Blood Sweat Tears and Grease > Electrical

Tail light question - 2 wires vs. 3 wires

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Call Of Doodie:
OK, so it's going to be pretty clear that I'm no electrician here:
I just got a new tail light that I like better than the dinky one originally mounted at the bike's cafe transformation, and I just realized that the new one only has two wires, while the first one has three: one for tail light, one for brake, one for ground.
Do I just splice the tail- and brake- lights together, or what do I do here?
Please be gentle, and explain like you're talking to a 5 year old -   ;D

Sonreir:
Chances are, the new tail light needs to be grounded through the mounting bolts.  I suspect that one wire is for running lights and the other wires is for the brake lights.

Call Of Doodie:
Hmmm...OK, thanks. Even though the wires on the new light are black and red? (I always thought black was ground?)
Next stupid question: how does one figure which wire goes to which? Will it hurt anything if I try wiring them and hook them up wrong?

1chrisb:
Touch the base to the negative post on the battery, and the red wire first to the positive post. If it lights up, then touch the black wire to the positive post. One should be brighter than the other; that's the brake light. If the red wire doesn't make it light up, then put the black wire to the negative post, and the red to positive. That should hopefully tell you what you need to know about how it needs to be hooked up. It's only 12V, so don't worry about getting shocked, you can just use your hands to touch the wires to the posts.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2

Call Of Doodie:
Excellent! Thanks, guys -

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