Tail light wires

[roscoau]

Woohoo! First post...

 

Ok, I have sinned. I pulled apart the tail light, which was working just fine.

 

Of course, now it doesn't and I've forgotten where the brown wire goes. I know it's really simple but I'm drawing a blank.

 

When the key is turned on the tail bulb lights up but when I apply the brake the tail bulb goes off instead of the brake light coming on.

 

Where does the brown wire attach?

[digitalebola]

This is how it is on mine.

 

[David B.]

Yellow is tail light 12v +

 

Green is brake light 12v +

 

Brown is ground (negative)

[roscoau]

This is how it is on mine.

 

 

No brown wire at all? I know mine did (it's been a month or so since I pulled it apart)

[roscoau]

Brown is ground (negative)

 

I just don't recall where it attaches. I should have taken a pic before pulling it apart... I'm stupid like that.

 

My original aim was to replace a broken blinker, but then the subject of tail lights came up on the forums and I just had to poke around at it. Some things are not meant to mix - oil and water, electrics and me.

[Norm O]

Ross, this pic should help.

[David B.]

 

 

No brown wire at all? I know mine did (it's been a month or so since I pulled it apart)

 

The brown is on the back side where the light attaches, it doesn't get pulled through into the housing.

[David B.]

Ross, this pic should help.

 

I can't imagine why the Australian tail light wiring would be different, but that just plain shouldn't work. I can't access a wiring schematic on the Australian Ural homepage but the US site offers a diagram for the '09's and the the brown is the ground. That photo should be a dead short and blow the fuse according to it. It's interesting that the two small holes where the yellow and green wires enter the housing has been cut to allow the brown wire's lug to enter as well?

[Vance Blosser]

One thing on the Ural, the center tab on that light is the GROUND connection, NOT the side of the bulb. Note how the tabs go together and form a "T" as they share a ground. Often the ground wire is mounted outside the light on the backside where the screw goes through the fender, which is why they get 'forgotten' - they just flop aside when you pull the light off.

 

Now the picture with the ground mounted to the same screw as the yellow wire interests me, if I had done that on my Urals it would have just blown a fuse everytime I used the light. How does that one work? My curiousity always gets me into trouble.

[Norm O]

I don't know how the wiring works on my bike, it certainly is different to anything else I have owned. But my bike, built 0309, is from the same batch as Roscoau's, and probably wired the same.

 

 

[JimUral]

Hi Ross,

 

Here's a photo of mine.

 

Slightly different to Norms'.

 

Jim

 

Sorry about the poor colour - blame the iPhone!

[roscoau]

Here's a photo of mine.

 

Slightly different to Norms'.

 

 

Thanks... that's effectively the same as Norm's and now that Norm has showed me that photo I realise mine was the same. That didn't fix it though...

 

There is a black wire floating around outside the light and if I put it in contact with the copper 'bridge', everything works fine. So now my question is - where does this black wire attach to the outside of the light and still complete that circuit?

 

 

 

[roscoau]

It's interesting that the two small holes where the yellow and green wires enter the housing has been cut to allow the brown wire's lug to enter as well?

 

And yet that's how it was. Norm's nudge reminded me; I remember now pulling that brown wire out through the rubber grommit.

[Vance Blosser]

That cross strip needs to be grounded for the lights to work. But WOW have they changed the wiring there! Mine had only 1/4 spade connectors (2 of them) and a ground wire that attached to a screw that went through the whole lamp. And the Retro I have now is totally different.

[roscoau]

It was always going to be something stoopid... wasn't it? I know what's wrong, but at least I've learned a lesson.

 

As you see in the photo I didn't have the plastic light fitting attached to the steel backing plate, which as it turns out, is significant.

 

The screw which goes through the backing plate and screws into the post which in turn attaches to the 'bridge' is what provides the earth for the whole light.