When I listen to others about diodes I win!!!

[ddragon63]

for Shet$ and giggles I just mocked up a load resistor to the running side of the lower tail light only.... it solves the problem. I'd rather not fix it that way. But we've come to far to start re-installing incandescent

Still would rather find a better way to do it... I bought 2 extra diodes at radio hack yesterday incase i messed one up. not sure if installing them inline with the 2 rear blinkers will stop the feed back or not.

I think the porblem stems from where the power is taken off for the brake lights in the rear. the in side of the trailer box is tapped into the brake wire going to the lower tail light. then it splits off after the box to the 2 uppers.... its the only way I could get all 3 to light together without the lower blinking upon which ever signal side it was wired into. I'm thinkin without the load of the 1157 down there one side is feeding to the other thru the lower splice.... this is my theory right now...

[natemoen]

for Shet$ and giggles I just mocked up a load resistor to the running side of the lower tail light only.... it solves the problem. I'd rather not fix it that way. But we've come to far to start re-installing incandescent

Still would rather find a better way to do it... I bought 2 extra diodes at radio hack yesterday incase i messed one up. not sure if installing them inline with the 2 rear blinkers will stop the feed back or not.

I think the porblem stems from where the power is taken off for the brake lights in the rear. the in side of the trailer box is tapped into the brake wire going to the lower tail light. then it splits off after the box to the 2 uppers.... its the only way I could get all 3 to light together without the lower blinking upon which ever signal side it was wired into. I'm thinkin without the load of the 1157 down there one side is feeding to the other thru the lower splice.... this is my theory right now...

Try putting a diode in where you splice the tail light wire at the light checker.

[ddragon63]

Try putting a diode in where you splice the tail light wire at the light checker.

I will try that... problem seems to be in the brake/blinkers. when i apply brakes the feed back stops and the one single blinker keeps going.. and the brake on the other side stays lit like it should....

But I'm open to all ideas so let me give that a crack and see what happens.

[ddragon63]

Try putting a diode in where you splice the tail light wire at the light checker.

ya thats a no go... the only 2 wires spliced are the to "keyed power" wire and the tail light wire. SO it didn't stop anything. But worth a shot none the less

Thanks for the idea nate!

[ddragon63]

so i wired in a load resistor across the tail side not the brake side of the lower socket and ground of course. My fear would be that lil bastard would heat up quick seeing in theory it would be loaded as soon as the tail light came on... it don't heat up at all till I've got both the brake and blinkers going. So my theory of my trailer box pissing off the LED's is still holding water I guess... kinda strange that a circuit its not wired to would make it react... it must be because they share a common ground in that socket?

Anyone got any welding questions this 12v DC crap is wearing me out

[TopCatGr58]

Anyone got any welding questions this 12v DC crap is wearing me out

Hey Don,

Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I'm possibly in the near future market for a modest priced TIG welding machine. I've got a Lincoln Mig/wire feeder that's served okay, but looking to get into some more exotic and fancier type welding....Stainless and Aluminum....my B-I-L has TIG experience, but he's partially disabled(bad knees), and hasn't been able to work this past year... lives with me/us. I've always wanted to see about being able to manufacture replacement exhaust systems for our bikes, either close to stock configuration but in SS. I've got HF pipe bender, have done a little research in how to bend pipe sections without one of those fancy $$$$$$ machines as seen on OCC! But I realize that the TIG may actually get quite a bit of duty time, and so "CHEAP" may not be the right term or type of machine, but that I should probably be looking at DURABLE to last thru many 100's of hours of use! This could possibly be a good "job" for the B-I-L, and might also provide another source for members for pipes aside from MAC!

Without seeing a diagram of how you've got the trailer device wired into the harness, etc., I can't very well figure out where to suggest to put any diodes to prevent bleedback. I'm surprised at the trouble you've had with the tail lights? When I did my LED conversion many years ago, I simply spliced into the tail light wires....actually put in "Y" splices to feed both the LED array in the Tail, and then also to the extra LED arrays in my trunk. I retained the Oil light function and didn't have the tail light false warning at all, without the use of any load resistors. The LED's I used/got from Superbrightleds.com only had ~0.3 amps load per array, but it worked great with just the 1 tail light and 1 extra tail/brake light array mounted HIGH on my backrest. Later when I put on the trunk and the pair of trunk mounted LEDS, I just Y'd the wires to the trunk.

However, I did NOT try to use the trunk pair as turn signals. I have separate LEDS mounted in the OEM housings for that. I'm trying to picture in my mind how you have the trailer device wired in. You say you have turn signal functionality now that you have the diodes in place for the dash light. Are the turns your trunk lights? So...do you have the main OEM tail light, and the pair of trunk lights that are running, brake, AND turns??

Don't know how difficult or a PITA it would be to draw a diagram of your tail and trunk lights, and the trailer device and how it's spliced/wired in to the harness? Reading a description isn't easy for me to visualize or follow!

T.C.

[natemoen]

Anyone got any welding questions this 12v DC crap is wearing me out

I have a crack in a water jacket of a engine block. Ya want to come weld that up for me?!? That could get your mind off of the electrickery for a bit, heck bring the bike up I will fix your lights while you fix the block!

[ddragon63]

Hey Don,

Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I'm possibly in the near future market for a modest priced TIG welding machine. I've got a Lincoln Mig/wire feeder that's served okay, but looking to get into some more exotic and fancier type welding....Stainless and Aluminum....my B-I-L has TIG experience, but he's partially disabled(bad knees), and hasn't been able to work this past year... lives with me/us. I've always wanted to see about being able to manufacture replacement exhaust systems for our bikes, either close to stock configuration but in SS. I've got HF pipe bender, have done a little research in how to bend pipe sections without one of those fancy $$$$$$ machines as seen on OCC! But I realize that the TIG may actually get quite a bit of duty time, and so "CHEAP" may not be the right term or type of machine, but that I should probably be looking at DURABLE to last thru many 100's of hours of use! This could possibly be a good "job" for the B-I-L, and might also provide another source for members for pipes aside from MAC!

Without seeing a diagram of how you've got the trailer device wired into the harness, etc., I can't very well figure out where to suggest to put any diodes to prevent bleedback. I'm surprised at the trouble you've had with the tail lights? When I did my LED conversion many years ago, I simply spliced into the tail light wires....actually put in "Y" splices to feed both the LED array in the Tail, and then also to the extra LED arrays in my trunk. I retained the Oil light function and didn't have the tail light false warning at all, without the use of any load resistors. The LED's I used/got from Superbrightleds.com only had ~0.3 amps load per array, but it worked great with just the 1 tail light and 1 extra tail/brake light array mounted HIGH on my backrest. Later when I put on the trunk and the pair of trunk mounted LEDS, I just Y'd the wires to the trunk.

However, I did NOT try to use the trunk pair as turn signals. I have separate LEDS mounted in the OEM housings for that. I'm trying to picture in my mind how you have the trailer device wired in. You say you have turn signal functionality now that you have the diodes in place for the dash light. Are the turns your trunk lights? So...do you have the main OEM tail light, and the pair of trunk lights that are running, brake, AND turns??

Don't know how difficult or a PITA it would be to draw a diagram of your tail and trunk lights, and the trailer device and how it's spliced/wired in to the harness? Reading a description isn't easy for me to visualize or follow!

T.C.

I'll answer your first question with ease

Lincoln make a precision tig 225 designed for home hobbiest and every day light fab shop use... it will weld up to 1/4 inch Aluminum in short sets but your really taxing the small air cooled torch if you push it too hard.. aluminum takes a TON of energy to do... with that said on the lighter stuff this thing rocks. it has a pulse setting so you can do sheet metal and still lay a bead like your running the foot pedal on thicker material. you just dial your voltage and set up your pulse setting (which takes a little practice to get it right) and push on the pedal. The machine pulses at the speed you set and you ad filler rod as you go. I've been tryin to talk SWMBO into letting me buy one she said ok... "but it must pay for itself within a year!" well thats not gonna happen as most my friends pay in beer.

They run about $2000. 110 plug in the back to run a grinder or what not. they also make and attachment so you can put a rack on the top and a 2 bottle carrier on the back so you can put a 110 MIG on top and plumb it to another bottle of gas and you just plug it into the outlet on the back of the tig and wa-la you have your tack welding device on your cart too!

great little machine. comes already on a cart with a single bottle rack on the back, regulator, hose, tig torch, and ground. There are cheaper machines on the market but none that I'm aware of with Hi-freq for aluminum and pulse control. Lincoln does make a smaller one but its only about $300 cheaper has no cart and no pulse.


No for the lights. the factory signals are gone and the trunk was wired with those circuits to run the signals along with a splice from the tail to run the low side of the 1157's. My wiring was done following the trailer boxes instructions with 1 exception. In order to get all 3 to work off the brake I had to splice into the factor brake circuit for the power in side of the trailer box. if I didn't then I would have wire it on the out going side of the box which means I would have to pick right or left as the out going side combines the brake and turn per side into 1 circuit. so if I did it on the out going side the brake would blink with whichever side I hooked the factor brake light to.

soooo.... after the doides in the indicator light mod all worked as long as I had a 1157 in the factory brake socket. if I put the LED down there the upper 2 lights would trip over to the bright side of the bulb and the warning light on the dash would stay on. So on Steve's suggestion i remover the light checker unit and jumped the blue to the blue/yellow wire. and the warning light went out and the upper 2 lights in the trunk returned to the low side of the light. BUT when i tripped the blinker on it would now back feed in the rear ONLY and look like hazzard lights. So I figure the trailer box is to blame for the LED confusion. so I put a load resistor on the tail light side of the lower socket which seems to be my problem child and all is well in the world!
Gonna run it this way till I find a better way to do it.

BTW I just filmed all the lights and am uploading it... I will post a link for you all to view. Thanks for all the help

[ddragon63]

I have a crack in a water jacket of a engine block. Ya want to come weld that up for me?!? That could get your mind off of the electrickery for a bit, heck bring the bike up I will fix your lights while you fix the block!

internal crack or external? internal usually you can get away with brazing... external get some nickel 99 rod for a stick welder... pre-heat and peen the crap out of it and lay a bead on it.... then grind it... peen the crap out of it again pre-heat and weld again.

[natemoen]

internal crack or external? internal usually you can get away with brazing... external get some nickel 99 rod for a stick welder... pre-heat and peen the crap out of it and lay a bead on it.... then grind it... peen the crap out of it again pre-heat and weld again.

External, runs about 2/3 the way from the front to the back, right though the frost plugs on the side. I can't find anyone willing to weld that thing.

[crazy steve]

Don, how many wires does that convertor have? More than 5? If more, can you identify what they are?

One other thing I would try if it's not already like this would be to ground all the rear lights to the same point; sometimes you can get strange ground paths and this is kinda acting like that....

[ddragon63]

External, runs about 2/3 the way from the front to the back, right though the frost plugs on the side. I can't find anyone willing to weld that thing.

Most people don't like welding cast iron... its a PITA! especially if your gonna back up the work. if you know anyone with a stick welder and a torch just grind a lil trough in the crack. peen, heat, weld, grind and repeat. any welding supply store will carry nickel 99 rod. its sepndy but most places will sell you it a few sticks at a time.

Find the oldest guy in a mom and pop welding shop. I bet he know how to do it. its a lost art! The only reason I know how to do it in my young age is 1: I grew up working on farms we had to fix EVERYTHING and 2 I sell welding supplies

[ddragon63]

Don, how many wires does that convertor have? More than 5? If more, can you identify what they are?

One other thing I would try if it's not already like this would be to ground all the rear lights to the same point; sometimes you can get strange ground paths and this is kinda acting like that....

5 into 4 steve.

in side:

Ground
Tail
brake
R turn
L turn

Out side:

Ground
tail
L brake/turn
R brake/turn


Ya i fixed all my grounds to 1 common right to the chassis. that was the first problem I had with this project.

[crazy steve]

OK, one more one thing; make sure that each lamp socket has it's ground on the contact to the outer lamp shell. I've seen these mixed, and the lamp 'works' if you don't look too carefully, but this can cause strange feedbacks....

[ddragon63]

OK, one more one thing; make sure that each lamp socket has it's ground on the contact to the outer lamp shell. I've seen these mixed, and the lamp 'works' if you don't look too carefully, but this can cause strange feedbacks....

the black wire has been riveted to the metal housing.