Indicator light issues.

Hey guys yet another LED issue has come about! I have recently converted all my lights (tail, turn and headlight) to LED to saves those precious amps. My issue is now that I have converted said lights my indicator lights on the dash do not blink along with the flashing of my signal lights. I removed the old incandescent bulbs and replaced them with a 194 wedge LED purchased from superbrightleds.com in this video I will show you what happens and sorry the video got cut short and I had to rush. I only had a small amount of memory on my phone. So...do I need a special type of bulb or need to wire in resistors? As i mentioned in the video, I am the farthest thing from a electrical savvy man. Any advice is good advice! Thanks guys!

 

What happens is that the bleed-through voltage makes all four lights flash (no I didn't watch the video).
You need bulbs that have built in diodes, or to place a diode on each side of the dash indicator (resistors do the job, but pretty much eliminate the advantage of using LED lights (freeing up amps)).

 

if you went with an led head light, tail lights and plate light(i got the plate light from super bright) you have saved amps where you need to the most , those lights are always on.
also use the regular bulbs in the dash turn indicator lights
the bulbs in the dash to change are the back lights , again always on.

you are talking a 550 correct so the directionals only use amps when turning no big deal for the short time used.

think about it logicly and return on investment led bulbs are not cheap.

my tach back light light burned out and I did not replace it, I only need to see the speedo at night free saving of amps.


the amp savings of changing the neutral light, oil light minimul

are you planning on using those saved amps for something?
what are you using for a flasher? they do have an led flasher unit.

this thread has all the led links in it I could find
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/led-conversion-question.82500/#post-499184

 

All my lights have been converted to LED (headlight tail light licence plate light and turn signals) I read somewhere that when using LED turn signals you need to replace the indicator light with and LED bulb in order for the resistance to be correct. When I tried using the stock indicator bulb all four signal lights flashed at the same time with the same amount of brightness and the indicator bulb never flashed. When I remove the incandescent bulb in the indicator dash the LED turn signals work properly as they should. When I install the LED replacement indicator bulb the LED never flashes but the brightness of the opposite selected turn signal significantly decreases. So I really cant use my stock bulb with my turn signals because nobody will know which way i'm turning! lol and I don't just want to pull the bulb, its sometimes hard to tell if your signals are on if you dont have an indicator light. As for my relay for the turn signals it is a recommended flasher suggested by baldwonder, so there shouldn't be any issues there. Can anybody give me a link to where I can purchase an LED indicator bulb that will work properly (flash when my turn signals flash w/o bleed through voltage)?? Thanks fellas!

 

chacal sells them ask him go to the supporting vendor link he may have what you need

this link is the best source of info but is for a 750 seca
http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/how-to-convert-to-leds-and-still-have-everything-work.14068/

 

so I looked at the wiring diagrams for a seca and maxim 550 to see the turn indicator light(S)

on the maxim there is one light in the dash the light uses the turn signal bulb of the oppsite side to connect to ground .
voltage from operating turn siginal goes to bulb then to the non operating turn sig bulb to ground making the bulb a resistor
follow the DG and CH wires. this is why with stock bulb both sides flash



on the seca each turn sig. indicator goes directly to ground follow the DG and CH wires

 

so this would be the fix for a maxim can be done with standard light or led bulb

 

Like I said...diodes; get some.

 

This is fantastic guys thank you!!! One more question and then I'll let you guys go. Where exactly should I wire in these diodes I know on the DG and CH wires but should I do it by the indicator bulb? Or down the line in the headlight bezel where the turn signal plug in??

 

Anywhere that the diodes will fit and be easy to work on during instillation. I'd prefer that they be near the bulb socket so it's obvious why the diodes are there (this is so some later owner doesn't curse at you).

 

you could cut the ch and dg wires before (harness) the connectors solder one end of the 2 diodes to the ch and dg wires and the 2 diodes to the ch wire(connector) and use the dg wire to connect to ground
you want to use 1n4001 rectifier diodes 2$ for about 25 from radio shack

 

Hey guys I have tried and tried again to get this to work. I have the right diodes and tried to follow your instructions but just cant seem to get anything to work right. When I attached the DG wire to a ground every light that is on flashes 100x a second and you can hear the relay go crazy. I tried to put in diodes for the indicator light and I get nothing from either the stock or LED bulb... Im just so confused right now.

 

Sounds like the diodes are not placed in the correct location or the polarity on the diodes are incorrect. The diodes must be located so that they are only part of the indicator bulb circuit.

Cut and paste from another thread page 3:

http://www.xjbikes.com/forums/threads/my-81-xj650-build.44957/page-3#post-437867

It has been recommended on here before by members that the use of diodes is the proper way to go with the LED conversion and a single indicator bulb. This makes good sense and is easily done. There are even kits sold to do this or you can build your own.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/search/led-products/diode kit/

Here is a link on the explanation of diodes and how to add them on a Honda. The Honda shown has the same wiring configuration as the XJ with one indicator bulb.

http://tech.bareasschoppers.com/electrical/vtx-1800c-diode-fix/

Or:

Chacal at xJ4ever does sell a polarized diode to solve the problem, and makes it a plug and play, from the same thread as above:

NOTE: when using any of these aftermarket flasher units on bikes with a single dash indicator bulb for the turn signals (XJ550 Maxim, XJ650 Maxim and Midnight Maxim, and 1983-84 XJ750 Maxim and Midnight Maxim), it will be necessary to replace the stock incandescent dash indicator bulb with a polarized LED bulb.