Headlight wiring question

For some reason my instrument and tail lights only turn on with the pilot light. When the headlight is turned on, the instrument and tail lights dont turn on. Everything appears to be wired right. I switched the brown/green wire to the pilot light with the blue/yellow light to the headlight. Now the instrument lights and tail light turn on with the headlight, not the pilot light. Everything seems to work the way I want in this configuration. Do you see there being any future problems with this setup? Thanks

Bowtoy70 said:

For some reason my instrument and tail lights only turn on with the pilot light.

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Tail, instrument and pilot lights should come on at the "Parking with Lights" key position, also at the "Ignition and Lights" position but with the option of turning the main headlamp OFF or ON using the headlamp switch.

Bowtoy70 said:

When the headlight is turned on, the instrument and tail lights dont turn on. Everything appears to be wired right.

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Then something may not be wired correctly if the tail, position and instrument lights do not remain on when the key is turned to "Ignition and Lights".

Bowtoy70 said:

I switched the brown/green wire to the pilot light with the blue/yellow light to the headlight. Now the instrument lights and tail light turn on with the headlight, not the pilot light.

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Could you be more specific about where you did the wiring alteration? If you changed any connections at the headlamp switch it would be helpful if you could give the switch number (this is usually stamped on the top of the metal casing) and the terminal (1-8) that each wire is connected to?

Bowtoy70 said:

Everything seems to work the way I want in this configuration. Do you see there being any future problems with this setup?

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Probably not.

Bowtoy70 said:

I switched the brown/green wire to the pilot light with the blue/yellow light to the headlight. Now the instrument lights and tail light turn on with the headlight, not the pilot light. Everything seems to work the way I want in this configuration. Do you see there being any future problems with this setup? Thanks

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Shouldn't be a problem (don't quote me on that), but it looks like the real problem is in your ignition switch. The small bulbs are fed by #3 tab, while the headlight comes off of #4. I think the only problem you might encounter is that the headlight could inadvertently be left on if you were relying on the pilot/tail light bulb to park alongside a dark lane.
The ignition switches are notoriously glitchy. I'd worry about what would be the next circuit to drop out (ignition, maybe?). You might want to have a replacement handy.

Nathan

I swapped the wires at the bullet joint splices behind the headtube. No cut wires, so I can go back if need be. I recently wired the ignition switch, so I know those connections are correct. When I studied my wiring diagram for a 72 commando, it seemed like the headlight circuit is isolated from the instrumebt light/ tail light circuit. Only the pilot circuit was connected to the instrument light/ tail light circuit. This seems very odd to me, so maybe I interpreted it wrong.

Bowtoy70 said:

When I studied my wiring diagram for a 72 commando, it seemed like the headlight circuit is isolated from the instrumebt light/ tail light circuit. Only the pilot circuit was connected to the instrument light/ tail light circuit. This seems very odd to me, so maybe I interpreted it wrong.

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It is wired that way so the pilot and tail (and instrument) lights operate at the "Parking Lights" master switch position but the headlamp does not.