Wiring Harness: hi/lo beam + tail light?

Heffenreffer

Heffenreffer

#1
#1
Alright all you electrical pros out there in minibike world, got one for you. I'm working on the harness for my mini chopper. This is a total loss system, no generator. I have the headlight working perfectly. The conundrum starts when I try to add the tail light. How do I wire it so the tail lights with both high and low beam? Yes, I know what happens when I jump a wire to both side of the switch!

Thanks in advance!
 

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mustangfrank

mustangfrank

Well-Known Member
#3
#3
Heffenreffer said:
Alright all you electrical pros out there in minibike world, got one for you. I'm working on the harness for my mini chopper. This is a total loss system, no generator. I have the headlight working perfectly. The conundrum starts when I try to add the tail light. How do I wire it so the tail lights with both high and low beam? Yes, I know what happens when I jump a wire to both side of the switch!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Based on that drawing and if your switch is not something you want to change I think I would run two positive wires to the taillight, one from each (high and low).
 
Heffenreffer

Heffenreffer

#5
#5
Heffenreffer said:
Alright all you electrical pros out there in minibike world, got one for you. I'm working on the harness for my mini chopper. This is a total loss system, no generator. I have the headlight working perfectly. The conundrum starts when I try to add the tail light. How do I wire it so the tail lights with both high and low beam? Yes, I know what happens when I jump a wire to both side of the switch!

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
For anyone interested, the answer is here in this 3 minute video. My old friend Arlo gets bonus points for Macgyver factor.
 
massacre

massacre

#7
#7
I have a taillight and hi/lo beams on my MTD and I do not have any relays.
I used a crimp connector that is bigger on one end than the other end.
One end of the crimp connector has the AC+ from the lighting coil, and on the bigger end I attached 2 wires.
So 1 wire in, 2 wires out.
1 of those “out” wires goes to the taillight, 1 goes to the headlight.
Been working for a couple years now with no problems.
Just my two cents
 
mustangfrank

mustangfrank

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
Heffenreffer said:
As stated in OP, I know what happens when I jump to both sides of the switch. Please see video for the real answer.
Click to expand...
"The Real Answer" is one way to go, especially if you have a space to hide relays and want to add complexity. Didn't realize you were testing us to find the only one answer you wanted on a PUBLIC FORUM, I wouldn't have wasted the keystrokes.
 
Heffenreffer

Heffenreffer

#9
#9
massacre said:
I have a taillight and hi/lo beams on my MTD and I do not have any relays.
I used a crimp connector that is bigger on one end than the other end.
One end of the crimp connector has the AC+ from the lighting coil, and on the bigger end I attached 2 wires.
So 1 wire in, 2 wires out.
1 of those “out” wires goes to the taillight, 1 goes to the headlight.
Been working for a couple years now with no problems.
Just my two cents
Click to expand...
I completely understand I have a unique situation going on here. No generator. No lighting coil.
 
Heffenreffer

Heffenreffer

#10
#10
mustangfrank said:
"The Real Answer" is one way to go, especially if you have a space to hide relays and want to add complexity. Didn't realize you were testing us to find the only one answer you wanted on a PUBLIC FORUM, I wouldn't have wasted the keystrokes.
Click to expand...
The wiring schematic you suggest lights the taillights, and both elements of the headlight. I would prefer for the lights to work properly.
Sorry for wasting your time.
 
massacre

massacre

#11
#11
Heffenreffer said:
I completely understand I have a unique situation going on here. No generator. No lighting coil.
Click to expand...
Wouldn’t it work just the same?
I imagine you would need to wire in a switch to turn all +12v on and off?
Otherwise the lights would be on all the time vs only with engine running?

+ battery terminal, to on/off switch, then split the circuit and send 1 leg to the headlight and 1 leg to the taillight.
- battery terminal to good ground. Make sure each light is grounded as well.
I don‘t see why this wouldn’t work?
 
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B

bruces

Active Member
#12
#12
you can skip the relays and just install diodes in the circuits ,simple ,cheap ,easy to hide if you really want to use that switch ,or you can use a double pole switch ,one side tail light ,other side headlights .
 
mustangfrank

mustangfrank

Well-Known Member
#15
#15
Heffenreffer said:
The wiring schematic you suggest lights the taillights, and both elements of the headlight. I would prefer for the lights to work properly.
Sorry for wasting your time.
Click to expand...
No, it allows each element of a dual filament headlight bulb to be powered individually and sends power to the taillight in either selection. Only thing you would need to add is a diode on each taillight + lead if using an incandescent bulb to prevent back-powering the opposite headlight circuit.

I wired one of my Super Broncs this exact way but used an led/socket combo that didn't need a diode.
 
I74

I74

Well-Known Member
#17
#17
Since it doesn't have a lighting coil,, I would wire that up with led's, & power it all with a ''cheap'' 3s 11.1v ''2200ma'' R/C lipo pack.
Full charge on one of those packs is 12.6 v.
I would also run a small $4.00 R/C digital volt meter/ low volt alarm on the pack, that plugs into the charge balance leads,, so you can monitor safe cut off voltage.
Lipo's you don't want to run down past nominal voltage,, which would 11.1v. on a 3s pack.
''Value Hobby'' out of Illinois, sells good stuff for cheap,, & their G - force 2200 packs are awesome,, & would probably power all those led lights,, for well over 4hrs on a charge, as long as they are ''low'' watt led's, that don't pull a lot of Ma - ''Milli amps''.
You can get a lipo balance charger from them also for probably around 20 bucks.
That set up would be super light & compact. ;)

Lastly,,
For a ''low current'' led set up,, I wouldn't even worry about relays,, the led's have resistors.

My 2 cents.

I
 
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Heffenreffer

Heffenreffer

#19
#19
Sorry for delayed response, I had a busy week. Suggestions to use a 2P3T switch and be done with it are totally valid. As always, I have to complicate things. Here is the reason. I felt the need to go with the retro switch style. And yes, I do have a horn too.

Thanks for the input everyone. I understand what a diode does, but I am not an electrical engineer. My feeble senior citizen brain doesn't understand what is trying to be described without a schematic. I will have to take some time to sit down and draw one up. 20210607_223716sm.jpg
 
mustangfrank

mustangfrank

Well-Known Member
#20
#20
massacre said:
But if the hi/lo switch is a 3 position switch, how could the non used filament be back-powered?
Click to expand...
Based on the OPs using the single switch he wants to keep and wiring it to function like he wants using the method I used. I had a non-original headlight with a single cool old ON/OFF/ON (LOW/OFF/HIGH) switch I didn't want to alter. An alternate switch or separate ON/OFF & LOW/HIGH is easier if the switch "look" doesn't matter.

My taillight already had an 1157 dual filament bulb socket so I avoided the loop by wiring it to function lowbeam/taillight & highbeam/brake instead of tying the + leads together for a single filament taillight...which would require a diode to prevent back-powering in this specific example.

Diagrams are better than words with circuits I realize...next time.
 
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