led license plate light question

[nextfriday]

the fe kit i'm installing included a mini led license plate light. I'm not electrical savvy by any means. Common sense told me to wire it to the existing tag light wires. Duh. I tried this and didnt have any luck, wont light. Any way to test the led by taking the bike out of the equation, to see if the led is bad? The led wires are a very small gauge. The led light looks extremely cheap, but hey it was included with the kit.

 

[BamBam77]

Did you try switching the wires?

 

[nextfriday]

uh, yes.:Flash:

 

[Motogiro]

Did you try switching the wires?

Exactly. Because it's LED it needs the correct polarity. LED's don't require much current and that's why it has small gauge wire. Swap the wire and see if it lights.

 

[Motogiro]

uh, yes.:Flash:

Got voltage at the wires?

 

[nextfriday]

Got voltage at the wires?

i have voltage. the old plate light works, just by touching the connectors together. wonder if i have a poor connection at the led end of the light? just interested in some other tricks i could try. thanks.

 

[Protaper48]

LED (light emitting diode)

OK if you have multimeter.
Disconnect the lights
Assuming that each light has two wires coming out of it.
Take the meter switch it on to ohms, place a red lead on wire number 1 and the black lead on to wire number 2 ...u will get a reading, mark this down.
Now take red lead of the meter and put in on to wire #2. Take the black lead and put it on to wire #1 ...u should also get a reading.
Now u will know your LED is good if u have a high reading one way and a low reading the other way but not 0 ohms if you get that in both readings that means your LED is shorted.
Now if you get a high reading both ways it could mean that you have a wire brake or an open LED.

I'm sure u did this already but make sure your connections are good use solder n heat shrink, electrical tape is for electrical work not electronics. U wouldn't use a chain saw to pull out a splinter now would you.



I hope this helps a little

 

[wansbeckjim]

When I buy new parts like lights the first thing I do before fitting them is to touch the wires onto a battery and test they work before starting to fit them, just in case the parts are faulty saves a lot of pain later.

 

[crazy dave]

i tested mine with a 9 volt battery

 

[DownrangeFuture]

Or, most multimeters have a diode tester...

It should beep one way, and when you reverse the leads, not so much. If you don't get beeps either way, the numbers on the display are ohms and you can do what Protaper48 said.