From stock lighting to two tail / brake / turn signal lights

jvdavidson

'78 XS400-2E
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Greetings everyone,

In the process of turning my '78 XS400-2E into a variation on the cafe racer theme, I've converted it from one tail light + brake light with two independent turn signals (stock obviously), into a bike with two simple trailer lights which serve as turn signals, brake lights, and tail lights - I've wired the exact same lights to a boat trailer I had a number of years ago so I know that somehow or another, they will work as follows: during normal operation, both are dim as tail lights, when I hit the brake by itself ... the lights go bright, when I hit the brake with - for example - the left turn signal activated, the left light will blink while the right light is solid bright (brake light). For the life of me, I cannot figure out how to wire this configuration. I cannot believe I am the one and only sucker to attempt this feat on this bike so I'm hoping someone on this forum has tread the same trail and can steer me in the right direction. I am abysmally lost. Thank you for your time and consideration.

- J
 
Sorry, I don't have a solution for you. But I am going to strongly suggest you reconsider your lighting plans. Non-standard lighting will confuse motorists which may get you run over while they try to text, adjust GPS, drink, smoke, figure out your lights, and rush to the mall to save $0.50 on something they don't need.

Also, the lights may not comply with local, state, or federal laws, which will draw the attention of law enforcement, and could get you fines and your bike towed and impounded.

More lights are good, less are... for the hipster crap seen at thebikeshed.cc
 
You need to use a trailer light converter to get the action you're looking for.

669.jpg


The wiring of the 'car' side is self explanatory. The trailer side will go to your lights.

You need to be using dual filament lights. I don't know what lights you're using but if they are trailer lights then they'll have 3 wires each. One ground, one power for running light and another power for brake/turn.
 
Yeah, rshutchinson, I had a feeling I would need to use one of those, I've tried to simply incorporate a dual SPDT relay system into it which should (in theory) replicate that but I guess I'll have to bite the metaphorical bullet and get one of those. Thanks a lot for pointing it out. I do indeed have dual filament trailer lights (4" diameter), they're grounded through their mounting and simply have two "hot" leads one for the dim tail light and one for the bright stop/turn. I'll give that a go and let the general public know if it indeed works.

Cheers!

- J
 
Sorry, I don't have a solution for you. But I am going to strongly suggest you reconsider your lighting plans. Non-standard lighting will confuse motorists which may get you run over while they try to text, adjust GPS, drink, smoke, figure out your lights, and rush to the mall to save $0.50 on something they don't need.

Also, the lights may not comply with local, state, or federal laws, which will draw the attention of law enforcement, and could get you fines and your bike towed and impounded.

More lights are good, less are... for the hipster crap seen at thebikeshed.cc



I appreciate your concern but you needn't worry that I'm bereft of common sense as the makers of the "hipster crap" may well be :) The lighting configuration I'm putting together is standard equipment on (as an example) the HD Sportster Fortyeight (I'm not sure about other bikes out there that run the same setup but this one I know as my roommate has one). Additionally, the stop/turn/tail light setup is standard for an awful lot of trailers out there on the road already. The lights are 4" diameter and DOT approved.

- J
 
Don't think you would be able to interrupt and supersede the brake light signal with just two relays.

That box will work for sure, I'm using one on my gr650.
 
It certainly seems like you're right. I found a tutorial on instructables where an individual used a dual relay setup to take care of his trailer lighting and it worked just fine. However, it seems the simplicity of his design was partly due to the fact that he was working with a car which is gonna have different wiring to begin with. http://www.instructables.com/id/Using-music-to-structure-water/?ALLSTEPS

Thanks again for your help!
 
For the $20 you can get a trailer light converter in a nice tiday package why would you even bother dealing with that wiring rat nests he ends up with?

Let's see how the lights look when you get them all installed.
 
Thank you everyone for the feedback ... it was a success!!! Pics will come maybe tomorrow if I don't wind up sending it to the bottom of a lake for the backfire crap I've been dealing with. This morning it ran like a Swiss clock, last night too. This afternoon it NEVER ran right, it wouldn't idle on its own, if I let go of the throttle, it's dead within 5 seconds. The culprit is some darn backfiring business, it feels / sounds like the bike hiccups and the RPMs drop, if I don't have my hand on the throttle giving it ever-so-slight twist, it will sputter out and die. I've gone through the carbs twice, just re-jetted them, I have glasspack mufflers and UNI pod filters. I did the timing about 300 mi ago. Only thing I haven't gone through is the valves but if it were a valve issue, I'd have backfire on every single rotation, not intermittently as it's doing. I've had three Harleys, two Hondas, and this Yamaha, all carbureted ... I've rebuilt the carbs on every single one and never had a problem until this thing. I'm at wit's end here folks. Thanks for reading, and thank you for your advice.

- J
 
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