Flasher replacement

[lucabond]

I know this has been covered before just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.
My stator went the other day and shot up to 50 volts or so and took out most of my lights 2 relays and finished off my flasher.
I used a Tridon #550 flasher as a replacement. It plugs into the stock socket and all you have to do is move 2 wires.
If you look at the plug you will see the top is hinged just push in the retainer finger and it pops open. The power wire is already in the right spot orange white its the lug marked X on the flasher. Now just slip a small finish nail or screw driver in to the little square slot that each spade on the plug has. Remove the black and blue spade connector from the plug you don't need this wire so wrap it in tape its for the flasher canceller which now won't work if it did before. Take out the spade with the pale blue wire and put it back in the plug where the black blue wire was which is X on the new flasher. Now test the directional's to make sure everything works. With this flasher even if you have a burned out bulb the good 1 will blink. I then took the rubber mounting block and slipped a length of tape thru it and taped it the the new flasher across from the 2 inline male prongs you could also use zip ties and hung it back up where the old 1 was.
it works like a charm no cutting and splicing wires took all of 20 minuets.
Good luck

 

[Guest]

Where did you buy the flasher?

 

[lucabond]

Auto zone or Advanced 1 or the other it's a brand name so I would think you could get it at a bunch of places, good luck

 

[Guest]

I picked up one the other day, cant remember the name or part number.
Didnt work.
But I have modified flashers with LED's so its just something I'll have to figure out.

 

[crash-harris]

I think you need some more resistance with the LED markers.

 

[Steve]

I think you need some more resistance with the LED markers.

Actually, what you need is less resistance when using LEDs.

You get this by adding resistors. :-k

The LEDs themselves have a rather high resistance, meaning that they don't use much current. The thermal flasher relays in our bikes need a certain amount of current to operate correctly. By adding a resistor of a lower value in parallel with the LEDs, you are giving a path for more current to flow, allowing the flasher to do its thing.

.

 

[gsgeezer]

Just get a no load flasher, like for trailers. (Autozone)

I have LED front turn signals and running lights and conventional brake lights and rear turn signals (on another bike) everything works fine.

 

[Guest]

They work fine, just dont flash.
Could this be my problem?

The flasher that was on the bike is trash. The inside was a rusty mess. I bought another 3 prong flasher of a different part number than the one mentioned, didnt work.

All my lights are LED's except for the headlight of course. Sigs, tail light/plate/brake light.
I can turn off the headlight for more current and they still dont flash.
Its something simple I'm sure. The cancel relay is still hooked up also.
Any thoughts?

 

[posplayr]

Cute Trick :dancing:

By adding a resistor of a lower value in parallel with the LEDs, you are giving a path for more current to flow, allowing the flasher to do its thing.

.

If a 12Watt turn signal => 1amp @ 12V (P=IV)

then U need 12 ohms in parallel with the LED to pull the same current as the incandescent lamp ?

 

[sark]

I got the 2 wire flasher from advance auto. Works great with my led turns. PLug and go! It took two seconds.

 

[lildave]

tridon makes a heavy duty unit if i remember it is an ep29 plug in with no modification needes i put one on my gs700es

 

[lildave]

sorry wrong part # in 1st post actual number is EP35C

 

[Shin-Ken 1074]

Hi lucabond, thanks for posting the indicator replacement tip, an Oldie but a Goldie. Had the same issue with my GSX a few years ago, genuine flasher unit was quoted at a price that seemed a bit high, then the parts guy at the dealer told me how to fit the after market flasher-can as you have detailed, working perfectly ten years later, flasher-can from the auto shop was about $7. Catch ya later, cheers.

 

[boingk]

Did a similar thing on my GS850, after trying to replace the standard 3-prong flasher unit with another mechanical (then electronic) 3-prong flasher unit. Seems standard have shanged over time as the standard units didn't wrk at all.

I ended up using a very basic 2-prong mechanically actuated unit, seated in two of the three available slots. One combination of slots works well, very well. I was surprised but pleased...as I thought perhaps I needed rewiring.

Cheers - boingk

 

[elevatorman71]

Actually, what you need is less resistance when using LEDs.

You get this by adding resistors. :-k

The LEDs themselves have a rather high resistance, meaning that they don't use much current. The thermal flasher relays in our bikes need a certain amount of current to operate correctly. By adding a resistor of a lower value in parallel with the LEDs, you are giving a path for more current to flow, allowing the flasher to do its thing.

.

i actually added a set of regular light bulbs inline with the led lights i put in soldered them inline and used electrical tape to cover the light it was putting out and WHAM! it worked

 

[boingk]

elevatorman71 - while that setup seems fine, doesn't it strike you as quite redundant? I thought one of the main advantages of LED's was lower current draw.

The best and easiest way to mod your bike to run LEDs would be an electronic flasher unit, wouldn't it?

- boingk

 

[elevatorman71]

i did use an led flasher on my bike and yes it does seem redundant but it was the only way it worked i took the old flasher out put in the new one designed for led's and didnt work so thats hot i came to try that and it worked dont understand why but it did

 

[Steve]

They work fine, just dont flash.
...
Any thoughts?

Thoughts? Yeah. If they don't flash, they don't "work fine".

Just so everyone knows in no uncertain terms, the three-prong flasher units in use on our bikes are not in any way compatible with any other three-prong flashers in use, anywhere.

In most of the "standard" three-prong flashers, the third prong is a ground terminal. And, there is no standard for which one of the terminals is the ground, as there are at least two versions. One has the center terminal as ground, another has one of the end terminals as ground. NONE of our terminals is a ground. The third terminal on our flashers is a signal from the control unit that turns on the flasher circuit.

.

 

[Guest]

Thoughts? Yeah. If they don't flash, they don't "work fine".

Just so everyone knows in no uncertain terms, the three-prong flasher units in use on our bikes are not in any way compatible with any other three-prong flashers in use, anywhere.

In most of the "standard" three-prong flashers, the third prong is a ground terminal. And, there is no standard for which one of the terminals is the ground, as there are at least two versions. One has the center terminal as ground, another has one of the end terminals as ground. NONE of our terminals is a ground. The third terminal on our flashers is a signal from the control unit that turns on the flasher circuit.

.

Um come one man, tell me something I didnt already know.

 

[jknappsax]

I'm pretty sure that my 1978 GS 750 and my 1979 GS 1000 both use a two-terminal flasher, as the turn signals aren't self-cancelling. Did they change from 2-wire to 3-wire after 1980? And I agree with boingk that using a shunt resistor across the LED doesn't make sense if you're trying to reduce current draw,since with the shunts, you are pulling roughly the SAME amount of current. With the relatively wimpy output in our bikes, the LED conversion frees up juice for aftermarket electronics, like radar detector, GPS, a comm system, etc.