odd thing happening to new turn signals. ideas?

so i just put new led rear lights/turn signals and updated the front ones too.

now, when i engage the blinker unless i twist the throttle, the light stays on solid. so when im stopped, in order for my signals to flash i have to rev the engine a bit.

i have some load equalizers installed, but it seems that for some reason there is an issue with power still. do i have too much? not enough? anyone else have this issue?

 

Check your alternator brushes. It sounds like your electricals aren't getting enough voltage at idle. What size resistors did you use as a dummy load?

 

Below 2000rpm, the bike is running on the battery alone. Failure to flash at low RPM is generally a sign of a slightly soggy battery.

 

I could be wrong but I thought LEDs needed a new signal flasher, as the LEDs don't draw enough power for the stock.

 

OP said he installed "load equalizers."

Alternator brushes won't affect generator output at idle; there ISN'T ANY.

The charging system doesn't "come online" until above 2000rpm.

 

hmm, i will have to check but they were seemingly the correct size at the time i bought them, i didnt realize there were (m)any other options so i will double check that number.

as with other threads ive posted, a common response has been "battery fool" so i think i may just get a new one this week and see if that helps this particular issue, but even if it doesnt it sounds like i could use a new one anyways.

thanks for the ideas though

 

FWIW, I had similar symptoms and found a thread about slightly bending the contacts inside the flasher sometimes helping the problem.
It worked for me.

Maz

 

OK...I need to stop recommending a course of action when I'm tired. If the battery is near the end of it's advertised life, or has ever been discharged below 80%, replace it as Fitz recommended. For some reason I was thinking that the alternator brushes could be making poor contact and not bringing the battery to full charge, but if that were the case you wouldn't see the flashers working at 2k, they just wouldn't work at all.

FWIW the "Load Equalizers" that are commonly sold for LED installations are carbon, or ceramic, resistors that are encased inside of an aluminum heatsink. They don't actually equalize anything, they just act as a dummy load to draw enough current for a mechanical flasher to work with the LEDs.

 

You could actually be right on. But we need more information.

If the battery were new, or tested good, and the bike persistently suffered from a low battery; then alternator brushes could very well be the culprit, even if it is pushing enough juice above 2K to flash the signals.

But we don't know the mileage on the bike (which would also give us a clue as to the alternator brushes) nor do we know the age or condition of the battery. Or the alternator output at 2200RPM.

The symptom is indeed that of a soggy battery. However, the cause of the battery being soggy could very well lie elsewhere but we have nothing to go on yet.

Diagnosis incomplete.

 

Yes. Conclusions must not be jumped to.
The part of being a machine maintenance tech that I miss the most, is having the machines in-front of me to diagnose.

 

I bought a suzuki gsx400fws a week ago that the previous owner had installed led signals.. halfway.. He gave me a set of those "load equalizers" .. With a similar result, got tired and switched the relay to a LED specific one.

The Suzuki didn't have the self-canceler though, so I don't know why the previous owner just didn't change that in the first place.


Will be doing the same thing on my XJ, screw the self-canceler.

 

I changed the flasher unit and added a ground to it and they blink now and work fine.

 

But now they no longer self-cancel.

 

Most of the time the self-cancel unit burned out years ago anyway... Lol

Dave f