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a question on turn signals

  • Thread starter Thread starter rgierer
  • Start date Start date
R

rgierer

Guest
First, I am 200 miles from home and a complete set of tools. I also have what I believe to be a managable situation in the short term but would like thinking about it in the long term.

Bike is a 1982 GS1100Gk

Last weekend I pulled my GK fairing off and put on a vetter fairing. I needed to use the vetter blinker bulbs and units but wired them into the GK wiring for minimal disruption.

The blinker initially worked and then didn't. I realized with all my light testing with the engine off I had run down the battery a bit so I put a charger on her 2 amps for several hours. (first time the charger has been on this bike in over a year.) Blinkers work fine.

Bulbs in blinkers are 1157's these are 30 watt I think the replacement bulbs I got don't say but the originals said 30 amp.


Now I find blinkers will stop working if I ride around town at low speed anytime at all. But if I drop down a gear and run at 4 grand for a bit they pop right back on.

I immediately thought of ground. so I checked a number of those but no news, or changed behavior.

Tommorrow I shoot down 70 from Kc to St. Louis and I am confident that running the bke at 70 and 80 mph I will have fine blinkers.

My first inclination is to switch the battery with the one in my 750 and see if the batteryhas a problem (it is from Walmart and is in its third summer)

Counsel anyone?
 
It sounds like the voltage is dropping at low revs and not providing enough power to run the flasher unit. Maybe check your voltages at idle and see if your regulator is letting things get too low.


Mark
 
I know I asked for ideas but ... wouldn't the electrics just run pretty much off the battery until 3500 rpms or so, as the stator is not at full performance until 5000 rpm's? If is is an RR issue, I can run that down is is about an 18 month old electrex unit.
 
I know I asked for ideas but ... wouldn't the electrics just run pretty much off the battery until 3500 rpms or so, as the stator is not at full performance until 5000 rpm's?
Click to expand...

I have to admit I am not the wisest individual when it comes to electrical issues, and you may be correct. But everything I have seen indicates that you should be getting over 12.5V pretty much everywhere above idle. The stator won't reach full output until 5000rpm, but it still should not be discharging the battery much at all above about 1500rpm. If your battery is bad (entirely possible), then it may be pulling the system voltage low enough to mess up the flasher. Do you have any other indications of the battery going off on you? Hard starting, flat battery after sitting for a few days, that sort of thing? I had a bad battery in my 1100 this spring and everything worked fine until it started having a problem starting. As soon as it was running, the charging system put out enough to run everything, even at idle, with the battery showing less than 12.0V static charge.


Mark
 
Temporarily wire the old GK bulbs back into the circuit. They should blink fine without the bike running at all. If they work OK, then I would guess the Vetter bulbs are rated too high. If they don't, 1. your battery is on it's last legs or 2. you did something to the wiring.

Ace.
 
Are you using the stock flasher? These animals are built to work with the stock bulbs. If you put in one that is different enough then it could have an impact. In my 83 GS750ES I use an electronic flasher. They work consistenty at any voltage and with any number and/or type of bulb. You can get one at the discount auto shops. Make sure you get one with the same number of connectors that are on the stock flasher. 8O
 
I have the stock flasher. Is there anything I need to look for in the auto flasher?
 
At the very least, do a visual inspection of all the bulbs. I had the same symptoms, and later observed that a filament had broken before bridging to the second filament. All seemed to work fine at high revs (when there was more power available to the bulbs), but at low revs the bulb would light, but not blink. I replaced all my turn signal bulbs, and no problems since.
 
after more careful study I find it is the yellow indicator light in the dash that is not working consistently. Does this indicate something??

I am confident it is not a bulb issue. (bulb in dash)

r
 
the bulb wattage should not be an issue with either fairing. Your description also sounds to me like a charging/bad battery issue or wiring. wiring, however, shouldnt be a big issue, it is pretty simple. But make sure you didn't get a bad solder joint, or pulled a connector loose without realising it. with all that checked, get your meter out and check voltage at the battery. By 1500-2000 rpm, you should be putting out enough voltage to show 13+ volts. if not, swap the battery out with another known good one, and try again. 3 years on a Wally World Chinese battery is pushing your luck.
 
If everything worked fine with the stock fairing and changing to the Vetter resulted in your problems, it is unlikely you flasher, battery, or charging system is the fault. I would give 10 to 1 odds, the problem is in the wiring harness and connections in the Vetter.

Earl
 
I will hapily go through them again. Who could pass up such odds?
rg
 
:-) :-) :-) I assume the vetter has a wiring pigtail that has to be plugged to tbe bike harness. Betcha if you dont have the vetter pigtail plugged to the bike, the bike has no problems. :-)

Earl

rgierer said:
I will hapily go through them again. Who could pass up such odds?
rg
Click to expand...
 
fgh said:
Are you using the stock flasher? These animals are built to work with the stock bulbs. If you put in one that is different enough then it could have an impact.
Click to expand...

This is a very important point. If you are running additional bulbs or bulbs that draw more current, you'll need to move to a heavy duty flasher. Many folks who tow trailers have to spend the $4 for an upgraded flasher or they don't get the blinkin'.
 
I used the GK wirng harnes and just rewired the blinkers and headlight.

I seem to have running lights on the turn signals in the vetter fairing that I did not have on the GK
 
The dual element, combination running light, turn signal, bulbs have a high wattage and low wattage element. The low wattage element runs off the headlight switch or a 12v+ switched lead off the ignition switch. The high wattage element is the turn signal and should be powered through the flasher. You will not need a heavy duty flasher because the turn signals are not an increase in wattage through the flasher. They are factory rating.

The low wattage functioning elements for running lights should draw 7 watts per bulb. That should have no effect on your charging system keeping the battery charged.

Earl


rgierer said:
I used the GK wirng harnes and just rewired the blinkers and headlight.

I seem to have running lights on the turn signals in the vetter fairing that I did not have on the GK
Click to expand...
 
I am stumped and feeling like this must be very simple and I am making it very complicated. Motorcycles are after all simple machines.

I have cleaned resoldered and chanted over the wiring connections of the turn signal. I have run through a number of grounds on the bike and cleaned them as well as the plug in connectors. I have replaced the 1157 bulbs. I have changed the batery with the newer one from my 750.

Status Left blinker will blink 2 or 3 times and stop. Right blinker blinks away. Yellow light on dash does not come on much less flash.

I have tried replacing the flasher with another 3 prong flasher (10.00 not the 2.00 I hear about on the forum) no turn signals at all. Went back to original unit.

I am stumped and looking for good ideas. I am going to let this sit until next weekend when I can come at it a bit more refreshed.

Thank each of your for your pateince with my wanderings on this topic.
 
Progress to report!!

I walked down to my local Western Auto Store and picked up two flasher relays. I put them in and neither of them would work in the bike.

Just for good measure I decided to check my rear blinker bulbs. To test them I moved the one in the left unit to the right unit and the one in the right unit to the left. This solved the blinker problem. I have not road tested to see if the self cancelling device is working although I can confirm that the Yellow light in the dash still has not come on.

This is progress although I can not begin to explain it.

R
 
Corrosion/poor contact in the bulb sockets.

Earl

rgierer said:
Progress to report!!

I walked down to my local Western Auto Store and picked up two flasher relays. I put them in and neither of them would work in the bike.

Just for good measure I decided to check my rear blinker bulbs. To test them I moved the one in the left unit to the right unit and the one in the right unit to the left. This solved the blinker problem. I have not road tested to see if the self cancelling device is working although I can confirm that the Yellow light in the dash still has not come on.

This is progress although I can not begin to explain it.

R
Click to expand...
 
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