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Sidecar Electrics

UK law required that the sidecar be fitted with indicators, front and rear marker lights and a brake light. A reflector was also a requirement.
In addition, it was proposed that the front marker light would be a spotlight which would run with a pilot light most of the time, but would operate as a spot light when the motorcycle main beam was used.

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The connections for the lights were taken from under the seat.
The wires to the rear light were cut and a 6-way connector soldered into place.
A separate, thicker earth wire was taken straight back to the battery to give the sidecar a good earth.

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The chosen lights were:
Indicators - BMW motorcycle lights to match the ones already on the bike. These would be mounted low down on the sidecar frame.
Front marker light - Bates style motorcycle headlight with a pilot bulb.
Brake/tail light - vintage Lucas 564 design.

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The headlight was mounted on an arm which was machined to clamp to the sidecar frame.
This arm was a simple lathe and milling machine job and was designed to position the light level with the sidecar wheel to give an indication of the vehicle width.

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The indicators mounting consisted of an arm and a mounting boss.
The arm was a flanged tube which was made by brazing a steel washer onto a 14mm piece of steel pipe. The washer was drilled to take two 3mm screws which attached the arm to the mounting boss
The boss was drilled to take the tube and shaped to fit the sidecar frame. The mounting bosses were welded into place.

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Self amalgamating tape was used to create a wiring loom from the individual wires.
The loom was threaded through short lengths of steel tube welded to the frame and the routed inside the frame to reach the front and rear lights.
Some silicon tubing was found to be an effective tool to post down the frame tubes to pull wires through.

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An earthing point was added to the inner suspension plate by drilling and tapping a 6mm hole. This formed a union to join the earth wires from the various lights and connect them back to the earth terminal on the bike battery.

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