Aftermarket headlight help

[Truck Norris]

Hey guys. The stock headlight on my 185s was destroyed so i got one like this
http://http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HKUR3FS/ref=mp_s_a_1_50?qid=1415685695&sr=8-50&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70 it has 2 wires a red and a black. The oem light has 3, a green one that something else goes to, a blue one and a white one.

I hooked my light up by putting the red wire to the green and the black to the blue. The light works like this at idle. Turning the switch to off turns off the light and hi and lo turn it on but it stays the same brightness. The problem im having is when i give it gas the light fades. The more i rev it up the dimmer it gets until it goes out. It lights right back up when i let off the gas. This happens both in neutral and driving. Any ideas?

[Truck Norris]

Anybody...?

[whitneysandel]

well in most cases the green is the ground. i would try to put that one somewhere on the trike. the others should be a hot and a neutral. try doing it that way and let me know what happens.

[whitneysandel]

And i do not believe LED lights have a dim. I could also be wrong on this.

[Hasteranger]

Green is probably ground so wire that to black on the light, and white and blue are high beam low beam. The led light doesn't have hi or low it is just on or off. So you should be able to wire them both in together on the red lead, unless back feeds the circuits on your bike. Shouldn't be an issue. But it won't dim, it will just stay on.

As for why it gets dimmer as you rev, your stator may be weak and the coil is using more power at high revs? Not sure. Do you have a digital multi meter? It's really best to test circuits before blindly wiring them and hoping for the best.

[Flyingw]

Green is always ground so hook the black wire from the light to green. The red wire on the light goes to either white or blue depending on which switch position you use. The LED light does not have high/low beams so either white or blue is to be used. Right now your light is hooked up reverse polarity so switch those wires around and see what you get.

[Truck Norris]

Thanks for all the replies guys. This is a great site. Im new to 3wheelers and apreciate you guys helping me. I got my 185s about 2 months ago and recently just git my girlfriend one too.

I wired the black from the light to the green on the trike and put the blue and white off the trike to the red from the light. The light now works great at idle on hi or lo and the off switch turns it off. But it still dims as i rev it up until it goes out. Then when i let off it gets brighter as it revs down. Any ideas what could be causing this???? Ill look into anything

Hasteranger when you say the stator could be week are you referring to the black box or the thing under the cover that says cdi?

Thanks guys

[Flyingw]

To tell you the truth, I'm surprised the light works at all. The electrical system on the 185 is an AC system. The light I'm sure is DC. Normally a DC light on an AC system doesn't work.

[Hasteranger]

I have never experienced an alternating current system at the headlight on any piece of gasoline driven equipment including mopeds and atvs and you are correct, if it was indeed ac it's extremely unlikely the light would work at all, but then again he also said it worked with the polarity reversed before, if I'm not mistaken. A check with a multimeter would be a good way to confirm if it's ac or if it has a rectifier somewhere. Harbor freight will give you a free multimeter , Walmart has one for under ten bucks as does every other hardware store. They are pretty easy to use and I'd advise picking one up.

Here is an article I found about stators, alternating current, and rectifiers. Good read through will cover the basics and get you up to speed on how things work.http://www.electrosport.com/technica...rcycle-stators

[Truck Norris]

Yes the light did work whem i had the wires backwards. I just hooked up a really old kc light i have to the trike and it gets brighter as i rev it. Are kc lights ac?

[Flyingw]

Yes, incandescent lights can be AC or DC. If the LED light is getting dimmer as you rev it, its possible the voltage is going outside of the working voltage range of the light. Typically the LED lights work in the 12-36 volt range. Put a meter on the light wires and see what the voltage is at idle and at high rev.

[Truck Norris]

Haha you guys sure are persistant about me getting a meter. I will get one and see what it tells me and get back to you guys. Thanks for all of your help.

[Flyingw]

A good meter is a necessary tool for troubleshooting electrical issues. When you look for a meter, look for one that has auto ranging. Makes use simple not having to worry about the right range or scale.

[jb2wheels]

That light should work fine on the AC lighting system. Should probably have a regulator but should work fine.

I wonder if the LED light reacts weirdly to over-voltage? When you rev the trike, the voltage goes to like 25V AC since the 185s is unregulated. Just a theory.

Normally I would think dimming at rev = bad stator.

On a side note, I've had good luck running LEDs on AC systems.
I run a pair of those 18W lights (Kawell 18W, 1 spot, 1 flood) on my 350X and 250R along with the stock headlights. These trikes have lots of lighting coil! They are also AC lighting coils, but come with a regulator from the factory.
I've also run a 27W LED on the front of a TRX 70. I added a 2 wire regulator to keep from over-volting the LED.
I run a 72W LED on the front of my Tecate off the stock light coil, also with a 2-wire "dirt bike" regulator although I think he regulator actually came off an old snowmobile.

They all flicker a little at idle only.

Also a side note - the ignition and lighting systems are completely independent. You can burn up one and the other should be fine.

[Hasteranger]

I am very surprised to hear that the led lights work off ac. I would have thought the way they drawn power through their circuit boards that they would not operate on ac. So I learned some new stuff. It is very possible that the led light only works within a certain voltage range. I have several led lights on some of my things and some are dim at low voltage and some just won't light below a certain voltage. So if they have under voltage protection they likely have it over too.