Blood Sweat Tears and Grease > Electrical

LED Turn Signal and Battery Help!

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imightbeflirting:
So I've got a somewhat older bike, an '82 Yamaha. Their turn signals are a bit scratched up, heavy, I don't like the look of them very much, and they're big.

So I ordered some new and smaller, 12v LED ones. The old ones (as far as I can tell) are a 6v, but I mistakenly thought they were 12v. *Would getting a 12v battery damage other electrical systems?*

Most problematic of all, however, the new turn signals have 2 wires, and the old ones have one wire, as pictured. The motorcycle is wired up for the one-wire setup. There's one plug towards the back for me to plug my new two-pronged light into, so naturally it doesn't work. I'd like to know what I need to do, wiring-wise, to make my new turn signals work.

http://imgur.com/a/7PhIm
These are the turn signals.

When I plugged the new LED lights straight into a 9v battery, they turned on, but didn't blink. I've read the rest of the posts about LEDs in this forum, and it seems that the control mechanism for "blinking" may be determined by the amount of electricity being drawn by the turn signals, and that there's likely a control unit within the motorcycle itself, and my options are (correct me if I'm wrong, or tell me if I'm right, here) to either get something to increase the electrical draw since LEDs are so efficient that it won't set off the blinker (if so, how much would I need to do this by? This is especially relevant if my 12v battery idea is a bad one), or to get a relay of some sort.

Where can I order a relay on the (relatively) cheap, if that's my best option? How would I increase resistance, if that's my best option?

MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL: How should I rewire things so that they work, and where I can I get some wires that can carry the current from that relay or from the battery onto the turn signals? Is there an adapter of some sort so I don't have to rewire everything?

I figure that if it's okay to get a more modern 12v battery to make these LEDs light up (presumably, it would be a smaller battery, too), then I can probably tuck the relay in next to where the battery is housed and run the wires from there.

Big Rich:
What model Yamaha? A 12volt battery in a 6 volt bike can do very bad things.

The old signals have 1 wire because they are grounded thru the mount. Check out the relays at www.superbrightleds.com.

El Martillo:
Most LEDs don't run at 6 pr 12 volts, usually around 3 volts. The relay senses a low voltage and goes into rapid blink because it thinks a light has burned out. You usually need a resistor in front of the LED to consume voltage. Some aftermarket LED lights don't have resistors in them.

Just my thoughts.

imightbeflirting:
Oh thank god. I was all like "oh man, wiring must have gone through some pretty odd changes from the '80s to today..."

It's a 1983 RX50. Yeah, it probably was grounded through the signal relay. I'll get on attaching the negative wire to the frame tomorrow and seeing what's what.

I have a pretty good feeling that since I didn't pay much for these, that they won't have resistors built into them. I've got to replace the battery anyways, along with get some gas into it. Once I do that, I'll be able to give a much more accurate picture as to what they are doing (blinking or not).

Speaking of, must they blink, or is it just better for nabbing attention from a car? Is it actually required by the DMV, or can they just light up? Ideally, I'd get on it eventually, but last I went through the inspection pit, one of the turn signals was dead (it would only ground if you held it against the frame by hand), and that's part of what precipitated my decision to get a new set.

AlphaDogChoppers:
Instead of a load resistor, you can use an electronic flasher relay instead of a thermal flasher relay.

Not sure if any of it would work at 6 V though.

You could make the LED's brighter by changing the value of the current limiting resistor on them, since that resistor was intended for 12 V.

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