Brake light Woe

[tch911]

I just fitted a tail chop kit to my bike but when I reconnected the tail light it doesn't work in the manner it should.

I tried reversing the points and found it permanently on, so it wasn't that.

The problem is that when I press the foot pedal it comes on, when I pull the brake lever, it doesn't. Is it two wires going to the brake light or is there a join in there somewhere that I might have fractured?

Any tips. Not a huge problem at the moment but I'm sure there'll be a day when I'm lazy with the foot brake.

[manwithredbike]

sounds like your problem might lie with the front brake switch. check the switch and connections to the main loom.

[tch911]

Okay. Not very electrical, me. Where abouts would I find them?

[slob]

Okay. Not very electrical, me. Where abouts would I find them?
Front brake light switch is a flat square thang, about the size of a postage stamp. It's held on the the brake lever bracket by two tiny screws. You should hear it clicking when you pull the lever, even when they click OK they can get dirty inside and stop working, give it a squirt of WD40 or similar and all is usually well.

[manwithredbike]

the connectors should be somewhere near your bottom yoke. trace the wires from the small postage stamp size switch and you'll find them - usually bullet connections. pull them apart and clean them. when they're apart you could short out the connections coming off the loom and the brake light should work. that would prove the rest of the circuit.

wd40 may not help the switch. i think it might be a sealed thingy.

[nik_codling]

I'll be interested to hear how you get on with that - Emily's bike was suffering the same problem.

Strangely it seem to fix itself when I fitted an LED rear light cluster, but then when I fitted a tail tidy the problem returned.

Not sure what it is, but I suspect it's something to do with the bulb holder. Leccy stuff was never a strong point of mine.

Nik

[tch911]

I did switch the front indicators at the same time so I may have knocked the front wire out.

[JMo]

If it's working fine with the rear switch, then the problem is almost certainly the front switch...

However, as Nik sermises, if the proble is intermittent, it is most likely the bulb holder - the bulb can work it's way loose through vibration, and even when you were removing it and fitting it back on to the chop bracket...

If you remove the lense, then check the bulb is seated, and also that the two tabs make good contact with the bulb itself (try bending them a little).

Finally, check your wired up corrctly - the black wire goes to the terminal on it's own, while the yellow is on the left hand terminal, and the grey/red is on the right (ie, between the yellow and the black terminals) looking at the back of the lamp unit.

xxx

[manwithredbike]

if it works with the back brake lever then it's prob not the bulb holder etc. still sounds like the front switch circuit

[slob]

I did switch the front indicators at the same time so I may have knocked the front wire out.
Silly question, but do the indicators work OK? The two bullet connectors for the brakelight switch are next to the pair for the right-front indicator, just inside the headlight bracket. Where in London are you? if it's over the East side, I have wheels and a multi-meter.

[tch911]

That's kind, I'm actually based in Fulham. I'll have a dig around the bullet connectors this weekend. The indicators work front and rear and the front brake switch is not working all the time. Thanks guys