Blinkers not blinking

i hope i am putting this in the right spot

i put aftermarket smaller less watt blinkers on and now they dont blink i looked around and seen something about an el 13 relay but it doesnt seem to be the fix for mine any ideas

 

You have to match the wires to what the flasher needs, you can't just plug it in. I don't have the book on me, but you should be able to find the info you need on the site.

Oh, and welcome aboard! Have you checked your brakes yet?

 

so the way the wires are in the plug now will not work with any relay from the auto parts store?

Thank You glad to be part of all this!

my brakes?

 

You are in exactly the right spot, welcome aboard ... please put your location in your profile details and your bike model and year in your signature so we can help you. The most common type of blinker relay uses a bi-metallic strip which heats up to open the contact then cools down to close it. The total current draw is what heats the strip. Lower wattage blinkers may not put enough load on the relay to make it work. You can either put the standard wattage globes in, put in a shunt circuit to add some load, or use an electronic type flasher relay. Is everything else standard?

 

+1 on the location and type of bike....the West Coast is a big place. For all I know you live right down the street from me!

Then I'd have 2 XJ's to work on.... :?

 

There's been a lot of blinker questions going around. These LED blinkers are really taking off, but our bikes are rather unique. We had self-cancelling turn signals about 15 years before Harley...that's a big time difference. Can't speak for the other companies though....

anyway, contrary to popular belief (sorry iandmac) our flasher isn't a bimetallic strip. It's a primitive electronic circuit that needs the self cancelling unit to flash. There's a really good explanation of it around here somwhere, makes it clear as mud. Without all the parts and sufficient power, no flash.

You can replace the flasher with a more modern one, but you only need two blades, and you will not have the self canceller. Three blades won't hurt, but you won't be using the third blade.

 

Of course, your xj400 is, i believe, more like an xs....so you might have to ask an expert on that particular model...it's an odd one.

 

ok so to try to get hands on what can you think of that i should try now to see if they will blink also, i still have the new el 13 relay

this self-cancelling turn signals thing means they stop blinking at some point? because the old ones never did i had to do it at the switch.

 

Don't go wandering off until you actually LOOK at your rear brake shoes !!

And it's an XJ because of the dual cams, not an XS

And you might get by with a flasher unit and some blinker fluid

 

I looked at some pictures of xj and xs from 82 and i cant really tell a difference.

 

I did some more looking around and found 2 possible fixes

1) change the left or right wire with the center wire

2) beings the watts of the new bulbs is less it may need load resistors

anyone heard of them?

 

With LED Bulbs and LED Conversion Kits becoming all the rage; "Dummy Load" devices are being sold by several companies.

Go to the ... SignalDynamics ... Web-site and determine if any of their Modules will suit your needs.

You may need to splice a Dummy Load Module going to each Signal Light.

 

do you think theres a need with it just being less watts not an LED setup?

 

Yes. To use the stock flasher you need turn signals that draw 27W each. Whether that's through bulbs, or bulbs plus resistors, or LEDs plus resistors doesn't matter.

Find out what the wattage is of your new bulbs, then do some algebra.

W = VxV / R

(27 - new wattage) = 169 / needed load resistance per turn signal. (Based on about 13V average system voltage).

The load resistance goes in parallel with the bulb.

So, if the new bulbs are 14W, the stock flasher would want to see about

13 Ohms in parallel with each bulb. Probably a 10W resistor would be OK, since it won't be on 100% of the time.

 

i think i got it fixed its now about 5am i just came in from testing jump wires and x'ing out the auto blinker off i used the el 13 and jumped l/r wire and center and they blink will look at it again when sober and thinking the 5th and will update

cross your fingers!

 

ok so im going with an EL 12 thats a 552 upgrade 2 terminal so no self cancelling but i dont recall it ever working anyway and it just plugs right in and works

Thank you to all who had ideas