74' CB360 - LED flicker

huck_finn

huck_finn

Been Around the Block
I am running an LED headlight, LED tail/turn integrated strip, and four LED bulbs for my turn indicators, hi/lo, and neutral on my top clamp (from Cognito Moto).

All the lights work fine when running them directly to the battery (Earthx12A). But as soon as I kick the bike over, the LEDs on my top clamp start to flicker. I finally noticed that the tail/turn strip is doing the same, but not nearly as bad. The headlight is just fine.

  • I am not getting any fluctuation of charge at my battery when at idle.
  • All of my grounds are touching bare metal.
  • I have a new charging system from Rick's
  • Chopped my plugs about a month ago
  • Coils and condenser are new

I pulled all my connections apart on my harness and cleaned each one of them using heptane to help remove any residual dielectric grease. I still have incandescent bulbs in my gauges and front turn signals, and they are just fine.

What am I missing?
 
Could be a couple of things...

First item to check is how close the wiring is to your ignition coils. Sometimes there's enough EMI to cause induction in the wiring and cause the LEDs to go brighter for a short period of time. I'm assuming the flashing of the LEDs matches the speed of the engine?

Other option is that your system voltage is low and you're getting pulses from the alternator. This is also not unheard of on single phase charging systems (which is what you have). If you're getting at least 13V while the bike is running, this is unlikely, however.
 
My understanding with LEDs is that they have a driver that supposed to prevent that. If the hertz isn't right, they flicker, which is why some household LEDs flicker when on a dimmer switch. The have to be run with a certain driver to be dimmable. Is it possible that the bike's charging system is causing a similar issue with these particular LEDs, and that maybe they're made for AC current or something?
 
Most LEDs don't come with drivers. They're usually found on the higher power LEDs like headlights, but also on your more expensive tail lights and turn signals. If it didn't cost at least $40, they were probably manufactured with resistors instead.
 
The bulbs in question came with my top clamp from Cognito Moto - I will have to see where they sourced them from.

Moving my harness away from my coils didn't seem to do the trick, and I am getting a solid 13.8V at idle and 14.2 at high revs (but this is not under load, just sitting on the center stand).

I am willing to go ahead and order some new lights if it means I can get back on the road and not worry about setting my tail on fire. Sonreir, do you happen to know the diameter of the LED dash lights that you have on your site?
 
Sonreir said:
Could be a couple of things...
I'm assuming the flashing of the LEDs matches the speed of the engine?
Click to expand...

And yeah, you're right - higher the revs the more solid the lights get.
 
For giggles, wrap the coils and HT wires with aluminum foil and then ground the foil to the frame with a spare jumper wire.
 
No dice - the aluminum foil didn't have any effect. Wrapped my coils, HT wires, and grounded to bare metal on the frame while holding my harness about 10 inches away from the frame.

I am going to try adding a capacitor like CrazyPJ suggested and see if that does any good.
 
Wanted to update this thread with what I finally figured out. I am a complete idiot.

I didn't remove the paint where the coils are mounted after getting the frame back from paint. Paint scrubbed and everything is working as it should. But damn, these lights are bright at night.
 
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