75 Commando running lights?

So, I almost never ride after dark, but I just put an LED tail light in and noticed I don't have running lights. The tail light is supposed to be on dim when the headlight is on right? What about the turn signals? Because they aren't on either. All work normally otherwise. If this isn't normal where should I look? The switch at the bars or the ignition tumbler? Somewhere else?

"Running lights" are not stock as far as I know. The turn signals could be made to behave like that, but normally they are only on to blink as an indicator.
And yes, your taillamp must be made to work when the headlamp comes on. Mine has 2 wires feeding the rear indicators: a green w white stripe for the right indicator and a green w red stripe for the left. There are 3 more wires headed back there, a brown, a brown w green stripe, and on my bike a red, although the wiring diagram says white.

Mr. Rick said:

There are 3 more wires headed back there, a brown, a brown w green stripe, and on my bike a red, although the wiring diagram says white.

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The wiring diagram shows the white [W] goes to the rear brake light switch. The wire from the switch to lamp the is the brown [N].

Red return/'ground' wires are not shown on the pre-'75 diagrams.

Mr. Rick said:

"Running lights" are not stock as far as I know. The turn signals could be made to behave like that, but normally they are only on to blink as an indicator.
And yes, your taillamp must be made to work when the headlamp comes on. Mine has 2 wires feeding the rear indicators: a green w white stripe for the right indicator and a green w red stripe for the left. There are 3 more wires headed back there, a brown, a brown w green stripe, and on my bike a red, although the wiring diagram says white.

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The last 3 (brown, brown/w stripe and red all go to my tail lamp. The red is ground and I'm assuming one of the other 2 then goes to the brake switch, but I don't know about the third. Would it be the headlamp switch or the ignition Tumblr? I guess it would depend on if the running light is on only with the headlight. Does anyone know?

Captain B said:

The last 3 (brown, brown/w stripe and red all go to my tail lamp. The red is ground and I'm assuming one of the other 2 then goes to the brake switch, but I don't know about the third. Would it be the headlamp switch or the ignition Tumblr? I guess it would depend on if the running light is on only with the headlight.

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Brown [N] is the brake light wire, brown/green (brown with green tracer) [NG] is the tail lamp wire which runs from ignition switch terminal 3 and would also normally run to the front position/pilot bulb in the headlamp and the instrument illumination bulbs.

http://britmoto.com/manuals/Manuals/850_man.pdf
Wiring diagram, Section J.


The lail lamp should come on when the key is moved to the 'Ignition and lights' position, but the headlamp can be switched on and off independently from the other lights as long as the key is at 'Ignition and lights', by using the 'Head - Pilot' switch on the RH cluster. One thing that could, possibly, complicate matters is if it has a Canadian model assimilator and ignition switch.

Captain B said:

Does anyone know?

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Yes, of course we know!

L.A.B. said:

Yes, of course we know!

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Awesome! Well, I just noticed something else. When I turn on the parking lights the tail comes on as it should... or does it?!? I think not. It comes on bright and DIMS if I squeeze the brake!!!
I did replace the ignition tumbler last year and it wasn't marked the same as the stock tumbler. e-bay :roll:

Captain B said:

When I turn on the parking lights the tail comes on as it should... or does it?!? I think not. It comes on bright and DIMS if I squeeze the brake!!!

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Something isn't connected correctly then. Sounds like the ground wire (red) and one of the tail lamp feed wires could be connected incorrectly.

Captain B said:

I did replace the ignition tumbler last year and it wasn't marked the same as the stock tumbler. e-bay :roll:

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If it was just the lock tumbler you replaced then it shouldn't affect the operation of the switch. If you mean you replaced the complete switch assembly then we would need to know more.

It's possible we need to know more about the particular type of replacement LED bulb.

Was the rear light working normally before you fitted the LED bulb?

If it was just the lock tumbler you replaced then it shouldn't affect the operation of the switch. If you mean you replaced the complete switch assembly then we would need to know more.
The whole tumbler and switch. It is not stock, but has 4 connections. Looks like a cheap knock off to me. Also it only works when all the way on, not in the third (ignition only)position (and has never worked there, but that was OK with me because I bought it because my 4th-headlights on position wasn't working on the old one).

It's possible we need to know more about the particular type of replacement LED bulb.
Pilot, headlamp, and tail light board are Dynamo/regulators conversion bulbs. Uses existing reflector and wiring. I put the stock tail bulb back on and it is not working right either, so I'm thinking it's been this way a while.


Was the rear light working normally before you fitted the LED bulb?
That's where I'm not sure. I almost never ride at night, so never noticed.

Captain B said:

If it was just the lock tumbler you replaced then it shouldn't affect the operation of the switch. If you mean you replaced the complete switch assembly then we would need to know more.

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The whole tumbler and switch. It is not stock, but has 4 connections. Looks like a cheap knock off to me. Also it only works when all the way on, not in the third (ignition only)position (and has never worked there, but that was OK with me because I bought it because my 4th-headlights on position wasn't working on the old one).

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It's possible the switch wires may not be connected correctly. The terminals aren't always in the same order on pattern switches although it's easy enough to identify which terminals are 1,2,3 & 4 (not the key positions). Logically, the switch should do something at the 'Ignition only' position otherwise there wouldn't be any point having that key position on the switch.

Captain B said:

It's possible we need to know more about the particular type of replacement LED bulb.

Click to expand...

Pilot, headlamp, and tail light board are Dynamo/regulators conversion bulbs. Uses existing reflector and wiring. I put the stock tail bulb back on and it is not working right either, so I'm thinking it's been this way a while.

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http://www.dynamoregulatorconversions.c ... s-shop.php
Is it "LB1 BA2A", as that would seem to be the correct board for the Lucas 917 tail lamp, positive earth/ground?

Well, alright, this is awkward...
Maybe I should have tested things out with the engine started, because I just discovered that I have running lights with the engine running. I just don't have them with only the key on. Since I don't need a lit tail light while the engine is off, I guess it's all ok.

Captain B said:

Maybe I should have tested things out with the engine started, because I just discovered that I have running lights with the engine running. I just don't have them with only the key on.

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It sounds like something isn't connected correctly? Or it could perhaps have a Canadian model assimilator (06-6392) but not the correct Canadian model ignition switch, as the lights don't normally work in that way with the standard assimilator and ignition switch.


Under normal circumstances, with the key at 'Ignition', the lights should be off and remain off after the engine has started.

The lights should not come on until the key is turned to the 'Ignition and lights' position and they should then stay on regardless of whether the engine is running or not.