XJ650J help identifying wiring in bucket

hello all - my front brake used to actuate the brake light even with the key in the off position. I identified the problem (with Rooster's help) by checking front brake wire connection inside the bucket. Low and behold the brown wire from the brake switch was connected to a single red (always hot) bullet connector.....this explains why the front brake would actuate the brake light with the key off. Obviously someone before me was playing around in the bucket so I am now concerned about the bucket wiring in general.

In the first picture I have four unused female bullet connectors:
(a) a single red bullet - this is where the brown brake switch wire was plugged-in (this wire is always hot)
(b) an un unused double bullet black
(c) another unused double bullet black
(d) and an unused double bullet blue.

In the 2nd picture I have an unused brown double bullet connector (my assumption is that this is where the brown front brake switch wire is SUPPOSED to go (please confirm). So if I use this connector for the brown brake switch wire then I will have all of the above (a, b, c & d) unused and unconnected inside the bucket. Is this correct? - especially concerned about the unused and unterminated hot red wire (a).

 

It's funny you should mention this as I had the same thing happen to me. PO had the brake light plugged into that red and I could turn my brake lights on with my keys in my pocket. From what I understand, that red is for an accessory and doesn't normally have anything plugged in. Here's my thread from early March: https://xjbikes.com/forums/threads/electrical-gremlin-brake-lights-work-when-bike-is-off.127143/

 

thanks Nambro same was true for me (key in my pocket). I wonder if the two extra blacks and the blue were meant for a fairing key or something like that. I have a 1980 XJ that I bought for spare parts and although everything is slightly different, the two extra black female bullets in that bucket are connected together with a short 4" double male ended wire - so I'm not sure how it came from the factory.

 

brake lever gors to that brown wire and to a green yellow wire. there are extra grounds used for farings with running lights.

always on red I will have to take a look?

3 spare wires blue and 2 blacks . blue would be for running lights in faring they would come on with tail light

 

Haynes wiring diagram for 650J shows the red always hot, and blue unused connector also shows the 2 extra grounds

 

excellent! thank you XJ550H, very much appreciated. A problem that had me baffled with such a simple fix (unplug from red bullet and plug into brown bullet....Done!).....lol

 

I just wonder why there is a red wire that is always hot. maybe there is a switch for something in oem fairings. just odd.

 

you know, I installed a auxillary cigarette power adapter near the horn. I use this for USB charging while riding - mostly my phone. I ran the positive lead all the way back to my fuse box (which I upgraded so I had a spare bay) and pigtailed off of the switched power (the brown). If I abandoned this and connected the positive lead to the extra red (always hot) in the bucket would I be able to use the adapter to charge the battery through a battery tender Jr. (which has a cigarette connector). Usually I take my battery out but sometimes I forget. I like the idea of just plugging it in over the winter without having to take off the side covers or the battery out. I could install an inline fuse for the protection. I'm just not sure if backfeeding the entire electrical system this way for charging purposes would be a good idea or work properly??

 

Should be fine. A 12V cigarette lighter socket is just a connector. There's no electronics in it.

 

right but do you think that the .75 amp charge (from the battery tender) going through this hot wire will make it's way back to the battery and work as it should? Just not sure of the route that this spare hot wire in the bucket is taking in the bikes electrical system (vs a direct hot going straight to the battery which I know would work fine). My assumption is that this red wire in the bucket must at some point connect directly to the main (large red wire) at the fuse box and as a result this should work fine.....just want to make sure. I wish I would have known about these extra "hots and grounds" in the bucket a long time ago. I'm continually amazed at the forethought and engineering that went into these bikes.

 

maybe for parking brake? and maybe it has it's own switch so that you can turn it on and off without the ignition having to be on? I bet hogfiddles would know what that "always hot red" is for.....he's hooked up a bunch of these fairings and other accessories

 

I meant parking lights or running lights (not parking brake)

 

there is a park position on the ignition lock just after lock (fork lock) I know it lights the tail light with out power to tci