got a flasher relay question...

[warfman41]

Hey guy's, got a problem i figure one or more of this elite bunch of guru's can help me with... was getting my turn signal's on the back of my bike lined out, when i found they wouldn't flash without pecking on the relay, and they would flash once and stop. Read a blog on another site, (should have left that one alone and came here) said it didn't have to be an oem part. So i went to the part's house, and they fixed me up with automotive three prong flasher relay. Brought it home and plugged it itg up, and the indicator or front signal's or anything would come on, and they were to start with, just wouldn't flash. Plugged my old relay back up, and it was the same way. Can you guy's tell me, does it have to be a relay for a xs for it to work, or what's going on here. Thank's. Warfman41

[bikerphil]

A 3 prong auto flasher won't work, a regular 2 prong one will work. The XS 3 prong is a special flasher for the auto cancel signals. Using a 2 prong, you will lose the self cancel feature.

[warfman41]

Okay, thank's phil, i appreciate that. I put l.e.d. light's in the back of the hard bag's for my back signal's, and a guy today was telling me that was what the problem was, and that didn't make any sense, because they were lighting up with the old relay in there. With the new one, they wouldn't do anything. thank's man. warfman41

[crazy steve]

The LEDs are at least part of the problem....

Automotive flashers require a certain amount of load to operate. LED lamps don't have anywhere near enough load to operate most flashers, and the OEM XS flasher in particular has to 'see' a specific load to work right. Changing any of the bulbs to LED will cause the problem you're having, sometime even having 'incorrect' automotive conventional lamps will be enough to keep it from flashing.

[ddragon63]

OH NOOOOOOO.... LED's!!!!! sorry having a flashback from my turmoil with my LED project.

You will need a NO LOAD electronic 2 prong flasher designed for LED's to make them blink right. or mod the stock one... somewhere on here there is a how too for the Mod. It looked complicated and I don't need my auto cancel feature that the stock one gives you... so I put in a no load LED flasher. hopefully your project goes smoother than mine.

[fredintoon]

Hey guy's, got a problem i figure one or more of this elite bunch of guru's can help me with... was getting my turn signal's on the back of my bike lined out, when i found they wouldn't flash without pecking on the relay, and they would flash once and stop. Read a blog on another site, (should have left that one alone and came here) said it didn't have to be an oem part. So i went to the part's house, and they fixed me up with automotive three prong flasher relay. Brought it home and plugged it itg up, and the indicator or front signal's or anything would come on, and they were to start with, just wouldn't flash. Plugged my old relay back up, and it was the same way. Can you guy's tell me, does it have to be a relay for a xs for it to work, or what's going on here. Thank's. Warfman41

Hi Warfman,
the stock flasher has to have a 54Watt load (2 x 27Watt bulbs) or it won't flash.
It's a custom design that's the only one that works with the self-cancelling unit.
It's also appallingly expensive which is the main reason us poor folks swap in a generic replacement when the stocker dies.
A 2-prong generic works the flashers but it don't self-cancel.
It plugs into the 3-prong connector 2 ways. One way works, the other does nothing.
(Note that 3-prong generics are wired up a different way so you gotta rig jumper wires to make them operate and they don't self-cancel neither.)
I use a generic 2-pin electronic flasher that pulses at the proper rate no matter what load is on it.
If you have LED signal bulbs you will need to find a flasher that says it's for that use (Mine doesn't) or they may not work.
If your bike has only one flasher indicator light in it's console the 3Watt indicator bulb conducts enough current that all 4 LED signals will flash no matter which way you push the switch.
FWIW, I reckon that unlike the running lights which are on all the time, signals ain't on long enough to cause a significant battery drain so LED signals are just a fashion statement.
If the signal LEDs cause too much hassle, go back to incandescents.

[ddragon63]

+1 on what Fred said. In my trunk and vetter my signals work on my running lights. This and the lower tail/stop light are always on. This is why I did the led's to save some power. If your looking for a stock flasher I have one in my tool box I would sell reasonably priced.

If your turns are the same bulb as your running lights the led swap does save you a lot of power, especially @ an idle. I've always had battery problems with my bike do too all the "widgets" on it... So removing the 5 1157 bulbs out of the equation was beneficial, but it was a PITA to do. Being a 79 special which has only 1 turn indicatior light on the dash for both sides I had to pull it apart and remove both wires from the bulb socket, install diodes inline of both wires, then wire the 2 wires to 1 side of the socket together and ground the other side of the socket. Doing this kept the indicator bulb signal from bleeding thru to my turn signals.

I installed a trailer wire spliter kit into the rear as I wanted my running/signals in my trunk to also act as brake lights so i was extra visible. In order to get this all to work without signal bleed thru I had to remove the light checker unit and hard wire the blue and blue/yellow wires together for the running lights in the rear properly.

If you go back in all my post you'll find all my led stuff. Have fun

[KevRG]

Self Cancel?

Do all the xs11s have a self cancel feature? I have the stock three prong flasher in mine (79 SF), which is doesn't work at the moment, but I don't have turn signals so it doesn't matter right now anyway, but my girlfriends dad has the stock flasher in his xs11(79 F), and his doesn't auto cancel, i constantly have to signal him to turn his blinkers off lol. How does the auto cancel feature work? Is it just on a time delay?

[crazy steve]

Yep, they all have self-cancel. If his isn't working, there's a diagnostic procedure in the manual that will tell you if it's the self-cancel unit or the reed switch in the speedo. A lot of times it's just poor connections....

As to when the signals go off, the cancel unit does a speed/distance calculation to decide that.

[Adam2980]

Where to get a flash relay

Can someone tell me a good sight to get a relay for my 82 XJ 1100? Or even a part number that I can do a search for on the web? I would appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Adam

[ddragon63]

Can someone tell me a good sight to get a relay for my 82 XJ 1100? Or even a part number that I can do a search for on the web? I would appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Adam

A factory style Relay?

[Adam2980]

flasher relay question

A factory style Relay?

It doesnt matter if it is factory or not. Whichever is less expensive.

Adam

[ddragon63]

plain old 2 prong flasher from NAPA will work...If your running LED's use one of these
http://www.amazon.com/Keep-It-Clean-...7216318&sr=8-1

this is the one I used in my LED swap...

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Adam,

Okay, IF you keep the OEM style bulbs, and are not worried about loosing your self cancelling feature, then you can get a simple 2 prong thermal automotive flasher for a few bucks. The XJ's wiring is a little different than the XS's, and when I put one of these onto a fellow's XJ, I had to swap the 2 wires on the in the plug with each other's position, the center one with one of the side ones, but I can't recall which one! THEN the 2 prong flasher would plug in and work just fine with OEM bulbs! The 3rd prong is for the self cancelling feature, and no other automotive flasher will work with it.

There is a thread/mod for folks using both LED type bulbs, and wanting to preserve their self cancelling feature, but you may find doing that mod a bit intimidating? If you are going to be using LED bulbs, then you'll need to get an electronic NO LOAD type 2 prong flasher to use, LED's don't provide enough current draw to make the thermal flashers work properly...see Fred's post above!

T.C.

[bikerphil]

On a friend's XJ11, I popped out the 2 prong emergency flasher from the left side of the bike and plugged it into the turn signal flasher plug on the right side of the bike and it worked perfectly, YMMV.