Corey,
If you look at your battery on your bike, it of course has a + and a -
terminal, as all batteries do. Ever notice where the wire that bolts
onto the - terminal goes to/comes from? It's probably about 4 inches
long and it just bolts onto the frame of your bike. In other words, it
"grounds into the frame." This means the - (ground) wire on your
headlight could travel all the way back to your battery's - terminal,
like a flashlight, but that just means it's going to end up going down
that 4-inch wire to the frame from there. What's the point when you've
got frame up in the front by the headlight bucket, too? As long as the
ground wire touches metal (not paint) on the frame, you can "ground the
headlight to the frame."
Make sense now?
Glenn (EGrider)
On 6/26/2012 2:08 PM, Cory Crawford wrote:
Thats perfectly described and understandable for me gevanish thanks. Ya
I tested the headlight by sticking some wires into the connectors on the
back of the headlight and then connecting the wires to the battery.
still a little confused by all the ground talk but I'll just try and
follow your advice word for word and see what happens. When you say the
ground you take off the frame what does that mean? Thanks for your
answer though I'm gonna try this...
On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 5:25 AM, EGrider <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
A little while back, the headlight on my NH just stopped working,
both high and low beams. You say you tested the headlight and it
works. So did I. I'm going to assume that this means you got the
headlight and 2 pieces of wire and touched them directly to the
battery, yes? That should mean you have already figured out which
connectors on the bulb are + and which is the ground, even if you
don't know which is high or low beam. Next you need to attach a wire
to the + on the headlight connector in the headlight bucket to take
power from it. The ground you take off the frame, not the push-on
connector. Run a ground wire from the bulb to the frame or back to
the ground on the battery if you have a long-enough wire. See what
happens. In my case, the bulb came on, which meant my ground was bad
on the push-on connector to the bulb even though it looked fine on
visual inspection. I cleaned and jiggled and pushed on the ground
until it was making contact again and viola! working headlights,
high and low! Your mileage may vary, but that's my story. Now I'm
an electrical semi-idiot.
On Monday, June 25, 2012 5:30:25 PM UTC-4, clkcrawford wrote:
I'm an electrical idiot. Never gotten my hands dirty in my life
UNTIL I bought my 1985 Nighthawk 450 a couple weeks ago. Wasnt
running and now its running like a champ thanks to forums like
this and the Clymers. Now the last two things that I CANT figure
out. My horn and headlight are not working. Already tested horn
and headlight individually so I know its not a problem with
them. I have tried studying and analyzing the wiring diagram in
my clymers and it might as well be instructions to deactivate a
nuclear bomb thats written in german. I have no clue what it
means and the only time I've tried messing around with stray
wires sparks flew like 4th of July and I burnt my fingers.
SO...my question is this..where do I start and what do I check?
You might have to use caveman language with me because even
"check the terminals for a bad ground" means absolutely nothing
to me cause I have no clue what those are. Only shop around in
my area that will do the electrical on this wants $90 an hour
just to look at it. Trying not to go that route. I apologize for
my idiocy but I'm sure most people understand that everyone use
to know nothing and that happens to be the stage I am in. If you
need more info let me know I can post and reply pretty quickly.
Thanks and I'll post some pics too if need be.
On Monday, June 25, 2012 5:30:25 PM UTC-4, clkcrawford wrote:
I'm an electrical idiot. Never gotten my hands dirty in my life
UNTIL I bought my 1985 Nighthawk 450 a couple weeks ago. Wasnt
running and now its running like a champ thanks to forums like
this and the Clymers. Now the last two things that I CANT figure
out. My horn and headlight are not working. Already tested horn
and headlight individually so I know its not a problem with
them. I have tried studying and analyzing the wiring diagram in
my clymers and it might as well be instructions to deactivate a
nuclear bomb thats written in german. I have no clue what it
means and the only time I've tried messing around with stray
wires sparks flew like 4th of July and I burnt my fingers.
SO...my question is this..where do I start and what do I check?
You might have to use caveman language with me because even
"check the terminals for a bad ground" means absolutely nothing
to me cause I have no clue what those are. Only shop around in
my area that will do the electrical on this wants $90 an hour
just to look at it. Trying not to go that route. I apologize for
my idiocy but I'm sure most people understand that everyone use
to know nothing and that happens to be the stage I am in. If you
need more info let me know I can post and reply pretty quickly.
Thanks and I'll post some pics too if need be.
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