Finally, flashers...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Popped some resister plugs in (BPR7ES) and from what I can tell the flashers now work when the bike is running. Still have non-resistor copper spark plug wires but that doesn't seem to matter.
 
Dave,
Is EL12L1 the part number on the second flasher? NAPA has it down as Electo-Mechanical, if it is, I don't see how it would matter.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Resul ... lasher&N=0

I just started to put the flasher setup back together after going without for a few years. Today I hooked it up and the lights just stayed lit up, no flash. Stock flasher, used to work before I took them off.? What's the difference between 2, 3, and 4 terminal flashers? Can you use an LED flasher with incandescent bulbs? Maybe this has been covered before but I can't find it.
Thanks,
 
Yep, but I think I had them when I took the flashers off.

P.S. this is happening with the engine off.
 
rpatton said:
Yep, but I think I had them when I took the flashers off.

P.S. this is happening with the engine off.

Did you ground the pigtail? Photo of your installation?
 
This is still with the stock flasher. I'll be going to NAPA tomorrow to see what they have in stock. My hunch is that I've got some marginal connection that that's getting current to the flasher but not enough to power up the mechanical flasher. I checked the connections with a voltmeter and they seem to be ok but voltage and current are two different things, so maybe a marginal connection somewhere. Maybe an electrical flasher won't be affected.
 
rpatton said:
This is still with the stock flasher. I'll be going to NAPA tomorrow to see what they have in stock. My hunch is that I've got some marginal connection that that's getting current to the flasher but not enough to power up the mechanical flasher. I checked the connections with a voltmeter and they seem to be ok but voltage and current are two different things, so maybe a marginal connection somewhere. Maybe an electrical flasher won't be affected.

Stock flasher wont work with LEDs.
 
There are lots of motorcycle only LED flasher units to shop for after a few online reviews of their applications and how so many have already done this, minus the polarity issue of course. Full kits have this build into the brain box voltage converts and often polarity switch or terminals for our backwards wired bikes.
 
swooshdave said:
I had assumed that the job of the battery was to do this. This sounds way too complicated, but just what I'd expect from an EE. :mrgreen:

Thoughts?

Agreed. Way overkill and not the problem here. From another EE...

Standard flashers work by sensing the current through the bulbs. The current causes a bimetalic strip to heat up and bend, breaking the connection. When it cools off the connection is made again. LEDs don't draw enough current to heat the strip. So they stay on all the time.

Electronic flashers use an oscillator circuit and a relay. Blink rate is independant of lamp load. But like any electronics they can be sensitive to ground polarity. So, choose your flasher carefully.
 
It would be real easy for a few bucks to make a flasher out of a 555 timer some components and a relay. Only trouble with the 555 is the first time discharge is longer than the rest, but that can be compensated for. Wouldn't matter incandescent, fluorescent, or LED. I'm not sure that voltage reg ic would do anything.

Dave
69S
 
swooshdave said:
Stock flasher wont work with LEDs.
There are incandescents in there now, but I want to get a flasher that is LED capable. Is it true that the LED flashers are retro-compatible with incandescent bulbs? I'm trying to sort out 2pin, 3,4,6,ect. I think the 3 pin is for a dash indicator? 4pin also controls hazard flash? As long as it's electronic. NAPA as a lot of them online, gonna make a list and see what they have locally.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/Resul ... d3%26N%3d0
 
The LED flashers I've seen will also work with standard bulbs. 2 pin designs should work positive or neg ground, just reverse the wires. The single indicator lamp in a Norton headlight shell relies on the non-blinking bulbs as the return current path so that won't work with LEDs - you have to rewire the indicator with a couple of diodes (easy to do).

I forget which blinker I bought, but this one is probably okey doke:
http://www.superbrightleds.com/more...versal-motorcycle-electronic-flasher/193/841/
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top