new blinkers on XS 1100 SG.. will turn on, but will not blink..

[jshepard935]

the old blinkers had one wire, and the ground wire comes from the bike and has a brass ring, as i'm sure you know..

the new blinkers have a ground wire AND a positive wire.. but when i plug them in, the blinkers come on but will not blink..

i'm pretty sure i have the wiring correct.. one blinker has an orange wire and a green wire (which i believe are positive and ground, respectively), while the other has a blue wire and a green wire (positive and ground, right?).. these are the "amber chrome" blinkers on eBay, if anyone is familar..

correct me if I'm wrong, but the double-opening black wire coming from the bike is the ground for the blinkers, right? and the left blinker goes to the two green wires, while the right blinker goes to the two brown wires.. right? could i be wrong, having lost track like a fool?

and while i'm on this topic..

what's the deal with the brown wires in my bike that also seem to work as a ground for the blinkers?

what's the deal with the red wire coming from the bike that doesn't seem to have a purpose, as well as the two blue wires that don't have a match? the colored wiring diagram isn't so much help when you don't know which wire is which after it's already altogether....

if anyone could be so kind as to give me a specific description of the wiring within the headlight and what it's all for, PLEASE do so.. i'm seeing way too much nonsense.. if not, please just explain what I need to do about getting my blinkers to work..

thank you..

[natemoen]

I am assuming you are in the headlight bucket? Ok IIRC the green and Orange are your turn signals in the front blue is the running lights. The signals ground through the signal stem into the headlight bucket. The red I think is the extra accesses hot wire.

is your bike running when you try the signals? Is your battery fully charged? Quite a few peoples signals do not even flash when the bike is off and then some don't even flash at idle till you have ridden for a minute or so.

[psycoreefer]

the old blinkers had one wire, and the ground wire comes from the bike and has a brass ring, as i'm sure you know..

the new blinkers have a ground wire AND a positive wire.. but when i plug them in, the blinkers come on but will not blink..

i'm pretty sure i have the wiring correct.. one blinker has an orange wire and a green wire (which i believe are positive and ground, respectively), while the other has a blue wire and a green wire (positive and ground, right?)..

I'm going to suggest you pull one of the covers off your new blinkers and look at the bulb - its possible that your new blinkers take the dual filament type bulbs (running lights and turn signals). If thats the case then the orange wires would hook to the blue wire on your bike (for running lights), the orange and blue wires would hook to the bikes turn signal wires (cant remember the color now) and you'll still need that brass ring for your ground.

The mystery red wire is a switched hot - its got 12v when the ignition is on. It was included for "accessories" and in my case it powers the lighter socket on my fairing when the fairing is on.

The blue wires are the "running light" wires - comes on with the ignition, the specials don't have front running lights so they aren't used.

Can't remember what the brown does right now - sorry

[jshepard935]

regarding the blue wire.. what exactly do you mean by running lights?

here's what happened:

I had to put a whole new bucket on, so i disconnected everything in the bucket first.. all the wires that were connected (aside from the blinkers) were the same color as i disconnected them.. so when I put the new bucket on, I simply reconnected everything by color.. but i was left over with the black wire (which I believe is my ground, no?), the green and brown wires (left and right blinker, respectively), and then these other wires coming from the bike that I do not understand.. a brown wire that comes from the same area and looks very much like the black wire, a blue wire (which you said is for 'running lights'?), and a red wire with a single opening.. so the red, brown (with the dual-opening, like the black wire), and blue wires can be left alone, correct?

the battery is fine.. the blinkers do not blink whether the bike is running or not.. which was never a problem in the past, as i could hit the blinkers and they would work so long as they key was turned..

someone suggested that I would need to install both blinkers before turning the bike on and trying to use them, otherwise they will not blink.. but this doesn't make sense because I went for some time with only a single blinker, after my accident..

[jshepard935]

If thats the case then the orange wires would hook to the blue wire on your bike (for running lights), the orange and blue wires would hook to the bikes turn signal wires (cant remember the color now) and you'll still need that brass ring for your ground.

when you say "orange wires".. do you mean the "green" ones? i only have on orange wire on one of the blinkers.. it's orange/green, blue/green.. also, this mysterious blue wire on the bike only has room for a single wire.. it's not a double like the black and brown..

[natemoen]

Just went and looked at my bike. The wiring harness is out so its a bit confusing. Mine is a 78 so there could be some differences. Turn signals, green and brown, running lights (lights that turn on and stay on while the bike is on, think daytime running lights on a car) are blue. I have an extra thick brown wire with a double connector that is unused. I have an extra blue that is unused, and the accessory wire which is red. I didn't have an orang wire but I am guessing it is for something on a fairing it it has one now or in a previous life, I know my fairing wiring harness has a bunch of rang wire coming off it.

Like what was stated before, could be the wrong bike. What number is your bulb. 1156 or 1157? What are the signal stems set up for?

[jshepard935]

seems like you have the same wiring as my 1980 XS11 SG.. same 'extra' wires and all.. so now I'm sure that what I was doing was correct, but perhaps the way I was testing the blinkers was incorrect..

than you all for the help..

[CatatonicBug]

Are you using the right kind of bulb? If you switched to aftermarket signals, you'll also need to switch to a different flasher relay. The factory relay is a thermal flasher, and only works with the correct wattage bulbs. If they don't draw enough power, they won't flash.

[fredintoon]

Betcha your aftermarket flashers have automobile standard 22 Watt bulbs in them.
As has been posted, the stock flasher won't work them.
it needs 2 x 27 Watt bulbs to load it to 54 Watts or the bulbs just come on and stay on.
Fixes:-
Add another bulb to raise the load.
Swap out the 22 Watt bulbs for 27 Watt bulbs.
Switch to a $10 2-prong electronic flasher that'll flash 'most anything but you'll lose the self-cancelling feature.