Indicator Warning (Another One !!!)

Reading Ardies thread - Indicator Warning - got me thinking about this again & decided it was time to sort it

I'd always struggled with the indicator flasher warning tell-tale being located at the base of the speedo housing - almost came a cropper a few times when I first had the bike, so I fitted a warning buzzer.  Fine up to about 20 mph, pretty useless after that - even worse now the pipes have found their voice.

Picked a couple of these up from Halfords in their bargain bin - a quid apiece 

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Fantastically bright & neat looking.



My original idea was to hook it into the buzzer wiring, rather than chopping into the original wiring.  Now, I originally thought it was just going to be case of splitting the two-core cable & running it into the existing buzzer wires

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Then Pete pointed out I'd end up feeding one indicator from the other, effectively creating a set of hazard warning lights - duh !!  Confirmed this by running power through the set up - the tester on the second live lit up & the LED dimmed.

I'm quoting from my other thread - Frame Earth - as it's relevant

Several alternatives - I could buy one of these LED Indicator Warning - however, I don't particularly like the tube style housing, I much prefer the cube of the one I have.  Secondly, I've already spent £1.00 on this one - buggered if I'm wasting that much money !!

Secondly - I could fit the second LED I bought - I don't really want to that for atheistic reasons - I have a problem with unnecessary symmetry.  I don't need to know which indicator I've left on - just that I've left one on.
   
Thirdly - as the Cap'n suggests, I could hook into the existing indicator warning on the speedo.  That could work, if I can find a suitable place to splice into - however, I'm a bit concerned about cutting into that part of the loom - looks like a cock-up waiting t o happen.

But it got me thinking - "how do they stop the same thing happening from the speedo?".  Traced through the wiring diagram & found that there's a diode fitted at the end of the circuit before it connects into the speedo warning light.  Googled a variety of phrases & found this article LED Indicator Diode Kit.  Don't bother reading it all - this is the relevant section 

"In order to simplify the wiring systems on many motorcycles (otherwise known as cost saving!), many manufacturers opt to install a simple dashboard indicator signal warning lamp which flashes when either the left or right turn signals are activated.

The simple circuit used to add the warning lamp effectively bridges the left and right indicator circuits. When the left indicator is on, the dashboard warning light is powered by the left indicator circuit as you’d expect, but it uses the right indicator circuit as its ground path. The same happens in reverse when the right indicators are turned on.


What this means is that a small amount of current will flow through the dashboard tell-tale light, into the opposite indicator circuit (the one that should be off) and hence through the front and rear indicator bulbs on that side. When conventional filament bulbs are installed this is not a problem since the current is small and filament bulbs require much more current before they light up.


A problem arises however when we upgrade a motorcycles indicator lights to use LEDs instead of the conventional bulbs. LEDs are much more efficient and use significantly less power which means that they turn on with only a small input current. So the small current flow through to the opposite indicators via the tell-tale light is sometimes enough to make the other indicators flash too. This results in all four indicators flashing (rather like having hazard warning lights fitted) when either direction indicators are turned on. Clearly that’s not very useful.


The best long term solution is to slightly rewire the dashboard indicator tell-tale light by using diodes to isolate the left ad right indicator circuits. (Diodes are small electrical components which only allow current to flow in one direction, a bit like a one way valve in plumbing)."


Found these on ebay - Silicone Rectifier Bridge Diode -, & then set about making a mounting bracket whilst waiting for delivery, using 3M Dual Lock to fit the LED to the bracket.

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 Two days later & the kitchen table was littered with wires & heat shrink.  First thing was to solder a diode into each live line,

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 then heat-shrink it for protection 

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Heat-shrink the two lives together, do the same to the earths, then heat-shrink them all together

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I bulleted the two earths together with intention of earthing it through the headlamp housing, but in the end, decided to Scoth it onto the buzzer earth.  Originally, I was just going to ScotchLok this bundle straight onto the buzzer wiring, but I decided to bullet it together so that I could remove it if it didn't work.  Heat shrink the two-core & fit small bullets on the LED end,

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Made up some tails to Scotch onto the buzzer wiring - if this didn't work, I'd buy a ready made kit & fit it onto these 

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Tails spliced onto buzzer wiring 

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Wiring fitted into headlight housing 

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LED mounted onto bracket fitted onto clutch lever.

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Success !!!!  



This is in my garage at night - I'm hoping that it's going to be bright enough to see in the sun.

I could have gone out & bought the ready-made kit, but it's been interesting to do a bit of research & come up with a solution.

Bloody good write up Dave!    I think they'll stand out nice even in the sun, good safety mod 

well sorted dave hats off to u you great write up

Good write up and well executed.Well done Dave.

Excellent and prob cheaper than the premade kit plus you fitted it where you wanted it! the kit wires and fixes tend to come up short A+

To say I am impressed with the write up is an understatement,   

  Very informative write up Dave ..... I think this may benefit several other people who may dabble. Also brilliant find in the Halfords bargain bin ! ..... & excellent ingenuity in application

Nice one Dave, very useful matey   

Thanks everyone.  Took it out yesterday & in dull light, it was certainly noticeable - in brighter light, it should still be bright enough.  The location is spot-on, it's in the corner of my vision, without it being distracting.

As Justin says, it was cheaper than buying a kit in - £1.28 for the light & the diodes - all the other stuff I already had in.  If you had to start buying in connectors, wire, ScotchLoks etc, it's probably not worth the effort.  But as Justin also pointed out, you have the advantage of being able to tailor it to fit exactly.

To be honest, it was probably more down to bullish stubbornness to make it work as I wanted.  And as people have pointed out, it's potentially the most life-saving mod I've done - I'd say to anyone that has ever missed switching their indicators off, fit something like this.  You can pick a ready-made kit up for less than a tenner - do this before you fit any bling !!

This has got me thinking, I like the idea of the bright LED repeater but would probably have to add a switch or something to it to turn off at night, even a LDR (light dependant resistor) and a transistor so as soon as the light level dropped below a set level the repeater would not operate.
I then thought what about using a small vibrating motor (like http://www.amazon.co.uk/16000RPM-Torque-Electric-Vibration-Replacement/dp/B0098WGYC4/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1424621475&sr=8-13&keywords=vibration+micro+motor+12v) in-place of the LED and mount it inside the handlebar where your left hand is so when the indicator flashes the motor vibrates, you could even fit it to the underside of your seat, but I know some of you would probably go round with your indicators on all the time on purpose

Thats probably what Sim & 'Justine' would do Andy! 
Seriously though thats a good write up Dave but the device Andy is suggesting would probably not be felt much on your beasty as the exhaust rumbles & vibrates the air too much!

peardrop3 wrote:

Thats probably what Sim & 'Justine' would do Andy! 
Seriously though thats a good write up Dave but the device Andy is suggesting would probably not be felt much on your beasty as the exhaust rumbles & vibrates the air too much!

Which is why the warning buzzer is now redundant !!