Rear Light bulb question

[rangerbob56]

Now that the days are shorter and the nights are longer, I have been leaving for work in the dark. I noticed yesterday morning that I have no lights illuminated in the rear of the Rocket, thinking the bulb was out. Checking the situation when I get home, I find I have brake lights when applied, but no running light. Replaced the 1157 bulb and still no running light, just a brake light. I find the 194 wedge bulb not working also, so I replace it, but that does not work either.

So my questions are:

1) The 1157 is a dual element bulb, which I thought was for a constant running light and a brake light. Is this true?

2) What is the wedge bulb for, and why do you think it’s not working?

3) I never noticed before, but do the turn signal lights stay on all the time as marker lights, or do they just come on as turn signals? (They both work as turn signals)

I need to get this sorted out; Safety First!

 

[foxviewnet]

Now that the days are shorter and the nights are longer, I have been leaving for work in the dark. I noticed yesterday morning that I have no lights illuminated in the rear of the Rocket, thinking the bulb was out. Checking the situation when I get home, I find I have brake lights when applied, but no running light. Replaced the 1157 bulb and still no running light, just a brake light. I find the 194 wedge bulb not working also, so I replace it, but that does not work either.

So my questions are:

1) The 1157 is a dual element bulb, which I thought was for a constant running light and a brake light. Is this true?

2) What is the wedge bulb for, and why do you think it’s not working?

3) I never noticed before, but do the turn signal lights stay on all the time as marker lights, or do they just come on as turn signals? (They both work as turn signals)

I need to get this sorted out; Safety First!

Hey Ranger Bob. I just noticed the same issue on my bike too. Days are short and i rode after dark tonite and noticed. The running lights (turn signals) should illuminate as well as the tail light. I was able to check all the fuses and they are good. May be able to dig into it more tomorrow. Someone will chime in here shortly and enlighten us both I'm sure.

 

[Dawg68]

Both of my rockets signal lights are off until activated, brake light on and then bright when activated. This is why I use Skene P3 lights for this very reason. I find the tail light is weak at best.

 

[Dawg68]

First Schematic above-8,9,11,12- signal lights, single wire through the lamp to ground, only activated when energized by the signal switch.

Second Schematic above-3 and 4 are front and rear brake light switch, when activated it provides power to the rear tail light assembly, 5 which will activate the high filament. (Pin 3 on the tail light housing is the yellow wire explained in the third Schematic.

Third Schematic below-8 is the tail lamp, 9 is the number plate lamp. When the ignition switch is turned on, #2, power flows through the yellow lead to ground which illuminated the licence plate lamp. The yellow is also taped through the tail light low Filament.

 

[Dawg68]

On another note... if your looking for a switchable power lead( a wire that has no current flowing through it when the ignition is off) the yellow lead to the licence plate is a good choice and you can find it behind the right side panel. I can post a pic if you need it.

 

[barbagris]

The running lights (turn signals) should illuminate as well as the tail light.

R3 direction indicators do that, only that and nothing more than that. If you wire them to ALWAYS on - you will not have direction indicators and the Plastic housings will melt.

The wedge bulb is to light the numberplate - The Tail/brake light is indeed a BA15D/1157 - If the bulb is new and one filament does not work and the other does - you have a severed wire or F*CKED contact. Look under the mudguard - anything look dodgy?

Change the wedge too - does that work? - If not it helps locate the fault.

 

[1olbull]

Any of you running dark side or shorter rear shocks?

 

[rangerbob56]

Thanks for all your input! I am going to look into this more this morning, I need illumination to the rear out here in the dark desert.

 

[rangerbob56]

I just took both bulbs out, sprayed the inside of the bulb holder with electronic contact cleaner, and did a visual inspection to see if there were any broken wires or such. There wasn't, all looked normal. I got out my 12v battery charger, and tested each bulb, getting both the wedge and the 1157 to light up (1157 both lo/hi lit) Trying to figure out why only the 1157 high works on the rocket (when applying the either brake pedal/lever), the low does not, and the wedge does not.

 

[alexwasserman]

To add a little more light I replaced my indicators with LEDs that have an outer red ring and inner orange.

The red is always on as a rear running, and brightens when braking.

Indicators flash the inner orange.

Looks neat and three times the light backwards.

These: GEN-200-RR2-1157™ Red/Red Dynamic Clusters2™ for Chopper

They have amber and white for the front. I did all four. Didn’t take long.