Turn signal flasher wiring question

[mixongw]

There are three terminals on the unit. One wire goes to the turn signal switch to get routed to the side that is blinking, so that wire must be the output of the flasher relay. Another is possibly +12V. The third one comes from the turn signal control module. What does it do (electrically)?

[gsBert]

if you're talking about the front turn signal housing having 3 wires, thats easy:

its a quacking ground man!!!!

you have one ground wire and 2 positive wires, one is always on with ignition, and the other goes through the flasher relay.

why on earth would they do that?
your front turn signals are always on so cagers can tell your bike from a car that's missing a headlight.
your front singal bulbs have 2 filaments: running light and flasher.

the rear signals are single filament and only have 2 wires.

the bike actually uses the resistance form one bulb to flash the other (rear/front), so if one is burnt or not wired right the other end of the bike will not flash but stay on constantly.

oh, i really like the "possibly +12v" comment, do yourself a favour, invest in a good digital multimeter.

[snark]

Buy a Clymer manual for the bike. The wiring diagrams alone are well worth the cost.

[gsBert]

sometimes manuals are nice to have, but figuring out stuff for yourself means you learn more, better, harder...

anyone can do the paint-by-numbers thing, GSs require artits not canvas-fillers...

[mixongw]

if you're talking about the front turn signal housing having 3 wires, thats easy:

its a quacking ground man!!!!
you have one ground wire and 2 positive wires, one is always on with ignition, and the other goes through the flasher relay.

why on earth would they do that?
your front turn signals are always on so cagers can tell your bike from a car that's missing a headlight.
your front singal bulbs have 2 filaments: running light and flasher.

the rear signals are single filament and only have 2 wires.

the bike actually uses the resistance form one bulb to flash the other (rear/front), so if one is burnt or not wired right the other end of the bike will not flash but stay on constantly.

oh, i really like the "possibly +12v" comment, do yourself a favour, invest in a good digital multimeter.

Actually I was refering to the turn signal relay or flasher unit. I am Electrical Engineer by profession. I have the wiring of the turn signal lamps figured out. 8) It's the wire coming from the turn signal control module that I wanted to know about.

I do own a digital multimeter, however, just because it reads close to the battery voltage doesn't mean that it's a battery source.

[mixongw]

Buy a Clymer manual for the bike. The wiring diagrams alone are well worth the cost.

Does the manual tell you what the function of the wire is?

[Einar J Skog]

Hi

The wiring diagram only tells the colorcodes and what units the wires go to..

Green&Orange goes to fuse 2 from top...
Skyblue goes to turn signal switch..
Blue&Black goes to control unit.

I can only think that it has to do with the self canceling system.

[snark]

Buy a Clymer manual for the bike. The wiring diagrams alone are well worth the cost.

Does the manual tell you what the function of the wire is?

It won't come right out and tell you, but it will help you trace them back to their source so that you can figure out what it does. The bike I am working on now has the wiring so butchered there is no way I could have straightened it out without the diagrams.

[mixongw]

Buy a Clymer manual for the bike. The wiring diagrams alone are well worth the cost.

Does the manual tell you what the function of the wire is?

It won't come right out and tell you, but it will help you trace them back to their source so that you can figure out what it does. The bike I am working on now has the wiring so butchered there is no way I could have straightened it out without the diagrams.

The reason I asked is that I want to make my own flasher but wasn't sure the functions of the three wires.

[snark]

If you are up to the challenge, I beleive it will help.

[snowbeard]

now my bike for example doesn't have any of the flashers on either front or rear when driving. I have wanted to rig it so that they are on, but haven't really even looked into it. of course, I don't have self cancelling or anything.

think it would be possible to reverse a wire or two and let the signal unit interupt instead of... well, whatever it does now?

sorry to steal your thread...