atc 125m... neutral indicator light no function w/o lights on

[sammiefish]

I noticed a strange thing on the 125m the other day... wondering if it is normal or i need to trace wire...

the neutral indicator light does not work if the light switch is not on....
BTW, there is NO battery installed at this point...

is this normal... would I need a battery installed to have the neutral indicator light function with the lights OFF

[just ben]

get to chasing, sounds like somone wired it into the head/ tailight wires.I'm not familiar with that machine but the indicator lights should run off the same power wire but before the light switch

[Gearheadtom]

^^^I'd say the same thing. The ground (negative) for the light comes from the neutral switch in the trans, and the positive should come from a switched 12v wire. It must have got hooked up to a wire for the head/tail light.

[tri-Z ripper]

It's the ground most likely As stated ^^^^

[redsox]

agreed, and believe me, i'm no expert, but why would the light work with the HL switch on? Does the neutral light share a wire with the headlight switch on that model? i seem to remember that, but not sure. do a wire from the neutral light and a wire from the headlight switch pigtail inside the headlight housing and share a wire back to the relay? if that's right, then maybe the two have good continuity to each other but only the HL wire has continuity back to the relay. then, if so, when the headlight gets turned on, the continuity gets to the relay.

[kb0nly]

Ok, so if i understand this correctly, the neutral light only works if the headlight switch is on? Correct?

If thats the case this is easy... The neutral light has its ground/negative lead switched by the neutral switch in the trans. Most likely what happened is someone took it apart up at the handlebars and plugged the wire in the wrong spot. Looking at the manual and the 85 125M i have access to, depending your year you will have a Light Green/Red wire that goes to the neutral switch in the trans and either a Yellow/Red or a Black/Brown for the positive. Its very possible as i have seen it before that they plugged the positive wire for the light into the wrong connector, make sure the colors are matching.

The Neutral indicator does not share anything with the headlight switch, the negative side goes to the switch in the trans and the positive side goes to the output from the ignition switch. Its most likely that someone rewired it or hooked up wrong.

Oh and the neutral light will work with the light switch off and no battery, just have to have the ignition switch turned on and the engine running in that case for it to work.