Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories LED Turn Signal Installation question

I'm in the middle of installing some LED turn signals from Radiantz. When I connect front and back on one side, I get nothing. When I plug the stock rear in, I get fast flashing on all 3 (rear stock, rear LED, front LED). Same behavior with just stock rear and LED front - just like when (stock) a bulb is out.

Obviously there's something in the electrical system looking for voltage or amps. Does anyone know what I can bypass (or replace) to make the LED's work on their own?

Oh, BTW, thanks to Markram, Bennybmm, Ranger, Dinqua, and whoever put up that page for the wires-through-the-bars instructions. That took a little longer than I expected - OK could have been that it took more beers than I expected - but is a great and cheap mod!

More:

When both sides connected w/ only LED's I get absolutely nothing when activating either left or right indicators.

When one side has a single stock lamp added to either front or rear, when I activate the side that has the stock lamp connected, that side flashes all signals quickly (so, 1 stock and 2 LED's). When I activate the OTHER side with this bulb/LED setup, ALL of the LED's (both sides, front and rear) light up (continuous - no blinking / flashing) and there's a buzzing sound coming from the front of the bike somewhere. Any help appreciated.

If the system didn't work perfectly with all of the stock lamps hooked up (and no LED's) I would start looking for a short or other problem in my recent rewiring job, but I just can't figure that's the issue.

Toofless, use a load equalizer with your L.E.D. installation. Check out any of the aftermarket parts for a good price.........Angelis

Dumb question on my part - are you using a flasher designed for LEDs?

I'm running four LEDs for signal lights, and the only changes I made were swapping the LED incompatible stock / OEM flasher for one purchased at superbrightleds.com, and removing the console flasher indicator bulb.

LJ,

No I'm not using a flasher for LED's. I do use one of Brent's flasher bulbs for the brake, but that should be independent.

Angelis, thanks - I will look into this. I figured I was missing something.

Yeah you need a special flasher or some load equalizers. I would reccomend the flasher and removing the console bulb like MArtin said. Sandman has some instructions for some diodes into the dash so you can still have the console bulb.

It's the console light. Because a normal bulb in the console acts like a regular pieces of wire when you put LED's in the turn signals it effectivley connects left to right so you end up with bizarre and random results.

There's 3 solutions-
1: Pull the console bulb out and live without it.
2: Pull the console bulb out and put in two individual ones someplace else for left and right
3: Put some diodes in line with the console bulb so the current can't feed left to right or vice versa.

There's a write-up on how to do it on the page in my signature, including how to replace the bulb with a superbright LED so you can see it in daylight. (You can go on using a regular bulb if you want, just use the diodes and ignore the rest.)

awesome, thanks Benny & Sandmann. Sandmann, if i go with option 3 (may do option 2 at some point, but would want to do with all other bulbs in the console), i'm assuming it is two of the 1N4007 (or similar) diodes i want to ask for at the electronics shop?

great info, BTW!

Toofless the load equalizer is a simple wiring job, whereas the diodes require some sioldering........Angelis

Toofless...

Yep, 1N4007's are fine. That's what I'm using. Be aware that the wiring used beneath the console's some enamel plated cr@p that won't take solder - I originally soldered the diodes to small bits of decent wire then used crimp connectors to join it in. Later on I put a single LED in the bulb socket and mounted the diodes & a current limiting resistor in there with it. This also fixes the problem of the console light not working if you later on fit hazard lights.

Another idea I've toyed with is moving the nuetral light to a small mount below the speedo with an LED there, getting a second "turn" lens cover to put on what was the nuetral light, and having right & left console lights. Could even include a red LED as a duplicate oil light, and maybe even make it a flashing one to really get your attention.

Angelis...

The load equaliser will control the rate of flash, but won't stop the console bulb feeding current between the left & right circuits.

yeah i decided to go with the new flasher unit because i would have needed 2 load equalizers which would have cost $10 more, plus this is easier for the next inspection. i actually wired in the LED's using extensions for every connection via snap-connectors - on the bulbs, flasher, console lighting, etc. now when inspection comes around again (if i get a stubborn inspector), i just unplug all of the LED hardware and plug the stock stuff back in and bam, it's all legal. i'd done so much soldering in the past few days that it wasn't really an issue.

Sandmann, i do have one question about the diodes: does it matter which direction they are pointing in the path? it looked like from your diagram that the stripe was supposed to be on the indicator bulb side of the equation instead of the other way around.

oh, and i just jammed the solid wire right into the end of the wires on both sides - real tight fit and still insulated.

awesome, thanks Sandmann - that's exactly how I did it.

Ok, I'm actually having a similar issue -- I was told to get the Kuryakyn version, as the rest fry pretty quickly... but what amperage do i need? 2 or 4?

--Jaeger