'flashing' lights with turn signals (weak ground??)

[81gs1100]

I.E. stop/running lamps.

the reason I stated it that way, was to exclude license plate lamps and the subject "turn signals".

My apologies if I wasn't clear enough.

No problem there, the problem is why the turn signals opperate as running lights.

You had me thinking for a bit tho as alot of Harley guys have red turn signals, but it never dawned on me that they also double the turn signals as running lights.

[81gs1100]

hey kenora guy, stupid question; do you turn signals double as running lights? mine is a 79 750l and i have no running lights to speak of.

Whoa, backtrack...

Yes, and no, the fronts should turn on as running lights with the key, and the rears no, they are only used as signals. And no you can't just toss in a different bulb and get running lights.

The rears have 2 wires, signal and ground.
the fronts have 3 wires, constant, signal, and ground.

Ummmm, yeah... If your front turn signals are just 2 wire with black and black/white, then you do not have running lights.

Constants are gray wires, signals are black, and ground is black/white.

[spyder2120]

if the fronts are supposed to be running lights then 1157 would be the ticket. but if it is some shadetree mod and not from the factory, then i could see it as a big problem. there would be such a drain the bike would probably be hard to start. i have a buddy with a '80 xs650 and the front turn signals are also running lights, but the rear are only turn signals. maybe suzuki did the same thing that year, if not, then that mod is draing too much current.

[81gs1100]

Hi everyone, here's the scenereo...

1980 GS 550 L, headlight off all is swell. Headlight on and the opposite front signal flashes (i.e. dims) to the pulses, same for the headlight (pulsates) and brakelight too.

The mechanic I use for my business vehicles says it's a weak/bad ground which makes sense, but when I jump a ground wire direct from any of the lamps to the battery or engine it DOES NOT improve. Any ideas guys and dolls???

Q2, assuming that it is a weak ground OR that the alternator just can't keep up at an idle, if I ran lower wattage bulbs all around (except the headlight) do you think that would eliminate the pulsation. I figure I can cut ~2 amps, more if I convert to LED's but then thats BIG $$$..

I need the flicker gone to have the bike pass a safety...

TIA for any insites/insights you have to offer...

ALright here is the original post... kinda got lost in the shuffle.

A few things here we need to know:

1. are the turn signals stock?
2. how many wires do they have?
3. what happens when you turn on your headlight?
4. what happens when you turn on each turn signal?
5. does the horn work?

Just for giggles what you said is when you turn on your headlight everything starts pulsing? If that is the case it would seem to me that the PO wired the turn signals into the headlight thinking that would give him running lights?

[spyder2120]

i like the way your thinking. lol.

[81gs1100]

I don't understand whats going on.. does everything pulse to the turn signal, or to the motor? WTF??

Crank the idle to 5k and whola, no pulsing...?

Start with a fully charged battery...

[Steve]

I think I understand what's going on, but this statement puzzles me:

Headlight on and the opposite front signal flashes (i.e. dims) to the pulses, same for the headlight (pulsates) and brakelight too. ...

It is somewhat normal for other lights to dim a bit when the turn signals are on, especially if the engine speed is low and charging output is low.
Look at it this way, normal loads on the bike are:
headlight - 5 amps
tail light, running lights, instrument lights - about 2 amps
two coils, at about 4.5 amps each - 9 amps

Yes, it takes about 16 amps of current to keep the bike rolling under normal circumstances. Each turn signal bulb is about 2.5 amps, so it's like turning on another headlight bulb, or adding another 33% of the running requirements, but intermittently. Yeah, the system is going to struggle to keep up with that. Since our charging systems don't compensate for load like an alternator can, the lights will dim a bit when the signals come on.

The question I have about the quote above concerns "Headlight on and the opposite front signal flashes..." What I think he means is that when the left signal comes on, the right side running light dims. Yeah, it's normal, see my explaination above. Ensuring you have good connections in your power and ground wires will be good to minimize the flickering, but it will not be eliminated altogether.

.

[kenora_guy]

81GS1100, Like Steve said, the turn signal on the right side pulls down the running light intensity on the left, the brake and the headlight. The same (reverse) for the left,,,

The horn works fine. 1157's in the front and brake and 1156 were in the rear turns... I swapped out the 1156's for ones that used about 1/2 the power and surprisingly even though the rated CP is half, it doesn't affect the intensity (i.e. they are still as visable as with the 1156's). The rear turns are stock the front are vetta...

[81gs1100]

81GS1100, Like Steve said, the turn signal on the right side pulls down the running light intensity on the left, the brake and the headlight. The same (reverse) for the left,,,

Ahhhh, gottcha.

Start all tests with a fully charged battery~!

Yeah, I would test the charging voltage to the battery as well as the charging amps.

Clean all connections as well as the blub socket.

Try running it with a charger on the battery and see if that helps...

But to a point even the best system will show dimming in the other lights around the bike. If its that noticable that they will not pass it for saftey reasons Im guessing something deeper.

[kenora_guy]

81GS, The battery is brand new although just because it's new means a whole lot of nothing,,,

I already tried the signals while jumping from my van with **very little** improvement...

[bwringer]

But to a point even the best system will show dimming in the other lights around the bike. If its that noticable that they will not pass it for saftey reasons Im guessing something deeper.

Yes, some dimming when the signals flash is perfectly normal. What in the world leads you to believe that it won't pass inspection? Very few motorcycles produce full charging voltage at idle.

[kenora_guy]

Bwringer,
Q-what would make me think no pass inspecton?
A-the mechanic who did the inspection who also rides

JC- can you go thru the test light routine for me once more... I'm not quite getting your meaning/direction, BUT it sounds promissing and much faster than what I have been doing...

[duaneage]

YOu would also need dual filament sockets too.

[bwringer]

If it's just some dimming, get your inspection done somewhere else. That mechanic is pretty clueless.

[kenora_guy]

Test lamp = jumper\|?

OK JC, that's what I thought you were discribing... I guess my question is that if the test light would show the fault, why wouldn't just the simple heavy duty jumper I made up do the same???

If I jump to a known solid ground (ie the engine, since all grounds are taken from it) wouldn't the weakly grounded item imeadiately improve when properly grounded thru the jumper AND possible even spark as the jumper is connected/ disconnected especially if the item is under load (ie a badly grounded tail light may ark if the brakes were applied while the jumper is dis/connected)???