Strange Signal Light Problem

maylar said:

Traditional flashers work by sensing bulb current and breaking/making contact. With 2 bulbs and 2 LED's there's still enough current to make them work. With 4 LED's the flasher doesn't have enough load to flash, and your warning light will make all 4 of them light.

If electrical stuff isn't your thing then pointing you to an electronics supplier for diodes is probably a bad idea. Simplest solution is Goffy's "tweakers" as posted by LAB -

http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/GoffyLEDIndicators.htm (near the bottom of the page)

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Any chance of there being a supplier in the USA for these?

steveyacht said:

Any chance of there being a supplier in the USA for these?

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Yes
SparkBrightLEDs has what they call a "metric bike" diode kit

https://www.superbrightleds.com/search/led-products/metric+bike+diode+kit/

They also carry led flashers and of course bulbs.

Attached here is a document written by (and uploaded with approval from) a member over on the TriumphRAT forums. He explains how our tun signals work and how LED setups can be configured to work right on all bikes with similar warning lamp setups.

Tornado said:

Yes
SparkBrightLEDs has what they call a "metric bike" diode kit

https://www.superbrightleds.com/search/led-products/metric+bike+diode+kit/

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They show that as for negative ground. "Metric"

maylar said:

They show that as for negative ground. "Metric"

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That looks correct.

So the tweaker diodes would need flipping to opposite direction for the positive earth setup. From the document I posted previously, there is a diagram for the negative earth setup with tweaker diodes:



All the LED lights plus the tweakers will need to be flipped the other direction for positive earth bikes. The LED's will of course need to be positive earth or bi-direction types so no need to do anything to them.

Make your own tweaker with a pair of rectifier diodes:

https://www.radioshack.com/products...n-rectifier-diodes-3-pack?variant=20332049221

I miss the old Radio Shack stores.

Tornado said:

That looks correct.

So the tweaker diodes would need flipping to opposite direction for the positive earth setup. From the document I posted previously, there is a diagram for the negative earth setup with tweaker diodes:

View attachment 12733

All the LED lights plus the tweakers will need to be flipped the other direction for positive earth bikes. The LED's will of course need to be positive earth or bi-direction types so no need to do anything to them.

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Forgive my ignorance.... I ordered the tweaker from super bright leds prior to reading this post indicating that the tweakers need to be "flipped" for use in a positive ground system. OK, how do I "flip" this diode tweaker? Thanks.

steveyacht said:

Forgive my ignorance.... I ordered the tweaker from super bright leds prior to reading this post indicating that the tweakers need to be "flipped" for use in a positive ground system. OK, how do I "flip" this diode tweaker? Thanks.

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Read through the doc I posted earlier. The section near the end deals with negative ground systems with single flasher warning lamps. That is the diagram I posted. There is also some discussion in the doc about how diodes work and what the symbols mean.
Basically electrons travel from positive to negative terminals of a battery. Looking at the diode schmetic symbols (D1 & D2 in the schematic), there is a triangle with one point against a flat line. That represents the direction that electrons can flow, from the triangle pointing direction past the flat line. If the +ve and -ve from the battery were reversed, then electrons cannot flow from the flat line side to the triangle side....basically diodes behave like a one way valve.

In the tweaker from Sparkbright, they setup the diodes with their flat bar sides exactly like in the document diagram for negative ground circuits. Since our bikes are positive ground, the diodes will not pass the current because it's flowing in the wrong direction. This can be corrected by cutting the two diodes in the tweaker and flipping them end to end and re-soldering them... From the negative ground schematic, you can see the flat line sides of both diodes are basically connected together via some wire. You need it to be the triangle sides connected together.
Check the document for pictures of what the physical diode looks like....basically a cylindrical shaped component with a wire sticking out each end. There will be a usually white bar painted closer to one end than the other indicating it is the "flat line" and the other end is the triangle side.

maylar said:

Traditional flashers work by sensing bulb current and breaking/making contact. With 2 bulbs and 2 LED's there's still enough current to make them work. With 4 LED's the flasher doesn't have enough load to flash, and your warning light will make all 4 of them light.

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This is the best explanation yet. The 4 LEDs don't draw enough to trigger the flasher, but the weak crossover current is enough to light them up.

steveyacht said:

Forgive my ignorance.... I ordered the tweaker from super bright leds prior to reading this post indicating that the tweakers need to be "flipped" for use in a positive ground system. OK, how do I "flip" this diode tweaker? Thanks.

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Honestly, you would have been better off ordering diodes from Radio Shack for $2 and wiring them yourself. You'll have to disassemble the one you ordered and re-do it with the diodes reversed, that's more work than fabricating one from scratch. The English guy (Goff) sells them for positive ground and his shipping is fast and reasonably priced.

To Follow up...… Ordered a "tweaker" from Paul Goff. Wired it in as directed on his web site. Still will not work. So, I now have two positive ground LED signal bulbs (leaving the other two in the rear, as they work just fine without the fronts in) and this Tweaker that I don't need. Anyone interested in buying the lot?

Wait... what part is not working? The tweaker should keep all 4 lights from being on at the same time. If that's OK but they're not blinking, you need a new flasher control.

maylar said:

Wait... what part is not working? The tweaker should keep all 4 lights from being on at the same time. If that's OK but they're not blinking, you need a new flasher control.

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To be honest, I don't know what is working or not working. I have wired it exactly as indicated in the schematics. I am tired of messing with it.