cl350 LED Turn signal HELP!!

fluke12

Been Around the Block
OK, so I've been working on my turn signals, I replaced the fronts with LEDs and the rear with an led tail light/turn signal strip from custom dynamics (Custom Integrated 3 Section TruFLEX, about halfway down the page) . I also got a LED flasher Relay to help with the whole, not blinking thing. So now the turn signals are blinking, they just all blink at the same time. If i plug in a standard set of turn signals in the rear, it works properly. The relay says it works from .05A to 10A loads, so I assumed that'd be enough to do what i wanted, but apparently i still don't have enough resistance in the line to get it to only flash on one side?

Anyone have any advice? I've heard talk of capacitors or a few other things that might help. any advice on what to do and sizes of things/where they go, if i need to wire them in line. I wanted to save power, but i have plenty of battery strength (antigravity 8-cell battery), so i may negate them being LED which is fine, i just want them to work properly.

Big thanks for any help
 
My guess is that you have a single signal indicator on your dash.

Since this is effectively "bridging" the 2 sides through the dash light, all 4 blink together.

Try removing (or disconnecting) the dash signal indicator light, and see if they all still blink together.

If not, that was it.

Some yamahas also have "reserve lighting units" or "automatic signal cancellation" boxes that can also sometimes screw with things.

Most of those systems seem to work fine with those additional boxes unplugged, fwiw.

If it is the single dash indicator that is screwing with you, you can put inline diodes so stop the bridging effect, or you can run without the indicator light.

(or you can change out to a dash arrangement that has 2 so the 2 sides remain seperate)

Cheers.
 
There's also the option of rewiring the indicator light to function. It's a simple mod and costs about $2 in parts from Radio shack.

First, make sure both signal wires split from the front to go to the rear before they get to the idiot light.
Second, make sure the idiot light setup is the type that uses the left and right signal wires as both the input and output.

If both of those conditions are satisfied, you'll want to get two 1A diodes from Radio Shack. They look something like this:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2036269

Next, take the left and right signal wires and disconnect them from the indicator. Each of of these wires needs to have a diode attached to the end of it. Make sure you connect the diode to the signal wires so that the silver band is the unconnected side.

Now take the unconnected side of those diodes and splice them together or solder them to another wire that will not connect to the indicator light.

Finally, reconnect the new spliced connection to the indicator light and run a wire from the other indicator connection straight to ground.

Diodes are used to ensure current travels only in one direction and this has effectively isolated your left and right circuits from one another.
 
Bozz, Great suggestion. I'll give it a try when I get home from work today and see what happens. Quick question about it, why would the exact same setup work properly with regular bulbs? I'm definitely an amateur (and that's giving me more credit than i probably deserve) when it comes to wiring. At any rate, I DO have a signal indicator on my tach, so other than in the hand switch, it really is the only place where the two sides could be connected. right?
 
Sonreir,

THANKS for the super detail, I figure, I have the light, i might as well make it work. i'm gonna test it and post, and then check in on rewiring it. Maybe do it when it gets too cold to ride.
 
It has to do with the level of resistance in an LED bulb versus an incandescent. Electricity will generally follow the path of least resistance. The turn signals are setup as a series of parallel circuits that are interconnected.

Following the entire circuit from the battery will be a single path through the flasher until it reaches the signal switch. From this point, the switch controls the current flow to the left, right, or neither. Now here's where it starts getting a bit tricky.

Once current is directed to the left or the right side, it is split in three directions: Front, Rear, and Indicator. In order to make use of the indicator light for both the left and right sides, the ground for the indicator light is the switch you just flipped. When you signal right, you ground out the left and vice versa. Due to the higher resistance found in incandescent bulbs, this isn't a problem because the majority of the current (after passing through the indicator) will flow to the ground and not through the signals. Therefore there isn't enough wattage reaching the opposite signals in order to cause them to light up. With LEDs, there is much less resistance and much less wattage necessary in order for them to function and so you get all four lights flashing.

Hope that made sense...

TL;DR version: The engineers saved money on wiring by joining the circuits and relied upon the relatively high resistance of incandescent bulbs to prevent the visible effects of the crossover. A multimeter will verify that crossover still occurs without LEDs, it's just not enough current for you to see all four lights flashing.

-Sonny
 
Ha, I had this same issue about a month ago. I understood why they all blinked at the same time (single signal indicator) but I didn't understand how it worked before with the incandescents. Sonreir is correct. I don't know why they designed the circuit like that in the first place. Maybe cheap diodes weren't available at the time (think of the stock rectifier). Anyway, I am doing the same mod Sonreir proposed.

I rode mine without the indicator bulb so that the signals would work. Can't tell you how many times I left them on. :/
 
For reference, please see the attached diagrams of the stock and suggested-diode circuits, respectively.
 

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Tell me you didn't just draw those up really quickly? Even if you didn't, those are pretty great quick references. thanks a ton.
 
Any follower of the beautiful game is OK in my book. It's kinda like bikes: It's not so much what you ride as whether or not you do.
 
Except Spurs fans. - just kidding, i'm with you i just like to watch a good match regardless of team, league or country.
 
So i unplugged the indicator light and they worked perfectly! Thanks for all the help everyone. Eventually, i'll get to rewiring like the diagram. Thanks again, the help was HUGE!
 
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