The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Tail lights

I installed my tail lights on my 1953 Chevy truck . The tail lights came with a green wire and a black wire I was wondering which wire is the stop light and turn signals and which is the tail lights ? I installed it and when tail lights are on and the brake light is on its kinda hard to see the difference when the brake light is applied when the tail light is on . Other than that everything works good .

The difference should be obvious. You may have a grounding problem.

Where would those wires be grounded too

Does it get grounded at the turn signal switch

The "ground" Cletis is talking about is Chassis Ground, not that your switch legs are grounded. Check the bolt connections at the taillight housing, brackets, etc.

You could have the bulb filaments wired backwards. That would have the brake lights on as running lights and when you apply the brakes there is little change. Test the taillight wires (bulb) with a jumper wire from the battery and see which one gives you the bright stop light...

Mike B

Ok Thxs

On these after market tail lights it has a black and green wire which is the tail lights and which is the stop lights ?

There is no way of determining that by looking at the color of the wires. Using a hot wire touch one, note the brightness. Then touch the other, note the brightness. The brightest one is the brake/signal circuit.

That's what I did but is a dual bulb with a single filament .

How do you have a dual bulb with a single filament? By dual bulb do you mean two contacts on the bottom? If so you have the wrong bulb. If you're still 6v you need a #1154 bulb. 12v would be #1157. Those are dual contact dual filament bulbs. The reason you're getting the same light with both wires is you're feeding the same filament through either contact and the ground is being made through the housing. Put the correct bulb in it & see what happens.

Do they sell the lights with the one bulb 1157 for those tail lights

I don't understand the question I guess. All tail lights with a single bulb should accept the 1157 bulb. You can get an 1157 at any parts jobber or even Walmart. Just put the correct bulb in your light socket.

OK, after reading your other thread you on the same subject it seems you don't have a single socket tail light. You have a two socket housing. You can disregard everything I wrote above because my answers were based on incomplete information and were wrong for your application.

Before you can get a correct answer you need to provide all pertinent information. The reason you don't see a brighter light with either bulb is because the repop tail lights come with the same bulb in both sockets. They come with a 6 volt #63 bulb or a 12v #67. The way they work is one bulb lights when the tail lights are on. The second lights when you apply the brakes. The problem is the provided bulb is dim. It's only 3 candle power. If you don't have the lights on & hit the brakes you only have one 3cp bulb illuminated. Even with the lights on when you apply the brakes you only have a total of 6cp.

There's a fix for that. Are you still 6 volt? Or have you converted to 12 volt? It makes a difference in what bulbs you use.

I have a 12v system

OK, you need to put a slight bend in the bracket like this. That provides enough room for a larger, brighter bulb to take the place of the dim stock bulb.

Once you've bent the bracket put a #89 bulb in one socket and a #1141 in the other. The #1141 is a larger bulb than the stock bulb. The #89 is twice as bright as the stock bulb but is the same size. The #1141 is 7 times a bright as the stock bulb. It will look something like this.

You may need to alter the bend a tad to get both to fit inside the housing with the lens on. It may work best with the #1141 in the top socket or it may work best the other way around. Once you get both bulbs in the housing, the socket with the larger #1141 will be your brake light. Spritz some gloss white paint in the housing & you'll have quite bright lights.

Ok that's good info now where should u have the stop light on the top or the bottom ?

It shouldn't make any difference. Whatever fits best. If it's the tag light side it would probably light your license tag up better if the tail light bulb is closest to the window but it'll light up either way. Don't forget the gloss white paint. It makes a big difference. Also a plastic lens passes more light than a glass lens.