Brake Light Issue
 

First off, I want to say I'm glad I found this site. There is a vast amount of information on this site. I bought my Superhawk last week. I inherited a couple of problems when buying the bike but nothing I'm not willing to fix.

My brake light won't come on when using the hand or foot break. I checked the bulbs and they are good and also took a quick glance at the fuses but they seems to be fine. Could someone point me in a direction for troubleshooting this. The running lights work fine, I just get nothing when using the break.

Thanks,

There are switches at the lever and foot control that could be bad or just simply not hooked up... I would check those first before diving into a wiring issue.

Is there a way to test them?

Have you tried replacing the tail/brake light bulb? It's a dual element, and the higher wattage element is possibly just burned out.

If that doesn't work, use a voltmeter to test for voltage at the tail light socket. If no voltage, backtrack from there through all connectors.

Never mind...I missed the part about you checking the bulb. But still, check voltage at the socket as a start. Also a fuse or bulb can look good, but still be bad. Check them with an ohmmeter.

There is a downloadable service manual on the forum but according to my haynes manual it says to check for batt voltage at green/yellow terminal on supply side of taillight connector with brake lever pulled in or pedal depressed. That is the third step following the first two you've already done.
I'm not positive on this but I don't believe the lever and pedal are reliant on each other (ie, if one switch goes out, the other will still work) so it seems odd to me that they'd go out at the same time.
Hope this helps somewhat.

Thanks everyone for the help! I have tried testing the voltage with a multimeter. I have three wires at the light Green w yellow stripe, brown, and another green w/ yellow stripe at the connector. The brown and 1 green and yellow wire are reading enough voltage. Must be for the running light. The last green wire is only reading .31 volts and when I pull the brake lever or foot pedal, I get nothing. So I think that the wires are brake light switch wires are bad. Does anyone have any other suggestions.? I found a rear switch light wire online, so it will be a few days before it gets here.

Next step is to check for continuity at the switch. Seems to me the switch would be the most likely culprit before wiring. Check your grounds to, make sure they are clean and have good contact. Good luck.

One of those green wires are the ground... And it should be a solid green, while the green/yellow one is the brake light... Start by checking the switch at the handle and footpedal... If those work as expected, press the horn button and hit the turn signals? If they work, start tracing wires, if not replace the fuse... That fuse is only connected to the brakelight and horn and signals...

Tweety,

Turn signals and horn work. It has to be the front and rear brake switch cables.

Ok, so I don't think I used the multimeter right when testing on the supply side at the light. I put the positive in the green/yellow wire and ground to the frame. I push the foot brake and the volts went up by maybe. .4 and nothing on the front lever.

I'm pretty sure you are confusing yourself... Solid green wire is ground... Brown is +12V constantly on for the taillight... And when you close the circuit for the brakelights, the green wire with yellow stripes supplies +12V to the brake light which also grounds into the solid green wire...

The only reason you might see two green cables with yellow stripes is that it's split to the two bulbs...

For you to test the switches it's not going to work with voltage... Just a tip since you seem a bit out of your comfort zone... Disconnect the two leads from the switch, measure across the two contacts... Either ohms that drop towards zero if the switch works... Or continuity...

It does seem unlikely that they both failed at the same time. Check the front brake lever, there are 2 blade connectors that connect the switch to the circuit. I will imagine they are suspect & that you only recently noticed the rear. Just something else to try since you rarely see your own brakes. Oh yeah, and get back to that comfort zone.

Thanks everyone for your help. It is all working now. The front switch was wired backwards and the pressure sensor wasn't hitting the lever. Added 2 washer to adjust and good to go. Rear is working as well now with some adjusting. Sorry everyone but electrical is not my area.

One project left and I'll be good to go. She is leaking water from the drain tube. Just waiting on the seals and will get her going.