Other XR650L Tail Light and Brake Light Issue

[LeadHead]

Hey DBA, it's been awhile! I recently got an 06 XR650L with SM wheels...absolutely love the bike after doing an FCR swap. When I put everything back together, the tail light and brake light doesn't work. I have three wires running to the tail light; green (ground), brown, and green/yellow. My tail light is probably some knock off Chinese brand LED with red, black, and yellow.

These are my test light results in wired configuration 1:

Brown to red - test light lit up

Green/yellow to yellow - test light does not light up, however the tail light lights up when I touch the test light to it...does that indicate a bad ground?


Results in wired configuration 2:

Green/yellow to red - test light lit up with front brake applied, rear brake switch did not seem to work. Front switch is also pretty finicky

Brown to yellow - test light lit up


All tests were done with ignition on and test light hooked to ground.

Config 1:

Following two pictures are in conjunction with each other...didnt have enough hands, lol

Config 2:

Green/yellow to red, front brake applied

Brown to yellow

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[Naturaledge]

Good to see you back Riley! I don't know anything about electrical stuff so, I'll leave that for the Fellas that do. I did notice that your tail light and brake light have allot in common with my ex-wife. All three don't work.
Let us know how things are going. N-edge

 

[LeadHead]

Good to see you back Riley! I don't know anything about electrical stuff so, I'll leave that for the Fellas that do. I did notice that your tail light and brake light have allot in common with my ex-wife. All three don't work.
Let us know how things are going. N-edge

[emoji38] Oh, I have certainly missed you!! Good to see you're still on here!

Everything has been going great, I have an 11 month old baby about to turn 1, and I finish my enlistment in the Army in a few months. I kind of stepped away from riding for awhile, although I was still buying and selling and trading my way up to this XR650L SM. I think I'll keep this one!

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[2Wheels]

I love mine also, it’s a hoot. Most of my lights work but there’s no way I can explain how I did it. Was gonna ask about your rear fender until I saw the pic.

Let’s see the rest of the bike!

 

[LeadHead]

I love mine also, it’s a hoot. Most of my lights work but there’s no way I can explain how I did it. Was gonna ask about your rear fender until I saw the pic.

Let’s see the rest of the bike!

I love your bike! Looks awesome. I'm a sucker for black wheels, unfortunately mine are silver. I may PC them some day, but now I just want to ride! What rear fender are you running? Looks pretty good...better than my hack job.

I did a CRF rear fender, I bought a later year so I had fitment issues and decided to do my own thing. I rushed it so it's a bit ugly, but I like how the seat flows into the fender instead of people putting a fender bag to cover the massive step between fender and seat. The down side is now the subframe sticks out alone and is kind of ugly, but I'll wrap it in electical tape and hopefully not look like too much of a goon.

I did an FCR swap, wrapped the headers, battery relocation, and probably a few other things I'm forgetting.

This damn electrical thing is killing me, I wanna ride!


I like the Aloop kit, but I need to break up all the black on the seat/tank/shroud area. I might run naked white radiator shrouds and trim the side plates

 

[Trfsrfr]

If it were mine, I would first start by determining if either of the brake light switches are faulty, and fixing them first if they are.
Then I would start by plugging just the LED brake light into the battery and figure out which wire is what. I would guess black is ground, if so, just find out which one is running light and which is brake.
Then do the same with the wires coming from the bike, match them up, and blammy.

 

[2Wheels]

What rear fender are you running?

Mine is an xr 400. I flipped it(the light) and put it underneath. Is that a toggle switch on your headlight housing I see? Mine is the “key” I ditched the whole gauge cluster.

 

[Mihylo33]

Is it fixed yet?

 

[LeadHead]

If it were mine, I would first start by determining if either of the brake light switches are faulty, and fixing them first if they are.
Then I would start by plugging just the LED brake light into the battery and figure out which wire is what. I would guess black is ground, if so, just find out which one is running light and which is brake.
Then do the same with the wires coming from the bike, match them up, and blammy.

Is there a good way to check for brake switch function?

So far, I have been using a test light at the connection for the brake light and the rear brake is not lighting up the test light. The front brake will light it up, but it's pretty finicky. I have the front brake lever taped in, and I'll have to manually press the switch a time or two before it works. Could that cause nothing to work?

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[LeadHead]

Is it fixed yet?

Not yet, I havent gotten a lot of time to work on it, but I looked for chafed wires or any other bad ground and couldnt find anything (excluding what's wrapped in factory wire wrapping) as well as switching both wires around and nothing. In one configuration, when I touch the test light connected to ground, the tail light lights up. But that's the only action coming from the tail light. I suppose I should run the black wire from tail light to a different wire incase for some reason it isnt the ground?

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[Mihylo33]

Not yet, I havent gotten a lot of time to work on it, but I looked for chafed wires or any other bad ground and couldnt find anything (excluding what's wrapped in factory wire wrapping) as well as switching both wires around and nothing. In one configuration, when I touch the test light connected to ground, the tail light lights up. But that's the only action coming from the tail light. I suppose I should run the black wire from tail light to a different wire incase for some reason it isnt the ground?

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You need big Dan and his wire skills.

 

[LeadHead]

Mine is an xr 400. I flipped it and put it underneath. Is that a toggle switch on your headlight housing I see? Mine is the “key” I ditched the whole gauge cluster.

Nope! I'm still using the factory ignition switch.
Are you using anything in place of the gauge cluster? I could use a TrailTech, the clear plastic is all scratched up from keys or something and makes the lower portion hard to read

You need big Dan and his wire skills.

I could always use some big D

 

[LeadHead]

Update: I ran jump wires to the tail light to see if I got any light and here's what I got out of all combinations.

Black - ground, yellow - positive = tail light/license plate light lit up

Red - ground, yellow - positive = brake light lit up

All other combinations have zero results. I find that odd, but then again, electric is all voodoo black magic to me.

 

[Mihylo33]

You need to track your power sources and your grounds.
Green and yellow being power for the tail light black is ground. Find the 2 ground ends and check for continuity first. You might have to step on the pedal to complete the ground.
Then check for voltage on all the green wire connections.

 

[timoyz]

Usually in wiring, green with a yellow stripe is going to be ground. To check your brake switches, disconnect the leads and check continuity between the two when the brake is applied. It should be close to zero ohms.