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Aftermarket turn signals with OEM LED

14K views 31 replies 10 participants last post by  BillyD66 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi folks,

I've got some issue with my bike.

The facts:


I've got the 2016 model with OEM led turn signals and want to install some 3in1 aftermarket turn signals.
(They got 4 wires: taillight, brakelight, turn signals, 1 shared ground line for all. Might be important later)

The new turn signals are 12V/1.5W. The factory LED turn signals have 6-9V/1.4W written on them.

The bike has no flasher relay, but instead a flasher controll unit, which is a total black box for me.

The issue:


So the issue is the following:
If I connect the aftermarket turn signals to the control unit and turn them on, they will flash up for a fraction of a second and then turn off again.

Now I thought this is caused by the low voltage of the OEM control unit.
So I got some 5V relays which I connected to the controll unit, so the controll unit will close the relays instead of operating the new turn signals.
If the relay is closed, it will forward 12V from the tail light to the turn signals.

But: it changed absolutely nothing. The turn signals still light up for a moment, then turn off again.
Edit: the reason why this happened is, that there the current required to operate the relay was pretty low, so there was not enough load on the control unit. Artificially increasing the drawn current with a 27ohm resistor parallel to the relay fixed this issue.

Low & Mean apparently has some "stepz relays" to fix this issue, but they wanna charge me $99 for shipping.
http://lowandmean.com/product/2015-and-newer/

Also, I'd like to understand what the actual problem is...

Anyone got an idea whats going on there?

Kind regards

Cornerback
 
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#2 ·
sucks right? same issue for me with the 2015. I ended up with two relays from L&M that came with the bottom triple tree lightbar. One was the steperz relay and the other came from streetglow (it was a dual element relay) AND I still had to hook them up to a constant power source for running light functionality but in the end it does work (and is an awful mess of wires). I ended up wiring in my fork wrap around turn signals and it all continued to work too.

edit - that annoying flasher control unit confused the **** out of me when I first got in there expecting to find a relay in its place :( , made for a much longer and more arduous process
 
#28 ·
I actually got it running now :)

I just created my own relays for each turn signal:
Hi Cornerback, thank you for your post! I hope you could help me with an issue: I just change the OEM back lights to Kuryakyn torpedo. I cut the harness under the seat, splitting the green and brown wires, and solder two 5V relay with a 33ohm 0.5W resistor there (that was a resistor I had in hand). I wired them just as in your schematic: Green/brown (5V L & R) to coil, black(ground) to coil, blue(12V) to switch, Green/Brown going back to light(12V) to the switch.

Left side works perfectly: Running light, brake light and turn light: No issues here. But right side, with exactly the same configuration, is not working. The 5V from the signal control unit seems to be unable to activate the coil (I hear a quiet "click" compared with the loud one on the left relay). What is funny is that in the morning the relay works fine, but if I left the turn signal on for a time, it loses sync wit the other three, goes faster until it stop turning on. I even though that I had fried the signal control unit, but today in the morning, the relay works for a time.

My multimeter is not very good, and the voltage I measure on the 5V wire goes up to 4.5V (and then goes up and down to 1V as I guess my meter needs a constant signal). But the relay just click quietly and does not close the switch.

My knowledge on electrics is limited so any help will be appreciated.
 
#12 ·
With the schematic provided and many, many resources on the web this is easier than you think. Figure out how standard relays work first and then proceed from there.
You are basically using a 5V relay to do the switching of a 12V power source.
Totally baffled why Mother Yamaha used the 5V leds since there are hundreds of quality 12V leds out there to choose from. I've never had a vehicle that had multiple voltages and a long time ago motorcycles converted from 6 volts to 12 volts to get in line with everyone else.
Inside their black box they are stepping down the voltage for whatever reason. Glad I have a 2012 since converting to the CD dynamic rings etc. was pretty much plug-n-play...
 
#15 ·
Things will be slightly different from this video since it is for a 12V relay but the gist is the same. The OP will have to confirm but I believe he put (2) 5V relays in to make the turns work. Each would be installed inline into the current turn signal wiring. By that I mean for each side you cut the turn signal wires for each side, then wire in the relay and connect the 12V relay output to the aftermarket 12V turns. Little bit of wiring and you need to be sure it is all tucked away and made as waterproof as possible.
Reference the schematic posted earlier and it will hopefully make sense.

 
#16 ·
Things will be slightly different from this video since it is for a 12V relay but the gist is the same. The OP will have to confirm but I believe he put (2) 5V relays in to make the turns work. Each would be installed inline into the current turn signal wiring. By that I mean for each side you cut the turn signal wires for each side, then wire in the relay and connect the 12V relay output to the aftermarket 12V turns. Little bit of wiring and you need to be sure it is all tucked away and made as waterproof as possible.
Reference the schematic posted earlier and it will hopefully make sense.
Correct :) I used one 5V relay for each turn signal. I got some adapters for the OEM-harness-connectors, so I dont have to cut any wires, however.

Tucking this away was actually the biggest problem, as I use the (cut off) stock plastic thing which mounts under the fender, and the space is pretty narrow between the plastic and the fender.
 
#25 ·
Update:

The custom built relays are still doing fine. No issues etc.

The only annoying thing about them is the amount of extra wiring you have to hide somewhere.

I also covered the relays with hot glue to protect them from moisture and make them more shock resistant. Seems to work out fine, you just can't modify them anymore if they break down. Then again, they are so cheap you can just build some new ones if they break.
 
#27 ·
Relay specs are in the picture in this post:
 
#31 ·
Got it! If somebody else is having a similar issue as me, the resistor value does matter. My relay is 5V but I never check the coil resistance. It is 60 ohms instead cornerback's 125. I changed the resistor to a 100 ohm and I now have around 40 ohms on the relay that seems to do the magic. Right light is in sync with the others when turning on my own mod for Hazard lights and didn't seem to fade out. I don't know if that make sense at all, but at least it is working for me.

What I still does not understand is how the left side is working ok with a 33 ohm resistor.
 
#32 ·
Glad you got it fixed and thank you for updating thread so others can follow/find later.

As to your question on why 1 side works and the other doesn't: Only further testing would give you the true answer and even then maybe never. If you were pretty close to tolerances, just a slightly cold solder etc. could mess things up. Also, resistors might be varying more than what you think(unless you already tested). Electricity LOVES to take the path of least resistance!! People test the crap out of the Positive/Hot side and forget about ground/neutral. The full loop/circuit matters. When weird things happen when you flip a switch it is often a bad ground/return and, thus, back-feeding another circuit.

Finally: Ohms Law is critical to doing any slightly more complex wiring like this. Not exciting or a conversation starter but knowledge of it will save your bacon sooner or later or at least stop you from pulling out your hair and throwing tools all over the garage!!
 
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