Anyone good with DC voltage wiring? (Electric bike)

me_again_2

Hope someone understands this...

I have an electric bike with a lighting problem on the rear lights.

Its 5 bulbs. Not sure if it had 2 tail light bulbs and one stop light or the other way around. And 2 indicator bulbs.

5 pin plug. Grey and Brown are then lives for the indicators with a black wire in the centre for the earth.

Now this is what's confusing me. The indicators are tapped off this plug with a 3 pin wire.

2 other wires. One a red (live feed) and a blue which is a switched earth for the brakes.

I found the black earth wire had been snipped inside the cable cover and connected to a black/white earth instead.
In this format the brake light worked and the indicators. Where are not actually the indicators. stop or tail...


Pin 1... Grey (indicator L)
Pin 2... Black (earth)
Pin 3... Brown (indicator R)
Pin 4... Red (live, battery voltage)
pin 5 empty.
pin 6... Blue (earth from brake switch)

Pin 1,2 and 3 have wires coming out to the indicator loom. They all work fine. But those pins also supply the tail/brake light.

This is where it gets confusing.

Bulb 1 connects to an orange wire that joins to pin 1 (grey)
Bulb 2 connects to the brown wire that joins to pin 3 (brown)

So connecting the earth to pin 2 duplicates the indicators.

Bulb 3 connects to pin 4 and 6 and gives a brake light.


HELP... thanks..

andydiysaver

nobody should give any colour advice here as it's quite possible wire has been added to wire with disregard to colour and there is far too little detail


what I'd do in your situation is get a voltmeter/multimeter, extend one of the terminals if need be so I can grab both ends of any given circuit/points in a wire, set it to run current and beep when resistance is not there, and by that figure out which goes to what by exhaustively testing that way, then map it out on a bit of paper, and take your time over doing it.

me_again_2

The pin 2 earth wire which is black/white after the plug was cut and soldered to the black wire instead.

That gave indicators and a brake light but no tail light.

I have a multimeter and its either all wrong or its something silly staring me in the face.

Why would the orange and blue wires be connected to live feed for the indicators?

I did think of just bypassing it all anyway. Its 36 volts and i plan on swapping all the bulbs out for 12v LEDs. I have the droppers already.

But its one of those things that niggles me and i wont be able to stop thinking why did they do that.

bluesnake

me again, to be honest I can not visualise what you are saying. A picture and a drawing may paint a thousand words. Probably would be better if you gave the manufacturer and model of the item.

If you think your meter is faulty, two wires on a suitable bulb may also suffice.

personally I would turn on the lights, and keep the indicators in the off position, and I'm thinking of motor cycle lights. expect only one wire to become live. Guess it will be Pin 4... Red (live, battery voltage)

the next one on my hit list would probably be the break light. just keep the break depressed and measure which light comes on.

Lastly the indicators. these can be trickier, especially if it uses the filament as a timing resistor to make flashes, instead of an electronic circuit.

My guess would be that there will only be one earth, and the bike chassis my be the same earth

andydiysaver

me_again wrote: »

Why would the orange and blue wires be connected to live feed for the indicators?

this isn't an answer it's a theory but I used to be a car audio boy so I've seen a few wiring systems


think of it as a signal and ask if your indicator function has more than one setting, can you snap it to indicate then put the other way to hold it, if there is more than one switch for indicator anywhere in the circuit this could be that type of option - even the lock signal, does it trigger an indicator?


the thing has an earth so one or 100 live signals could be sent and that indicator would go if hooked up to them - so is it possible you have more than one function for the indicator meaning a live from a different circuit -e.g. hazard lights where both flash vs your standard indicator operation?

paddyrg

Automotive writing looms can be quite archaic and designed across multiple models. Sometimes ground can be positive, sometimes the switching may happen later in an individual circuit than you'd think from common sense.

My gut feeling - replace the lot with something lower power that makes actual sense to you

Moneymaker

me_again wrote: »

Where are not actually the indicators.

This sentence makes no sense.

I suggest you ask the supplier for a wiring diagram.
If you modify the wiring in any way, redraw it to show an accurate representation including changes. It's (in my experience) impossible to fault-find without an accurate diagram.