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Tail Light Help on IQ

D
Nov 26, 2007
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Prior Lake, MN
So I bought a led tail light from SLP and it is not working correctly on my 07 600 RMK. Its all hooked up right according to what the directions say and what works on them stock but I can't get brake function. It just stays on the running stage all the time......

Any help???
 
H
Nov 9, 2001
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Lincoln Nebraska
just for kicks temp wire back up the original light and see if it works right. If so you surely have a defective part. If not check voltage and call led manufacture and see if in specs.
 
E

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There's three wires coming from the sled. Black, red, and orange iirc.

Black is ground, red is +12. Those signals should always be there.

Orange toggles between 0.7v-ish with the brake on, and 12V with the brake off. Again to clarify, that line is high when the brake is off.

Check the output with a voltmeter, and check the wiring of the light with a power supply or 12v battery (Black to neg, red to pos, and move the orange between + and - to dim and illuminate the brake).
 

skyman

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Mar 31, 2008
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I had to get an adapter for mine I don't remember where I got mine but I think slp sells them.
 
F

FatBoyzfrenchy

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Nov 26, 2007
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If I remember correctly, on the stock light the 12V is common on both the brake and tail light and the brake switch switches the ground and on the LED light, the ground is common and the 12V is applied separately to tail and brake. I fixed that by using a small 12V relay to switch the brake signal from ground to 12V.
Ok here's a better explanation
As Mule said, 3 wires on the stock light, red is 12v, brown is ground and orange is switched ground for brake light(12V is common to both lights)
Your new LED has a black, a red and a white, the black is ground and common for both brake and tail light.
So connect the red to red and black to brown, your tail light should be on.
Now get a small relay with a single set of contacts, Radio shack has them in sealed units. Connect one side of the relay coil to the red wire on your light(12Vsource) and connect the other side of the coil to the orange wire(brake ground). Now take the red again and connect it to one side of the "normally open contact" and connect the white wire to the other side of the NO contact, so now you will have 12V coming from that contact when you hit the brake lever.
Does that make any sense to you?
PS, the colors may not be exact but the concept is the same.
FBF.
 
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Rick!

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Nov 26, 2007
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there is a lenghty thread on HCS about this issue. Basically, the tail light is driven by DC on 06 and up Poo's and the LED's need to be oriented corrctly or they don't work right (diode= one way current to activate). I would assume SLP gets them from 4barrledlites or whatever they are called. Without rewiring your sled, the proper LED taillight should connect with no issues, but, it also took me two lights and a call or two to fourbarr to get thing's right on my 06.

http://www.fourbarr.com/Tailites-QA.php

http://www.hardcoresledder.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=198496&view=findpost&p=2221518
 
S
Dec 7, 2008
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positive ground

POLARIS IS A POSITIVE GROUND SYSTEM SEND IT BACK HAVE THEM SEND YOU THE RIGHT ONE OR GET THE RIGHT ONE FROM four barr out of marysville wa.any size to fit your mod....
 
E

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POLARIS IS A POSITIVE GROUND SYSTEM SEND IT BACK HAVE THEM SEND YOU THE RIGHT ONE OR GET THE RIGHT ONE FROM four barr out of marysville wa.any size to fit your mod....

Not really "positive ground".... just that the 12v is common on both lamps (Running and brake), and the brake signal drops to ground to "turn on" the light. Usually called an "open collector" configuration, pretty common with TTL systems. Lets you use the transistor to sink the load rather than have it source current to it.

Hold the black lead of a meter to the tunnel and measure any voltage at the taillight, you'll get a positive voltage or zero. That's called negative ground. If it were to read -12V, that'd be a positive ground system. Some old british cars/motorcycles did this. Polaris is not one of them.

But what do I know.
 

Kraven

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I had to get an adapter for mine I don't remember where I got mine but I think slp sells them.



HI-PERFORMANCE ENGINEERING (www.hiperf.com)

PAGE 144 OF THE 2009 CATALOG

POLARIS L.E.D. ADAPTER

REQUIRED TO USE L.E.D. TAILLIGHT BULBS ON 2005-2009 MODELS W/CFI

PART # 174-500 $18.95:cool:
 
C
Feb 28, 2008
93
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8
CFI or non-CFI sled?

IF this is a CFI sled you're askin about, you'll never get it to work without extensive rewring, OR just buy the adapter found partway down on this page:

http://www.bluhmenterprises.com/products/show_product.php?product_type=Taillight+LEDs

I own it. It works great on my LED conversion for my 08 Dragon. And it's probably the same product Kraven mentions in the HiPerf catalog.

But if this is a non-CFI sled you're asking about, you have simply wired it wrong, or you have a defective taillight.

The CFI taillight ystem has TWO ground wires and one hot wire. And the brake switch is on one of the grounds. Which just leads up to being very confusing...not the typical hot brake line and hot light with ONE ground that is typical of other sleds. And since LED's are polarity-sensitive, you can't wire them backwards and have them still work like a normal light bulb.
 
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06 RMK 900

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Oct 20, 2008
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Ok I need some help on this also on an 06 RMK 900, I'm so dang confused it's unreal at the moment. I have three wires coming back Brown, Red, Orange. I got the adapter but the plug that was originally on the sled is not even close to the one on the adapter. Thats not my problem. I have hooked up the wires every way I could think but maybe I missed one What wire should go where in the adapter????


Seems like no matter what way I hook it up the brake light on the dash is on and when I hit the break the tail light goes completely out. Help Please!!!

DSCF0150-1.jpg
 
E

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06 RMK 900 via PM said:
Hey mule sorry to bother you but I am having problems getting my led light to work and you seem to know alot about them. I explained my problems on this thread. I kinda got it to work. the light gets brighter when I hit the brake, But the brake light stays on in the dash. Any idea
No problem.

The signal line to the brake light on the dash is active low. In other words, that line gets grounded to turn the brake light on. Check for a wire that's pinched to the frame/tunnel, or rubbing against some other metal part. I think this is your problem.
The brake light at the rear bumper is also active low.

If you suspect the problem's with the adapter, the first thing I'd look at is the signals before the adapter. Use a voltmeter to test this.

0) Check the ground. Set the meter to resistance (Ω), and read from brown wire to the frame/tunnel. Should get a very low reading, less than 2Ω. if this is "OL" or whatever your meter reads at open, you've got a bad ground. Don't think this is teh case because the light lights up.

1) Red lead on the meter to red wire to the taillight; black lead to brown wire. Meter should read 12-14V with the engine running. If this reads zero, problem's with the 12v line.

2) Red lead to red wire, black lead to orange wire. Should read 0V without the brake on, and should jump to 11-12 when the brake is engaged. Another way to test this is red lead to orange wire, black lead to frame/tunnel. Should read 12-13V when brake is off, and that'll drop to around 1V when brake is on. If this line doesn't change when the brake engages, that wire is the problem.

If all this tests OK, snap the adapter on. Should be pretty straight forward, red (+12), brown (GND), and orange (Brake).

Coming off that adapter, the only difference should be the polarity on the brake line relative to ground. With the black lead on the frame/tunnel and the red lead on the brake line after teh adapter, you should get 0v with the brake off and 12v-ish with the brake on.
 
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jsledder

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So I bought a led tail light from SLP and it is not working correctly on my 07 600 RMK. Its all hooked up right according to what the directions say and what works on them stock but I can't get brake function. It just stays on the running stage all the time......

Any help???

There is an adapter listed in the same section as these LED's in their catalog.

Just sayin'.;)
 

squirrel chaser

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Mar 27, 2008
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Because most LEDs only light if current is flowing in on direction that is why they don't work properly on Polaris as they use one + source one - and brake signal is also seen as a - by the LED is why it will not glow bright when applied. An incandecent bulb does'care which way current is flowing as long as it sees a +& a - . As stated in an earlier reply a relay works great to right this problem. I have used a common automotive type from NAPA that you can get a nice plug for and has a mounting tab that can be mounted in seat base. I've had mine since new and never had a failure.
 
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