Turn Signal Questions

[Jakob]

I need / want to replace my turn signals on my 81 750E but I don't want stock. I found these from BikeMaster but had a couple of questions before I ordered them.

My front OEM signals have 2 wires coming from them (one red, one black) and a 3rd wire (black w/ white stripe) that is connected to a washer-looking thing that hangs around the signal stem. These are dual filament signals and the ones I am interested in are single. I don't care about that one way or the other.

The BikeMaster ones appear to have a white wire and a black wire.

A) Which goes to what on them?

B) Which is what on my OEM's?

Mechanical I can do, electrical is NOT my forte. Any help would be without a doubt extremely appreciated.

Thanks,
~~>Jakob

 

[Odinist]

The aftermarket ones will have black and black with white stripe. I believe you'll want to match them up with the like-colored wires from your wiring harness, but don't treat that as if I know what I'm talking aboout. ;-)

 

[Billy Ricks]

The black/white on the stock wiring is just a ground. You should have wires that are going to the stock signals that are the same color going to both signals that serve as running lights. The signals should have different colored wires for each side of the bike in the stock harness. Usually green on the right and solid black on the left for your hot wires. The black wires on the new signals will be ground and the white are hot wires.

 

[BassCliff]

Hi Mr. Jakob,

Are those new blinkers using single filament bulbs? Probably. If so, just disconnect the old ones and plug in the new ones. You may need to ground them to the frame. My stock blinkers have eye connectors that get pinched between the blinker and frame at the attachment point. Then a single wire runs to the harness.

Some dual-filament turn signals use the housing itself as the grounding point, then one wire is for running lights, the other for blinkers. Some blinkers just have three wires.

OK, that's probably T.M.I. I'll shut up now.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Jakob]

Are those new blinkers using single filament bulbs?

The new ones are single filament, the stocks are duals.

As I said, my stocks have 2 wires (red & black) and a washer-looking black with white stripe (ground?) that connects between stalk and mount. This is the left I'm talking about, as it's the one I removed to get a peek at what I was dealing with

Everything was / is in fine working order, it's just that I wanted shorter stalks and new lenses (fogged) and housings are cracked so instead of replacing pieces, why not just get new all around?

Here's the funny part- As I disconnected the wires from the harness I was smart enough to make masking tape labels as I removed each wire so's I would know what came from where. I just went and looked, as I wasn't paying attention to color when I was labeling earlier, and lo and behold, the red wire from signal was plugged into a black wire and the black wire from signal was plugged into a red wire. Everything was working as per Mr. Zuki before I took signal off.

To the best of my knowledge neither of the 2 POs did any electrical work. Owner #1 wrecked it within 500 miles of purchasing it in 1982 and put it in storage because, in his words "it scared the sh*t out of me." Along came Owner #2 in 1991 who got it running and promptly drove it into a lake... I bought it in 2001 in St. Louis, trailered it to OK and spent the next 5 years removing asphalt and lake remanants from it and getting it road-worthy again. Getting ready to take pics and post here in forum, just haven't got my lazy a$$ around to doing it yet.

I think I just hi-jacked my own thread

Thanks to everyone's help so far and Cliff, I wouldn't have made it as far as I have with this bike without you, buddy. Mucho Gracias.

~~>Jakob