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Norge tail light

jim mac

jim mac

Cruisin' Guzzisti
GT Famiglia
Joined
Mar 13, 2009
Messages
132
Location
Edinburgh, UK
2012 GT 1200 Norge tail light working but not brake light, connection ok as is fuse but neither hand brake or foot brake light it up? Suggestions
 
Start by verifying the switches work. Check using voltage not ohms. That is, is voltage supplied to the switches, and do the switches pass the voltage on when activated.
 
Are you sure it's not working? It could be permanently on. I had a small stone jammed in the brake pedal stopping it returning fully, it was enough to hold the light on all the time so when the pedal or level was pulled there was no change to the light.
 
In addition to above, I would start by feeding 12V directly from the battery, by unplugging the light assembly under the seat. The wiring diagram is available under the Resources tab above.
 
Anyone looked inside the light unit?
As 12 volts are supplied for both the tail light and brake light there must be some power supply chip inside in order to provide the different voltages to the LEDs.
 
Brian UK said:
Anyone looked inside the light unit?
As 12 volts are supplied for both the tail light and brake light there must be some power supply chip inside in order to provide the different voltages to the LEDs.
Click to expand...

I thought it was just a series resistor. There is no huge currents involved here.
 
Jim Mac - possible cause is the switch on the front brake - these have been known to die prematurely.

Incidentally, does either the front brake and the rear brake levers work? If not, then the fault is common - otherwise if one works and not the other it will be the switch for the one that does not work.

I had to replace the front switch on mine recently - cost around $24 in Australia.
 
Remember the stop and tail lights are fed from separate circuits, even although they are the same destination. Might be prudent to check the fuses, especially fuse A.

Are the front running (park) lights working? If not, it might be a fault in the ignition switch.
 
Do you have any extra lights? I found on my Norge that unless a diode was wired in the auxilary brake light in my Givi trunk killed my brake light.
 
I fitted an LED aux brake light on my Norge with no problems.

Jim's symptoms are - neither brake lever puts the brake light on. Tail light works fine as does the front park light. All fuses are intact.
 
Brian UK said:
Very few LEDs will run on a variable voltage of between 12 and 14 volts and still keep a constant illumination. There must be some sort of voltage regulator in there.
Click to expand...

Sorry, Brian but I disagree. LEDS have a constant voltage across them, ranging from 1.8 volts for red to around 3.6-4 volts for white. The brightness is controlled by a series resistor which also limits the current through the LED to a safe amount. By increasing or adding another resistor effectively dims the LED by reducing the current.

What I think you're referring to is a LED & resistor package, built to be connected directly across 12-14 volts.
 
Traced it to the foot brake switch being gunked up and holding brake light on all the time. quick clean and all working fine - first suggestion by John and the KISS theory worked fine.
 
I discovered a similar problem yesterday. I left work a little later than usual - I don't ride in the dark much this time of year. A guy pulled up next to me at a traffic light and said "You have no tail light." "OK, thanks," I said, "I'll check it out." He was right.

2008 Norge.
Tail light does not work.
Brake lights work.
Turn signals work.
License plate light works.
Tail light and front parking lights work with the ignition switch in the Park position.

Looking at the wiring diagram it appears to me it must be a bad contact in the ignition switch. Any other ideas? Anyone seen this before?
 
MJZach said:
I discovered a similar problem yesterday. I left work a little later than usual - I don't ride in the dark much this time of year. A guy pulled up next to me at a traffic light and said "You have no tail light." "OK, thanks," I said, "I'll check it out." He was right.

2008 Norge.
Tail light does not work.
Brake lights work.
Turn signals work.
License plate light works.
Tail light and front parking lights work with the ignition switch in the Park position.

Looking at the wiring diagram it appears to me it must be a bad contact in the ignition switch. Any other ideas? Anyone seen this before?
Click to expand...

Don't guess. Trace the circuit. See this for troubleshooting guidance. https://www.guzzitech.com/forums/threads/troubleshooting-circuits.3001/ A good Digital multi meter can be your friend.
 
MJZach said:
2008 Norge.
Tail light does not work.
Brake lights work.
Turn signals work.
License plate light works.
Tail light and front parking lights work with the ignition switch in the Park position.

Looking at the wiring diagram it appears to me it must be a bad contact in the ignition switch. Any other ideas? Anyone seen this before?
Click to expand...

Agree. It has to be internal to the ignition switch. You could try contact cleaner or lots of wiggling to see it you can clear it. Hope that the switch itself can be separated from the lock mechanism.

Can you confirm that the front park lights are defunct when the ignition switch is in the run position?

You might be able to do a bodge by stealing power for the taillight from the license plate circuit. However, there may be unexpected consequences.
 
Kiwi Dave, my understanding of ohms law is that if you add a series resistor to an LED with a constant supply voltage you reduce the voltage across the LED. It becomes a potential divider. You will also reduce the current flowing as the total circuit resistance will have increased.
Those LEDs with the series resistor are made to give the max allowed voltage across the LED. Reduce that voltage and the LED dims.
I made up an LED tail light using several banks of 5 in series. It worked fine, but I had a problem if the battery volts dropped, and the indicator was flashing, as tested for our MOT. The LEDs dimmed as the indicator flashed (dropping the voltage).
 
Brian UK said:
Kiwi Dave, my understanding of ohms law is that if you add a series resistor to an LED with a constant supply voltage you reduce the voltage across the LED. It becomes a potential divider. You will also reduce the current flowing as the total circuit resistance will have increased.
Those LEDs with the series resistor are made to give the max allowed voltage across the LED. Reduce that voltage and the LED dims.
I made up an LED tail light using several banks of 5 in series. It worked fine, but I had a problem if the battery volts dropped, and the indicator was flashing, as tested for our MOT. The LEDs dimmed as the indicator flashed (dropping the voltage).
Click to expand...

I agree that the LED will dim with the reduction in applied voltage to the combination of LED and series resistor, but it is the reduction in current through the LED that is causing the reduction in brightness. The voltage across the LED itself will only change slightly.

Here's a reference to a simple explanation of the parameters.

http://www.radio-electronics.com/in...emitting-diodes/specifications-parameters.php
 
kiwi dave said:
Agree. It has to be internal to the ignition switch. You could try contact cleaner or lots of wiggling to see it you can clear it. Hope that the switch itself can be separated from the lock mechanism.

Can you confirm that the front park lights are defunct when the ignition switch is in the run position?

You might be able to do a bodge by stealing power for the taillight from the license plate circuit. However, there may be unexpected consequences.
Click to expand...

Thanks for giving this some thought and replying. It turns out that John had some good advice. Rather than digging into the ignition switch straight away I spent some time confirming what contacts were or were not being made in the switch. The connector is up under the tank, right above the alternator.

In Park mode there is no question, terminals 2 and 3 (left to right in the circuit diagram) are connected. As reported, that worked and the lights came on. In the run position I assumed that the same connection would be made but that is not the case. With the switch in the run position contact is made between pairs of terminals 1-2, 3-4, 5-6. When running the tail light and front park lights are getting power from the license plate light wire (left wire, labelled G, yellow). Careful probing revealed that power on this wire was getting to the bike side of the ignitions switch connector but not the switch side. The problem turned out to be a broken socket on the yellow wire at the connector. I was able to extract the offending socket from the connector, squeeze it together a bit, and put it back in. It's working fine now. I'm gambling that the quick fix will get me through the rest of the season. I'll replace the whole connector this winter.

-- Mark --
 
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