Headlight wiring question

[MaxVmo]

Hi all, I have a question about headlight/turn signal wiring. The headlight and turn signal each have a black ground. I’m guessing I would connect both to the single ground from the harness? Is this correct?

[JMD]

Yes, although it's good practice to connect the ground in the front harness to the chassis at some point so it has multiple points to ground. Same with the rear harness. The more points the black ground has to route to chassis, the better.

[MaxVmo]

All my lights work independently as published (running lights/headlights/high beams/turn signals), but my hazards only flash on the left side. I think my grounds on the right side could be the culprit but I’ll check the fuses as well.

My question is, when connecting the smaller grounds from the turn signal and headlights to the RF harness (different gauge wires) is there a proper technique to go from small to big? The RF ground is huge compared to the other two.

I’m probably overthinking it!

[phileas_fogg]

You can buy step-down butt connectors from Del City: https://www.delcity.net/store/Non!Insulated-Step!Down-Butt-Connectors/p_801887.h_801888.

In a pinch, you can fold the smaller gauge wire back on itself to get an effectively larger gauge wire. But you have to be sure to twist the strands tightly, and pull test the connection (don't be bashful; if it comes apart you've just saved future you several hours to troubleshooting).


John

[gbranham]

I didn't think twice about mating the thicker ground to the small one on the headlights, and everything works fine. Solder, heat shrink tube, done.

215281

[JMD]

If you have two smaller ground wires, twist them together and if they're close to same size as bigger wire you're good to go! I think I did that for the headlights.

[Blitzboy54]

It is impossible to over ground an electrical circuit, you can only underground it.

[MaxVmo]

Update and solved! A buddy opined that my wiring issue may not be poor wiring (since all the lights got power) but improper placement of the wires on the hazard switch itself. I swapped the outer pink wires to the opposite poles and presto, all works as it should and fixed in five minutes.