Wire ID guidance

Installing a lighting product on your motorcycle or scooter is fairly easy and most of our customers do the installation themselves.  They often say “if you have a tool kit and patience you can do it!”. There is nothing difficult about the installation – particularly if you know which wires to tap. But how do you know which wires to tap?  Here are the common ways to figure it out:

• Refer to a shop manual for your specific bike
• Check on forums
• Use a multi-meter
• Refer to the general motorcycle make wire colors below
• Process of elimination technique (more details below)

The Process of Elimination Technique

1. Determine the color of the Ground wires on your bike (this will be the most common wire color that you see on your bike – you will find this wire color at every bulb and electrical accessory on your bike)
2. The left turn signal (Positive) wire will be the other wire color going to your left signal bulb
3. The right turn signal (Positive) wire will be the other wire color going to your right signal bulb
4. There are generally 3 wires going into the tail section (one is Tail, one is Brake and the third is the Ground wire). You have a 50/50 chance of guessing which wire is Tail and which is Brake. If you guess right the first time, your light kit will work as expected. If you guess wrong, the tail light function on your light kit will not work and the turn signals will only work when you apply the brakes. This is your clue that you guessed wrong (don’t buy a lottery ticket today!). Simply flip these two wire connections around and you will be all set!

You can find below general wire color information for most popular makes of motorcycles:

BMW

Tail: Inconsistent across models and years (on late model BMWs, should not be used to power any accessory – use the BMW accessory plug instead) tail – gray w/black stripe OR  blue w/gray stripe OR black w/gray stripe OR red/yellow/gray

Brake: Typically, Yellow with a Gray stripe (sometimes with yellow dots too!) OR gray w/black stripe

Left Turn Signal: Blue with a colored stripe (red usually)

Right Turn Signal: Blue with a colored stripe (black usually) 

High beam:  White

Low beam:  Yellow

Ground: Brown

CAN-AM SPYDER

Tail: Orange

Brake: White

Left Turn Signal: Gray with a Pink stripe

Right Turn Signal: Brown with a Yellow stripe

Ground: Black

DUCATI

Tail: Yellow

Brake: Gray with Red stripe

Left Turn Signal: White with Black stripe

Right Turn Signal: White with Green stripe

Ground: Black

HARLEY DAVIDSON

Tail: Blue

Brake: Red with a Yellow stripe

Left Turn Signal: Purple

Right Turn Signal: Brown

Ground: Black

HONDA

Tail: Brown with White stripe

Brake: Green with Yellow stripe

Left Turn Signal: Orange

Right Turn Signal: Light Blue

Ground:  Green

KAWASAKI

Tail: Red

Brake: Blue

Left Turn Signal: Green

Right Turn Signal: Gray, Green or White

Ground: Black with Yellow stripe

KTM

Tail: On late model KTM’s, use “ACC2”

Brake: White with Green stripe

Left Turn Signal: Black with White stripe

Right Turn Signal: Black with White stripe

Ground: Brown

SUZUKI

Tail: Gray

Brake: White with Black stripe

Left Turn Signal: Black

Right Turn Signal: Light Green

Ground: Black with White stripe

YAMAHA

Tail: Blue

Brake: Yellow

Left Turn Signal: Brown

Right Turn Signal: Green

Ground: Black