broken tail/brake light socket replacement?

Megathumper

Joined
Jul 20, 2018
Messages
50
Location
Columbia, SC
Hi folks!
have a 2008 st1300 (red of course). I just found the the previous owner had broken one of the brake light sockets. Does not work. It was wrapped in electrical tape and hard to get out. Once out, the wires were not connected to the bulb socket. I don't think I broke it myself.
There are also some wires spliced in behind the socket that I think are for the Givi top box brake light. Which has never worked. I was digging in because the brake lights are not working.

Is there an easy fix for this broken socket?? not much room in there for my big fat hands!
 
When I had to do some work on the brake light socket, I found that removing the grab rail and the back part of the rear fender ("Rear Fender A") gave much better access. Pages 2-6 thru 2-8 in the shop manual show the procedure; very easy to do. The wiring itself is pretty simple once you get in there. The wiring diagram I have for a 2006 model shows green wire for common, black with brown stripe for the tail light, and light green with yellow stripe for the brake light.
 
I recently read an article how someone replaced standard bulbs with his own home made 'LED board' to provide a brighter stoplight. I don't remember where I saw it - might it have been on this forum? - anyway, as I recall, he took perforated board made for prototyping electronic circuits, cut it to fit inside the stop light lens and then soldered in the LED's along with wiring and the relatively simple electronic circuit he made for it.
 
here are some pictures of the broken socket. Good place to get a replacement?
 

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Autoparts store like STRider said. You will need to splice the wires and and you will be good to go. Solder them together and use heat shrink to cover the joint.
 
STRider said:
It sounds like the socket is broken not the taillight shell? If so, wouldn't this do the trick?

744x Base Wired Sockets - 7443 Socket

1618444202382.png
Click to expand...
Yes! It looks like it will. Where did you see it for sale? Amazon?
snowmoer said:
Autoparts store like STRider said. You will need to splice the wires and and you will be good to go. Solder them together and use heat shrink to cover the joint.
Click to expand...

I had searched on Amazon quite a bit but it kept bringing back Honda car parts. I know they might be the same but can't tell from ad. I ordered a couple to see... they were cheap.
Thanks guys
 
The text "744x Base Wired Sockets - 7443 Socket" is a hyperlink to the superbrightleds.com website for that item. :) $1.95 for the three wire 7443 version.

Just make sure the tab arrangement of this replacement matches the damaged socket. I'm pretty sure it should. I spent enough time wrestling with re-inserting my brake lights after outfitting them with LEDs to think it does. But don't just trust me, check for yourself. IRRC there's one wide and three narrow tabs at the ordinal positions.

Also, as others said, you would likely find it at a well stocked auto store - NAPA, Advanced Auto Parts, maybe AutoZone...
 
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