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Extra lights on the crashbars?
Written by csury on 4/10/2011 at 09:52 pm

I switched over to LED bulbs last fall, and haven't noticed any deterioration at
all with turn signal function.

My main reason was to reduce the power used by the two 23 or 25 watt 1157 brake
light bulbs when I'm stuck and constantly using my brakes in stop and go
traffic. The LEDs offered some more power savings when used to replace the four
5 watt running light filaments and the 3 watt bulb in the center of the
tailight.

Most traditional auto flashers are strictly flashers, and do not include a relay
component. The turns signal lever on most cars locks into "on" mechanically, and
turn off mechanically through a mechanical trip assembly in the steering wheel
hub when you straighten your steering wheel out.

The turn signal switch on the 89-90 PCs is a momentary switch. You push it and
it returns to an "off" position as soon as you release it. The relay just
"latches" the power to the flasher "on". The relay (#27 in schematic) mentioned
is actually a dual purpose mechanism, part relay, part flasher. The relay part
of that mechanism latches (maintains) power to the flasher side until the
self-cancelling timer and/or sensors (#2 in schematic) kill power to the relay.

You won't easily find an automotive electronic or LED-specific flasher that will
direct plug-in replace the PC relay&flasher combo. What you can do is create
your own using an off the shelf relay, and off the shelf electronic or LED
flasher unit,and a bit of wiring. You'll be able to find the description of
doing so over at some of the Goldwing forums.

Alternately, you could just wire a 20-watt 8-ohm resistor between the turn
signal hot wire and ground, one for each side of the bike. That will effectively
mimic the load of an incandescent bulb to the flasher. You'll lose the power
efficiency of the LEDs as far as your turn signals go, but the power savings
offered by changing the turn signal bulbs isn't big in the overall scheme of
things given that turn signal use is infrequent compared to running light and
brake light use. Your real power savings are in converting the always-on
running lights and frequently-on brake lights to LEDs.

--- In ipcrc@yahoogroups.com, "douglasvanb" <douglas.vanbossuyt@...> wrote:
>
> How long have you been running the LED setup? I remember a post from a year
or so ago where someone indicated that their self-canceling unit toasted itself
after they converted to LED. Can't find the relevant post at the moment though.
That is what has scared me off from converting my bike over to LED. Does anyone
else on here remember those posts? Am I completely off my rocker again?
>
> Is the PC's turn signal relay similar to the used on most cars (it has a
circuit that trips on and off to make the lights blink)? If so, it should be
replaceable for less than $30 with one that is designed to blink at a steady,
normal rate with LEDs attached. The relay is located next to the left mirror.
This page shows it: http://www.directcon.net/lcshepp/PC800SMPage18-2.html I'm
not entirely sure what the difference between the turn signal and position
relays are. Can any electrical folks set me straight on what the purpose of
each relay is?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Douglas