This thread is a follow up to the May/Jun 2026 Sidecarist magazine article on Basic Electrical Systems And Theory.
Please feel free to add thoughts, questions, answers, etc., based on the article content.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
This thread is a follow up to the May/Jun 2026 Sidecarist magazine article on Basic Electrical Systems And Theory.
Please feel free to add thoughts, questions, answers, etc., based on the article content.
Scott @scott-h, I just completed the full wiring and lighting of the Ural sidecar to my Africa Twin, and I have to say it came out pretty darn good.
I used nothing but Eastern Beaver wiring harnesses to connect to the bike's OEM wiring harness, so everything was Plug 'n Play, meaning no damage done to the bikes' wiring harness at all.
From the Eastern beaver wiring harnesses, I connected a 30' piece of 5 wire...18ga per wire...all sheathed in a nice thick plastic cover, and ran that 30' of 5 wire from the bike, all around the sidecar, finally terminating inside the nose of the Ural steel tub, where the last of my lights were hooked up.
My purpose in using this 18 gauge, 5 wire was to keep a consistent wire flow throughout the entire system, with no breaks in the wire, meaning less connectors joining ends of wires together.
I used only HYPERLITES for everything on the sidecar, and NOTHING was wired out to the sidecar FENDER. The use of this sidecar rig will see a lot of off-road, meaning rocks, trees, Grizzly Bears, so why would you want to run wires and lights out onto the sidecar fender, the most vulnerable location where trees may rush after you to brush their bark against your fender, or Grizzly Bears may take a sawt at you, and hit the fender first ???
All HyperLites are attached to the steel sidecar tub, on both sides of the rear section, and both sides of the nose section.
Rear lights have combo Running Lights and Brake lights in one set of 16 LEDS, and there are sets mounted on both sides of the rear section, so the Running Lights, and Brake Lights can be easily seen from both sides at the rear of the sidecar. Additionally there is another 16 LED set of Turnsignal Lights attached to the RIGHT rear side, facing rearward...those 16 LED lights are in Amber.
On the nose of the sidecar, there is a 16 LED set of lights on the LEFT side of the nose, in Amber LED lights, as Running Lights, and another of the same 16 LED lights on the RIGHT side of the nose of the sidecar, also in Amber. Those Amber Running Lights are ON anytime the bike is running.
Finally, there is another 16 LED set of Amber lights mounted on the Right side of the nose, that are Turnsignal lights.
These HyperLites are extremely bright, and no way to miss them.
The rear brake lights, they FLASH consistently when the brakes are applied. The flashing stays on the entire time the brakes are touched.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
