your short?

Just shootin' in the dark here and trying to help. I'm much better at electrical when I can dig my own hands into it tho. I hope this might help.

I appreciate the response!

Well, they (they being the 4 rear turn signal wires, not the tail light wires) weren't hanging, I clipped them, and I didn't think they were exposed at all, but I've definitely made sure that isn't the case anymore regardless.

As for when I tested it out initially, it wasn't mounted, it was just the light sitting on the ground. It's possible I have the wires mixed up... I've made sure that the black wires are together, because black is always a ground wire, right? And I've tried switching the other two around, but it only works in one configuration so thats what I'm with.

What determines if the tail light is bright or not? Maybe I need to dig further into the bike... I'm not too good with wires though, might need to take this one in.

A little more help?

I was just browsing the tech-vault

For the OEM wiring from your bike depending on where you cut off the harness it should be as listed:

Black is ground
Red or Yellow is Tail lamp +
Blue or Green/purple is brake lamp +
Brown or Green/white is Right signal +
Orange or Green/red is Left signal +

This should help if you have the instuctions for your new stuff?

Got it! The taillight from Boogie has some strange colored wires, and I had the thing wired up completely wrong. I appreciate the help, Night! Pics soon of the cool backing plate!