Turn signals not blinking (slightly different)

[thkbaron]

So i got some aftermarket turn signals for my bike. Not led. I installed the rear ones and everything looked to be working fine. blinking. after I got the front ones done now they lights just stay on when I turn my signals on. Replace the flasher? I'm guessing so but just wanted someone to back me up on that assumption! Thanks

 

[tom203]

How much snow you got there? Anyways, your replacement lights probably don't draw enough amps to make flasher happy. So,yes, just get an electronic flasher (and you'll be LED ready for future lights)

 

[thkbaron]

awesome. thanks man. not too much. its nice today. the rest of the state got pounded though. we missed the whole deal!

 

[cowboyup3371]

Are each of your signals properly grounded to a location near themselves?

 

[thkbaron]

ok so I now have another question. guess I should have paid attention to this before I took them apart. Are there some of the older bikes that have no running lights? My front blinkers are not constantly on and I don't think they've ever been. I replaced the turn signals with another set of non led ones. 10w bulbs. the signals I have now, have two wires going to them where the previous ones only had one with a separate washer with a wire attached to that. Grounding I presume. I disconnected the old flasher and replaced it with an electronic one and that didn't work. I tried several different ways. last way blew a fuse. How the heck do I get this to work? Does it matter which electronic flasher I use?

 

[cowboyup3371]

One of those wires will be a ground wire so you may want to take your multimeter and verify which is ground.

 

[thkbaron]

I assumed that. I'm still placing my bet on it being a flasher issue. I'll keep messing with it. Any idea on the front signals not being running lights. That common?

 

[cowboyup3371]

Mine aren't running lights but I can't answer for everyone

 

[rustybronco]

ok so I now have another question. guess I should have paid attention to this before I took them apart. Are there some of the older bikes that have no running lights?

Yes... both my 78 1000 and my 80 850 do not have running lamps.

 

[thkbaron]

Good to know I wasn't crazy. yeah the stock bulbs are 27 watt. new ones are 10. I'm going to put some bigger bulbs in there tomorrow and see what happens. hopefully that'll be it since I'm apparently too incompetant to do the relay thing. lol

 

[tom203]

One of those wires will be a ground wire so you may want to take your multimeter and verify which is ground.

Yes, take bulb out of socket and determine which wire goes to bulb body (brassy thing) -this is ground. I used a set of 10 watt bulbs as running lights as my 81 had none.(I just opted for LED set ) Be advised that they aren't very bright compared to the 23 watt turn signals.

 

[thkbaron]

I'm actually going to replace the 10 watt bulbs with a higher wattage bulb to see if I can just get my original flasher to work. Hopefully then I don't need to mess with anything else. still don't know why I couldn't get that one I bought to work.

 

[rustybronco]

This----->

How much snow you got there? Anyways, your replacement lights probably don't draw enough amps to make flasher happy. So,yes, just get an electronic flasher (and you'll be LED ready for future lights)

Do as instructed.

 

[Guest]

This----->
Do as instructed.

Agreed but with this note!

**You need an Electronic LED flasher.**
Like this :
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3-Pin-Electr...Parts_Accessories&hash=item486440ebbd&vxp=mtr

Not a typical electronic flasher. ( they are the same as the old ones just done with electronics instead of a reed switch) but they take the same amount of high current to make them click.

Those LED things will flash no matter what the current draw is.

Down to 0.020A! will make them click and they handle up to your 27w bulbs if you want.
I use this one on my bike without a problem. I've tried a few imballances just to see what it does and it always flashers no matter what and at the same speed. It even flashes with only my cluster blinker lights.

That would be the first thing to do. Although you may need to add one wire to use one of those. Its jus a ground. The other two wires will say B for source or switch and L for load or lights.
The ground is pretty obvious, Its the E for earth. And you have a 50/50 chance on the other two. It will work one way or the other. Easy way is to switch the blinker on and see which one gives you +12v and connect that one to B+ on the flasher.

As far as the lights go. You have power and ground. Black/white is usually the negative. But just measure them with the blinker on. One will be a constant ground and the other will have power.

I think you blew a fuse because of having one of them on ground that was a power wire.

Does your cluster have two lights for signals or just one?
If you have just one you have to make a simple mode with diodes if you ever plan on putting in led's in your signal lights.
If you just want to use those 10 watt bulbs you should be just fine the way it is.

 

[thkbaron]

Yeah that's what I determined before I saw this post. I put the same wattage bulb in my new signals and everything works fine. I'll eventually upgrade the flasher though. I had a heavy duty flasher. Oops. Too bad they won't take it back since it's electronic. Thanks for the link for the new one! I'll get that done one of these days. One thing at a time!

 

[thkbaron]

ok I"m going to resurrect an old thread. I've just been driving this thing and beating the hell out of it since. It's time to give it some love again. It's going to be a few more years till I get my indian. Darn kids. Anyways. I'm rebuilding the brakes at the moment and I want to get some new turn signals and crap on it. From what I remember, everything is stock on my bike I want to add some led turn signals, license plate illumination brakes lights etc. Can anyone point me to the right thread etc to get this done right. I'm not looking to reinvent the wheel here, just to make it work correctly. Thanks!

 

[rphillips]

Good to know you have things back to working normal. I like normal, way less issues.

 

[thkbaron]

yeah the bike has been working perfect for a while. I just need to do some updates. Is there a good thread somewhere that talks about LED upgrades with brake lights turn signals license plate lights etc? I'll do a search too.

 

[thkbaron]

I guess I'll plan on just getting a two pin flasher that supposedly works for LED lights.

 

[Steve]

You won't find much in a 2-pin flasher. What you need is a 3-pin. One of the pins will come from the battery, as normal. A second pin goes to the selector switch, as normal. The third pin gets connected to ground. The difference that makes this flasher work is that there is a timing circuit inside. You don't even have to have anything connected to the output, the timer circuit will make the output go ON and OFF. You could hook up a headlight to it, it will still flash, and at the same rate.

You want to be directed to a post on how to do this? Just go back to the top of this thread and read was was posted six years ago. Nothing has changed, except the pages on the calendar.

And yes, some bikes had "position" lights in the front signals, others did not. I find it interesting that rustybronco did not have them in his '80 850, as I do. Might be that I have changed my lights and took advantage of an unused wire in the headlight bucket. It's been so long, I don't remember what they were like stock.

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