Which specific flasher for LED conversion?

[cywelchjr]

I put two LED bulbs in my rear light unit and ended up taking them out. Despite the high number of LED's per bulb, they were just not as bright as filament bulbs and, in particular, the rear brake light was not powerful enough in daylight. Night-time was OK but in the day, it was a lot less bright than the filament bulbs. With the sun shining on the rear light unit (albeit a rarity in the UK...) , you could hardly tell it was on. Not ideal for warning the driver behind that you're stopping or slowing down.

I also tried the LED bulbs in my flashers and got much the same result as other people... no flashing, or flashing and staying on. I was using the OEM flasher unit and it's obviously incompatible. Again, despite a high number of LED's in the bulbs, they were just not as bright as the filament bulbs and I got rid of them too.

I've had the opposite experience with the bulbs I got, I found that mine are brighter than the normal bulbs. With the added plus that the headlight doesn't dim when I press on the brakes anymore. Plus, with the vetter trunk and it's 4 lights, that gives me 6 count them 6 really bright brake and tail lights back there now. And all of them together draw less than the two normal bulbs did to begin with. I plan in changing the front bulbs to LEDs, cause they are running lights, so I will get some improvement from them, but I'm going to leave the rears alone cause they only come on with the signals. Plus I don't need some special 90 degree bulb on the front like the back since the fairing uses front facing sockets pretty much like the brake lights on my 80G.

[patk12345]

Riddle me this Batman....

So I just installed the two prong no load flasher, but I'm still having problems.
All four turn signals light up and stay solid, when I activate the signal switch either direction, LEFT or RIGHT. When I turn on the hazard lights all four blink, but half as dim as the LED's get when the turn signals are on.

It doesn't seem to matter if the engine is running, or if the ignition is just sitting in the ON position.

Also, for a second my Neutral indicator light stopped working, but then came back on after I turned the ignition OFF and ON again.

I'm totally baffled.

[cywelchjr]

Riddle me this Batman....

So I just installed the two prong no load flasher, but I'm still having problems.
All four turn signals light up and stay solid, when I activate the signal switch either direction, LEFT or RIGHT. When I turn on the hazard lights all four blink, but half as dim as the LED's get when the turn signals are on.

It doesn't seem to matter if the engine is running, or if the ignition is just sitting in the ON position.

Also, for a second my Neutral indicator light stopped working, but then came back on after I turned the ignition OFF and ON again.

I'm totally baffled.

Ahh, I'll bet you have the single turn signal indicator light in your dash pod? If so, that will cause problems with the LED stuff. If this is the case, you must modify the wiring to put diodes in the line with that light to prevent feedback from going back into the other side of the circuit through that light. The LED's take so little current to light, that the tiny amount that didn't affect normal bulbs will light the LED bulbs. That is, if I'm correct about the turn signal pod on the special.

[bikerphil]

79 Special only for that single dash turn signal pretty sure.

[patk12345]

@CY
I do have the turn signal indicator on my dash pod. Any ideas on how exactly to do this rewiring?

@Phil
I'm actually thinking my bike might be a '79, the title say '80,but who knows what the PO might have done. I just found the serial number chart in the XS INFO section last night. I was starting to suspect this, as I have a single bulb taillight, and the manual shows two bulb taillights for the 80.

In any case does anyone know how that rewiring would need to be done?

Also, I put the incandescents back in to see if the flasher was good, and it works fine with the hazards, and the left turn signal now, but for some reason the right signal still won't flash it just lights up both bulbs solid.

[patk12345]

Well my VIN is 3H5-005226 which according to the table in the FAQ makes it a 1980 XS1100G, of course that number came off the title, so again that sort of relies on the PO's information.

Where exactly are the VIN/ serial numbers located on the bike? I feel like I've seen them a million times, but for the life of me, couldn't remember where they are.

[Rasputin]

One on the steering head and one on the engine. The Frame neck one is not always the same as the engine one as the engine may have been changed.

[cywelchjr]

Well my VIN is 3H5-005226 which according to the table in the FAQ makes it a 1980 XS1100G, of course that number came off the title, so again that sort of relies on the PO's information.

Where exactly are the VIN/ serial numbers located on the bike? I feel like I've seen them a million times, but for the life of me, couldn't remember where they are.

That is an 80G Vin. The frame Vin is on the side of the steering head (left side on a sticker, right side IIRC stamped) and on the right side of the top engine case next to the seam for the clutch cover just forward of the oil fill cap. If the engine is original, then the frame and engine Vin's will match. Of course at the very least the frame vin must match the title, and in some states both vin's must be on the title and match the title (Ca is one of those states that requires two Vin's on motorcycles and requires both on the title). AAMOF I have to get mine amended because I changed the engine, I'm just waiting to decide if I'm putting the 80 SG engine in or keeping the 81H engine in it before I amend the title instead of doing it twice. (the process can be a real hassle if you get someone who's having a bad day when you go to do it.)

[cywelchjr]

@CY
I do have the turn signal indicator on my dash pod. Any ideas on how exactly to do this rewiring?

@Phil
I'm actually thinking my bike might be a '79, the title say '80,but who knows what the PO might have done. I just found the serial number chart in the XS INFO section last night. I was starting to suspect this, as I have a single bulb taillight, and the manual shows two bulb taillights for the 80.

In any case does anyone know how that rewiring would need to be done?

Also, I put the incandescents back in to see if the flasher was good, and it works fine with the hazards, and the left turn signal now, but for some reason the right signal still won't flash it just lights up both bulbs solid.

You have an 80G Vin on the title, but the 80G has a dual bulb tail light down low on the fender with a hinged fender that can be lifted to aid in removing the rear wheel. It's sounding like you may have a frankenbike with a combination of parts from multiple bikes and maybe even multiple years. I'm hoping that the frame Vin at least matches the title at least or you could have problems. Having 4 ways says it's at least an 80, but an 80 or later should have two bulbs in the tail light.

Now, given that the turn signals don't work with normal bulbs, you need to fix that first, and a likely place on an 80G (base on the title Vin) is in the left control pod, the 4 way switch. Those wires get loose from corrosion, and you need to clean that mess up, and solder them back to the switch carefully (it's not really that hard to do, really, it's not, they practically tell you where they want to go), just clean up the green gunk, and solder them back in place. They may have some touching that shouldn't, and some not making contact that should. A good cleaning and soldering and that should be good for another 10 to 15 years and may fix the problem.

[patk12345]

@CY
Okay, so the VIN on the frame and the engine are both the same, so the bike is an 80G.

It has the fold up rear fender....



but a single bulb taillight, presumably off of a '79....



This is my cluster.... Possibly also off a '79, as Phil mentioned?



I just wanted to double check this, you understand that the right side signals do light up, they just don't flash, also is the 4 way switch you're referring to the turn signal thumb switch on the left hand grip itself, or is it a switch of some kind in the speedo housing?

[bikerphil]

Yep, that's the 79 Special tail lite and guage cluster. The 79 does not have the flip up fender though, that's the original 80 fender.

[cywelchjr]

Well, 79 specials don't have the hinged fender, the standards do. You mentioned 4 says, so I assumed you have the 4 way switch under the turn signal switch on the left handlebar. It's a switch on the bottom that slide side to side. But I'm wondering, cause with the 79 special gauge cluster, and 79 special tail light, the wiring cluster has certainly been mangled at least a bit if not a lot, so it's even possible it's not even the right wiring harness for an 80G. One way or another your going to have a real mess cleaning up what some PO did putting that gauge cluster on there. The tail light isn't that big a deal, it's just lights, but the gauge cluster from a 79 special is really wired a LOT different from an 80G. What the question now is, did the PO put a 79 special harness on it, or hack the 80G harness? Both are going to have their own unique issues that will have to be dealt with, but I'd think that the wiring harness is likely to have been hacked but is the 80G harness. Your going to have to go in and open up the gauge cluster, and separate the two sides of the turn signals and then need diodes in there to let either side light the turn signal indicator, but not feed back to the other side. I don't know exactly how it has to be done, MikesXS used to have a kit for that, but they quit carrying it as this is an issue for XS650's, XS400 as well cause all the of the bikes with a single indicator suffer from this issue if converted to LED turn signals. It would have been so much simpler if this had been done with an 80 special cluster, cause it has separate indicators like all the other models (the 79 special is the ONLY 1100 that has a single indicator bulb). The issue is, this single indicator, is probably what is causing the issue with the 4 way flashers as well.

[patk12345]

So I pulled the 4 way turn signal switch, re-soldered and sprayed it down with contact cleaner, put it back together and it all works fine, but the right turn signal will still turn on, but won't flash with just the ignition electrical ON. It will however flash if the bike is running at higher RPM's (4-5K approx.). The left flashes fine with just the ignition in the ON position, and flashes quite a bit faster than the right side with the bike running at higher RPM's.

So what would cause the left signal to flash faster than the right signal, and why will the right only flash at higher RPM's?

[patk12345]

@Cy

I'm going to start a fresh thread regarding all of this, to hopefully get a few more people in on this. Thanks for the help so far.

[jwhughes3]

here is the LED taillight I went with

I just lost this whole message so now I am abbreviating it!

http://www.cool-leds.com/lincoln.htm

I find it the same or brighter than before - day or night - pulses 3 times to gain attention.

I am installing red lenses in back with 2 watt red right angle 1157s in rear and 2 watt right angle amber 1156s in the front. I think headlight is enough in front.

A no load flasher is coming. I will outline a brightness test like Pat did in a new thread.

John