brake light switch

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hugojose
Posts: 161
Joined: 05 Sep 2017, 00:43

Re: brake light switch

Post by hugojose »

Freddie, no offense, but the Zeph 750 has TWO tail lamps bulbs; the factory manual says 12V 8/27 watts x 2. If the stock bulbs are so, then that would make it 4.5 amps at a nominally 12 VDC when brake is depressed.

I went to all LEDs long time ago thus my consumption would be much,much lower than stock and could not confirm the stock current draw. Bike I own is now 27-year old. Never that any problems with that switch.
Freddy
Posts: 695
Joined: 06 Sep 2017, 11:06
Location: Sydney Australia

Re: brake light switch

Post by Freddy »

hugojose wrote:Freddie, no offense, but the Zeph 750 has TWO tail lamps bulbs; the factory manual says 12V 8/27 watts x 2. If the stock bulbs are so, then that would make it 4.5 amps at a nominally 12 VDC when brake is depressed.

I went to all LEDs long time ago thus my consumption would be much,much lower than stock and could not confirm the stock current draw. Bike I own is now 27-year old. Never that any problems with that switch.

You are correct, I had forgotten there are 2 bulbs. So the current draw of 3.25 amps is about right, given the bulbs have probably been replaced over the years.
hugojose
Posts: 161
Joined: 05 Sep 2017, 00:43

Re: brake light switch

Post by hugojose »

David does not explain what the problem is. Are the brake lights not coming on, or are they staying on all the time?

Depending on that, other things come to mind; has the brake lever out of alignment because of a tip over?, loose wires, corrosion, bad bulbs, or bad ground? These switches, even as small as they are, exhibit rather high quality and seldom malfunction even on the antics we are running.
David Richard
Posts: 273
Joined: 04 Sep 2017, 20:21

Re: brake light switch

Post by David Richard »

hi thankyou both for your input ,freddy yes I will start isolating things that share the same feed ie kill switch rear brake light and replacing bulbs and fusses I have never done them before ,I brought new bulb etc today ,thankyou hugojose for you observation about the bulbs ,mine has 21x5 watt in it but if you and freddy both agree about the 3.25 amps the switch is drawing that's good enough for me ,my problem is only I keep on burning out front brake switches rather quickly the bike is up together and standard I think as you say I have to check connections and earths ,I will be out first thing at light to tackle it ,and post any findings cheers david
David Richard
Posts: 273
Joined: 04 Sep 2017, 20:21

Re: brake light switch

Post by David Richard »

ok I think I have a result ,I started at the green plug connecter under the tank cleaned all the connecters and put some vasoline in all of them and the rear brake light and the connecter at back which was a bit dirty and I cleaned the earth there to I changed all the fuse, and the bulbs ,there was no real difference in any readings but when you look at old fuse and connecters etc im sure the current will move better ,so i will leave it at that for the time being and use it and see ,but thank you for your help ,david
hugojose
Posts: 161
Joined: 05 Sep 2017, 00:43

Re: brake light switch

Post by hugojose »

David...what do you mean by "burning out front brake switches". What makes you think they are getting burned??

True, here there is not room like in a car to protect every circuit with the proper fuse. But still, there is a main 30 amps fuse protecting, ..now when an electric device gets burned, you can see it and smell it. Is this happening?

What exactly happens with the brake lights when this does not work?
David Richard
Posts: 273
Joined: 04 Sep 2017, 20:21

Re: brake light switch

Post by David Richard »

hi hugojose ,yes what happens the front brake light switch just stops working ,or it might be better to say the brake lights from the front brake stop working so I assume its the switch I couldn't find any problem with the wires or in the handlebar so I will keep a close eye on it and hope what I have done will sort it out ,I have the old switch which still works which I changed on sunday I will use it a lot this week end ,thanks david
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