Advice on turn signal replacement.

[ggreenfield]

I found these great looking carbon fiber signals but it states:

Will work as turn signals ONLY and are not DOT approved

Okay then.......

Then there are these LED signals. At that site they mention:

We Recommend Resistors with this item. All LED Lights draw less current than Conventional Bulbs, therefore LED's may cause your lights to flash faster than normal. The use of a resistor brings the flashing back down to normal speed.

At $10 for 2 resistors I can see why they recommend them! What value of resistor might they be using? I have resistors and could probably come up with something on my own. Any suggestions for a value or how to wire them in? Presumably you just add a resistor on the positive leg of the signal wiring?

Also quoted from that site:

These also work great as rear turn signals.

Does this imply that they won't work as front turn signals?

[Eli69]

the led's should work without resistors if you get an electronic flasher to replace your mechanical flasher. electronic flashers use much less current. i got one at a car parts store for about $8.

[doug g]

Ditto just get an electronic flasher and the LED signals will work fine.

[Muser3]

signal lights

FYI, my son put a set of the small led carbon fiber signals on his GS and they are really hard to see unless you are really close. They look very nice but his are just not very effective.
On the other hand, I readily admit to being an old fart who thinks that you can't get enough lights onto the back of your bike anyway.
Lee :-D

[SDK]

hey do the 1982 gs 850 have a flasher and where is it?

Shane

[salty_monk]

hey do the 1982 gs 850 have a flasher and where is it?

Shane

Does it have lights that flash on it?? 8-[:-D

Should be down the side of the battery box I think.

Dan

[ccoale]

just get rid of the signal lights and use hand signals.......you can wear a different pair of gloves every time you want to change the look of your signals......

[ggreenfield]

FYI, my son put a set of the small led carbon fiber signals on his GS and they are really hard to see unless you are really close. They look very nice but his are just not very effective.
On the other hand, I readily admit to being an old fart who thinks that you can't get enough lights onto the back of your bike anyway.
Lee :-D

Do you think this is due to the small size or just that the LED's were dim? I don't really care if I have LED's or incandescents.

[ggreenfield]

I have not actually dissected one of the LED turn signals but I wonder...is it as simple as just a few LED's in series? No circuitry involved at all? If they are in series then I suppose that if one of the LEDs were to die then none of them would work?

[seuadr]

i think that you can get them both in series and parallel. leds are very unlikely to fail just one in a series though, unless they are recieving too much voltage. you shouldn't need any drivers if they are already in a bulb format.

[renobruce]

I found these great looking carbon fiber signals but it states:
Okay then.......

Then there are these LED signals. At that site they mention:
At $10 for 2 resistors I can see why they recommend them! What value of resistor might they be using? I have resistors and could probably come up with something on my own. Any suggestions for a value or how to wire them in? Presumably you just add a resistor on the positive leg of the signal wiring?

Also quoted from that site:
Does this imply that they won't work as front turn signals?

I installed some turn signals just like the ones in your link (mine were chrome). They didn't put out much light, and they are plastic. I later installed these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Amber...spagenameZWDVW

which are made from aluminum. I stripped the clear off them and polished them. They put out much more light, and are much better made.
Here's the old ones:



and here's the newer ones:

[ggreenfield]

Wow renobruce those are sexy. The first set looks kind of sad. The price is nice too.

[ohgoodtimes]

Has anyone though of making a set of their own? if wired correctly led's can be very bright, last forever and actually light up faster than standard bulbs, though this would be more efficient for a brake light, which i am actually trying to do right now. The turn signals aren't that big of a deal to me. But i will post a how to when i am done

[scottp8113]

i know that for cars at least, LED bulbs are available for just about everything now... i would bet that somewhere there are the bulbs we need, or if not, they'll be available soon i'm sure...

[seuadr]

there are alot of bulbs avaliable if you search.. but it seems like they don't illuminate omnidirectional the way incadicent bulbs do generally. which is what leads to seeming to be less bright.. unless you are at the right viewing angle you are just getting a poor reflection. i have seen some omnidirectional bulbs as of late, but i haven't tried any myself.. could be better.