LED Flasher Fun

[DarktideRyezing]

It took me a bit to figure out the flasher situation. I have an 80 XS1100 SG. I changed all of the bulbs and indicators out for LEDs, and of course the directionals won't flash. I put a 2 prong LED flasher in the spot under the right hand cover and then the lights would blink while the bike was off (faintly). Once I started the bike, the lights would flash like a wire was loose (not fast blinking, but more like a loose bulb but it was all lights at the same time). I ended up swapping it out for the hazard flasher under the seat and the hazards had the same issue. When I plugged it back into the normal flasher location, the directionals wouldn't work at all. I'm quite confused at this point. Does anyone have any pointers or places I should start my hunt for fixing this issue?
Jay

[bikerphil]

Make sure the grounds are good, the OEM type units ground thru the housing and to a terminal wire in the mounting bolt. Maybe yours ground differently.

[DarktideRyezing]

Thank you Phil. I will dig in at this tonight and make sure that the grounds are good at each bulb to make sure that everything is good. Is there anything in particular that I should look out for? Should I look to replace the housing or just add different wiring?

[bikerphil]

Well, just figure out which wire on your new lights is ground and make sure it has a solid connection to either the frame or the existing black ground wire at the signal mounting point.

[DarktideRyezing]

I took a look and the ground straps look brand new. I was actually quite surprised.

[DiverRay]

It's not just one strap!!! You need to look at ALL the ground points on the bike. Make SURE everything is clean, and put anti-sieze or no-ox on all the connections to keep them working properly.

[DarktideRyezing]

Ray - I was talking about the strap in the bulb housing. The ground strap going from the frame to the battery looks to be in good condition as well. I will pull it off and make sure that it is OK as well. The bike doesn't seem to have a problem starting, so I was figuring that that connection was pretty much good to go.

[DiverRay]

Most of the ground wires connect at the reg/rec. Brown wires connected to one mount screw. Check there, and make sure you use the brown ground wires or a good direct to frame wire on the front and rear flashers. The front is all rubber mounted, so you really need the ground wires there.

[Geezer]

The brown wire is the main power lead from the ignition switch. It's the BLACK wires that connect to ground.

Turn signals have very simple wiring. Power goes to one leg of the 2 prong flasher and the other goes to the turn signal switch to power the signals when selected. The only grounding in the signal wires is at the end where the signals connect to the frame. I'd make sure the flasher is getting power only when the main switch is on and the connection to the signal switch is good.

Tony