Topic: oh my headlight wires

[andy8190]

i took my headlight off and it was a MESS, so i disconnected everything and cleaned the connectors but am worried i wont put it back together right, any one have any suggestions before i try it this weekend?

[Hush]

what bike? 350/400/500/550/650/750!
Did you just want the colour codes for the three connectors and which side of the plug they go?

[TwoTired]

It's pretty straight forward. It's mostly find a wire color with a male connector and find the same color wire with female connector and plug them together.

If you have wires left over, tell us the color.

Hopefully, you are cleaning both the male and female connectors.  Make sure the female grabs the male firmly.  (hm, that sounds pretty good, don't it?)  But, we are talking terminals, here.

A needle nose pliers helps to get the terminals re-engaged firmly.

Also, to keep the terminals from oxidation, coat them with dielectric grease, or find and use some spay, called De-Oxit.

Cheers,

[andy8190]

ok guys i have di-electric grease, i didnt mean just the wires to the headlight but all the wires in the bucket. The thing that worries me is sometimes one wire plugs into a female adaptor with two wires coming out of vise versa. i will do what i can this weekend and if nothing is working or anything is left over i will take pics.
1. how much di-electric grease do i put on each
2. should i change out my idiot lights to led while i am in there or anything else like new lights under the gauges?

[andy8190]

ps 74 550

[Hush]

Oh yeah and green is the dominant colour=earth.
Sorry misunderstood your request, thought you had removed the headlight connections from the headlight plug!

[andy8190]

and on another electrical note i took off the fuse panel to spray it down with wire cleaner and noticed one plug in the back of the flasher that makes the turn signals blink did not have the wire plugged into it so i did and when i did it blew the main fuse, i did this a couple times and same result. so i just left it unplugged and everything is fine. any clue what that is from

[TwoTired]

1. how much di-electric grease do i put on each

The grease is just to keep oxygen and other atmospheric contaminants from reaching the metal surface. A thin coat does that well.
Bear in mind that the contact terminal interface should "bite" right through the grease to make contact, and the grease will still keep away oxidation.

2. should i change out my idiot lights to led while i am in there or anything else like new lights under the gauges?

The idiot lights won't get any smarter being LED.   

The lamps are 3W each, I think.  There are 4 in the instrument cases.  The stock lamps are omni-directional, LEDs aren't.  Dial illumination can be problematic if the installation isn't just right.
Maybe others have had better success with this?   

You should report wire colors when you have a question.  But, a two terminal flasher doesn't need the green wire, and some three terminal flashers don't either.  Others do. The flasher terminals should be labeled with a pin code.  What is yours labeled?

Cheers,

[andy8190]

oh shoot i dont know the code and i am posting these from the bed so i cant answer that one right now but if i remember right it was the green wire that was left unplugged, and the back of the flasher had 3 prongs. the turn signals work but sometimes it takes about 1 sec or 2 for them to actually light up and start flashing, would that be bad connections somewhere

[andy8190]

when applying the dielectric grease do you apply it on the terminals then plug them together or plug them together first then apply the grease

[TwoTired]

Apply grease before putting the terminals together, other wise you can't coat all the metal bits so it can shield for corrosion.

As I said there are different kinds of 3 terminal flashers,  I need to know how your terminals are labeled to determine correct connection.  If there are brands names and part numbers on it, that could help, too, as there are thermal type flashers and electronic.

Since yours delays on first application I assume it is a thermal type.

The stock flasher begins in the on state when the switch is selected.  Some flashers begin in the off state.  I like the stock type better, as when signaling, you don't have to wait for the light to come on before beginning to flash.  It comes on as soon as you select it, and starts its flash cycle later.  I think this is better for lane changing.

Cheers,