Tailight quick fix...? help?

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TForce

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I have a 1978 Yamaha XS400 (spe- is on the title[spoke wheels]) and the tail light and wiring is missing from the female connector on the wiring harness. Blue, black, and yellow wires. I am trying to get my brake light to turn on, what should I hook to? What if I cut off the adapter and hook it wire to wire (which ones to which)? My light I purchased only has two wires, red and brown, but built to be a brake light ( has the second filament in bulb). I am still learning electrical.:banghead:

I only need the real foot brake to work for now:thumbsup:
 
The blue wire is the running light, yellow wire brake light, black wire ground. The body of your tail light, or screw that attaches it to the bike should be the ground, hook the black to that. Experiment with the red and brown wire seeing which one gives a brighter light when connected to the blue, I would use that for the running light, attach the other wire to the yellow, tap your brake pedal and see if the tail light lights up enough to be noticeably brighter. If not reverse the wire and check again.
 
Each ends are bare, and I am twisting them together. I get the bulb to glow, but its not getting brighter. I don't think I will be able to get a photo... if I can, I will post.
 
Put the red wire on the blue, the brown wire on the yellow, and the black wire from your harness on the body of the light or a screw thats coming from it.
 
Hi gang!
Instead of starting a new thread I'm jacking this one. Sorry if that's not ok - then just delete it.

I have a similair problem as TForce here had. Only my doesn't fix as easily. Here it goes:
I have a XS400 -82 and I'm putting on an after market taillight with built in brake light. The thing is I only get the brake light to work OR the tail light. Not both at the same time.
Here's a picture of my wiring:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36380731@N07/6756544883/
I've got 2 black, 2 yellow and 2 blue (with a red stripe on them?) coming out of the wiring harness. I've just cut one of each and hooked up those to my new light. As seen I've connected my new lights red wire to the bikes blue, the lights black to the bikes yellow and the bikes black (ground) to the housing of the new light.
Why on earth isn't this working? I've even tried 2 different light bulbs. Same sh*t.

If I follow previous replys in this threads I should be able to get this to work, but no luck..

Any pointers or tips is highly appreciated!

Thanks, Stabler.
 
Are you sure your light is a brake and running light? When it has red and black wires, that usually means it's single filament.

I'm trying to think...in your case, you might need to connect the black from the light to the black from the bike and the red from the light to the blue AND yellow from the bike.
 
Since the lamp came with a bulb with that second filament and it says brakelight on the box it came out of - I sure hope it is one with a brake light.
I follow you on the thought on just two wires coming out of the lamp as well. I'll try and cross the blue and yellow and connect them to the red on the lamp. I'll get back when I know if it worked.
Thanks Charles!
 
I've got it:
Both blue from the bike connects with black on the after market custom lamp.
Both yellow connects to the black from the lamp.
Both black (ground from bike) connects to lamp housing.
Voila!
I hope someone else can find this information usefull as well.
 

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