Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech American indicators?

Ok all you in the good ol USA please help me . I have just purchased some accessory indicators (turn signals) (hate those std triumph ones) that seem to of originated from your neck of the woods because they are duel filament globes. Now over here in aussie land our indicators are single filament and earth, or ground, is always green. These suckers have no green wires just black, black/white, and red. Now I assume I can just use one side of the globe but I am not sure which wires i should use. I can no doubt do this by trial and error but i am sure someone out there can help me get it right straight up and while your there tell me why you have duel filament indicators, is it for hazard lights?

One filament (the smaller) is for a running light, (as in tail light type circuit) the other larger filament is for the signal light.

Short of a volt ohm meter, hold the black wire to the - battery terminal, then the others wires one by one to the + battery terminal.

A 9 volt battery may work too.

By running do you mean this light is on all the time? Assuming this is amber that is weird man?

Running lights are on all the time - like a volvo. They're illegal in Aust on bikes, but Yank bikes use the indicator lights with the dimmer filament. The fronts are amber and I believe the rears have to be red. (Yes that means rear indicators there can be red. Weird eh?)

Easiest way to figure your lights out is to connect the wires straight up to a battery (a convenient car battery'll do). I'd guess the black to be earth but if you have a meter to check it, do so. Then try first one wire then the other to find the brightest filament and hook them up to your standard indicator wires. You can just ignore the other wire. Alternatively you could hook up BOTH filaments and have really bright indicators.

Black should be the ground wire. Thats pretty much standard here in the US. The brighter filament is the indicator. I would test them first to be sure they work with your flasher. If not then you either need different bulbs to make the flasher work properly or a different flasher that works with the resistance of those bulbs.

sandmann is your expert, whatever he doesn't know about our electical systems doesn't need known!

Thanks fellas once again your expert advise has helped me out.

If you opt for the trial-and-error method, use a separate battery or you may be blowing fuses.

Black = earth.
Red = bright filament = signal.
Black/white = dim filament = running light, connect to tail light circuit.

This could be wrong, but the chances that it is correct are very high.

I have just hooked the indicators up and have ended up with the blk/white wire connected to the black wire on the bike and the red wire connected to the other one which i think from memory was green. This seemed to be the only combination that would flash at around the right timing. Hooking the blk wire to blk on the bike made for very fast dim flashing. As you have no doubt already gathered i dont really know what i am doing. My only concern is that I will damage the bikes wiring. So now I have the blk wires not connected at all. Incidentally I should mention that i am at this stage still running std front indicators till i make some brackets for the new ones. Put my mind at rest experts.

Are your new lights LED'S or standard bulbs?

They are standard bulbs. The indicators themselves are very close in shape to the current harley indicator but with a grooved effect, far nicer than the awful triumph originals. I just couldnt stand looking at them any longer and I hate where they mount the front ones.

Thanks Sandman the smaller filament is the one lighting up which was also the case when I had the black wire hooked to black on the bike. The only difference being the light was very dim and flashing very fast. I havnt pulled the guts out of one of the indicators, my first aim to determine what was what, but it didn't come apart easily so i didnt want to force it. It sounds as though it will be ok as it is.