turn signal wiring - which is which?

Hey folks,

I'm in the process of putting some new turn signals on my recently purchased xj750 maxim. After purchasing I discovered a few 'sins' to the wiring underneath the seat. Seems the wiring was chopped up and twisted together with the usual electrical tape wrap-job....

I have since soldered those wires, and have shrink wrap on them. Before I heat the shrink wrap, I found some smaller turn signals I liked so I bought them to replace the big round ones....

The problem is, I can't tell what wire is lead and which is ground...there's no white line on either of them. Below is a photo of the wiring, and i hope someone can tell me which wire is which...if you can, just reply saying:

LEFT SIGNAL WIRES A= ground B=Lead (OR VISE VERSA)
SAME FOR RIGHT SIGNAL WIRES..

HERE'S THE PHOTO OF THE WIRES


I appreciate anybody's help.

 

I would say judging by the two wires going into one, that would be your ground

 

that's what I thought too, I tried following it, to where it goes, but couldn't follow it all the way....just tryin' to make sure

 

Left A and Right B are your grounds as your photo shows them, my friend. The remaining leads are your respective positive leads.

 

you could always use a multi meter to check for continuity between the wires and the frame... Also if this is just to the bulb housing, the filament doesnt care which way you push current through it. itll light one way or the other, no diffrence.

 

ok folks well I have the rear signals on, not the prettiest of mount jobs, but right now it's just to get them back on and functional, and I can shim em later....

HERE'S THE REAR SIGNALS

For the fronts, I put together a temporary mount based of a thread I saw here...just a couple L brackets bolted together...will do the trick until I can get home to rummage through some scrap iron in my dad's back yard:

HERE'S THE FRONT SIGNALS

The rears are wired and working, but as I was bolting up the front, I paused and did one of those, grab yer hat and scratch yer head moves.....'how am I gonna go from two wires to one?'....obviously I don't have a lot of electrical/wiring experience.... So again, I hope that some kind soul here can help direct me as to what to do with the wiring:

HERE'S THE WIRING UP CLOSE

Thanks folks, your help is really appreciated by this rookie

 

Alright Bartman, I going to try to use logic here (Forgive me Lord for I know not what I do). I'm looking at your picture and I see two leads out of the signal post. If you pull the lens and look at the bulb, there should be two filaments. If there is just one, you have an input lead and a ground. Connect the ground wire (either wire will do since this is a DC circuit) to any easily obtained ground then source your flasher output and hook it up. I'll wager that there are two filaments and that, as most manufacturers do, the housing is supposed to provide the return path to ground. Which would mean you have a choice. You can have the front lights on all the time (day time running lights or DRL) or you can have them just flash. You simply need to find the source for the running lights in your main harness in the headlight bucket and run that wire to the low wattage (dimmer of the two filaments) side of the bulb. Do the same for the flasher. How does that sound?

 

thanks robert, for taking the time to give me a quick 'electrical wiring for dummies' lesson. I'll give it a go tomorrow and see how I do

 

On my xj all the joinery was done inside the headlight assy. Remove the lamp and unplug it so you have room for fingers and tester. The wires ran hot, towards the rear, from there. i.e the brake hot and the front and rear blinker hots were first joined together there. I cannot remember for sure but I think the blinkers were green for left and brown for right. They (the directional hots) are easily distinguished by the two wires crimped into a single female push fitting. the brake lite uses the same type of deal...and yes they have a correponding colored wire with a colored stripe for ground to really complicate things

I'm having a tough time putting this all into words.. so look for these things I describe but ultimately use a 12v tester light to determine each double wires' function and you'll figure it out in no time!

My intention was to help, but now, after I re-read this I'm not so sure it worked! I hurt my own brain w/this one.

Jeff-ski

 

Bartman, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you last night, but my internet when on the fritz right in the middle of my post. I'll send again tonight. Do you have a multimeter and do you know how to use it? Did you get the VIN for me? I'm going to get you through this one way or another. Success will be ours!