I have a 1983 Suzuki GS750E i recently purchased front and rear led indicator assemblies from Ebay. I have only started with the rears so far and i have found that even though the power is connected properly but they will not flash, i reconnected the old and they work. I am assuming that this is not a problem with the lights necessarily other than that they have a lower resistance and the flasher/relay wont work. What is the easiest or best fix for this as i cant ride till i get back my turn signals.
swapping out old incandescent bulbs for LED's, Turn signals wont flash
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An LED draws far less current than a conventional bulb. A proper LED set up will add in a load resistor to help match the original current draw so that things like a flasher will still work. The resistor is just wired in parallel with the LED to increase the total current going through that wire.
I purchased a new flasher today that is led compatible, it will plug right in where the original one is. tomorrow i will change the remaining front two blinkers to my new led's and plug in that flasher, hopefully that is all i will need, id rather not get to involved with this, but the led's look a heck of a lot nicer than the rotting old shaky stock incandescent blinker assemblies.
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Are they as bright as the incandescent bulbs? I tried LED's on my VTX and not only would they not blink, they were not nearly as bright. And the package said "Super Bright LED". So because the VTX is rather light challenged, I put the old lights back in. People talked about how much less current the LED's draw but I could care less if drivers couldn't see me and when I hit the brakes.
Now that you mention it my brother was following me yesterday and he mentioned they didn't look very bright, I just figured it was because I didn't have the new compatible flasher installed and or because I have not replaced the front ones yet. I'll repost when I get it completed
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You need resistance for the flashers to work. LED's have much lower resistance than conventional bulbs. When I installed mine, with a trailer harness adapter, they were quick. Without the adapter, they were lightning quick.
I'd look into completely repowering. Get your stock relay, and wire it into a trailer harness adapter, then run those wires to the signals, and it should work fine. I got mine from AUtozone for $16.99+tax.
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I'd look into completely repowering. Get your stock relay, and wire it into a trailer harness adapter, then run those wires to the signals, and it should work fine. I got mine from AUtozone for $16.99+tax.
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The relay for LED (electronic) should work for the flash.
If you run into all four lights flashing when complete try taking out your indicator lamp (in the dash) and see if it fixes your problem. Alot of the time it will backfeed through this bulb and cause all four of them to flash.
The fix to this is to put in an inline diode with that bulb, or to replace it with a similar LED that will only feed one direction.
If you run into all four lights flashing when complete try taking out your indicator lamp (in the dash) and see if it fixes your problem. Alot of the time it will backfeed through this bulb and cause all four of them to flash.
The fix to this is to put in an inline diode with that bulb, or to replace it with a similar LED that will only feed one direction.
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413 Posts
Kind of.... LED's draw very little current and have a low resistance. Thus you can put a resistor in the circuit so that the current flowing through the LED is what the LED was designed for. A dummy load (wiring the correct resistor in parralel with the LED) will allow the LED indicators to work in your existing system, but doesn't provide any power savings. Excess electricity is just converted to heat by the resistor. Also, if an LED fails, the rest of your indicators may not flash correctly. Putting the proper resistor in series (which will be a different value than dummy load resistor), will allow power savings, but the relay probably won't flash at the proper rate, because it was designed to output at a higher current. By using a trailer harness you are just artificially adding resistance to the circuit by using longer wire. That is why his was still not operating properly.
Instead, you should just buy the proper relay. The proper relay will output the right current for the LED and it will flash at an appropriate rate. And they are not very expensive. Why people recommend taking shortcuts and don't just get the right component for the job is beyond me. The electrical system on a bike is something that you want to be reliable and not jurry rig together.
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Once you replace the remaining two blinkers and install this relay, it should work properly. Glad you went this route. :thumbsup: That is the correct fix.
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Just as an FYI, an LED only allows current in one direction by definition. LED = Light Emitting Diode. Diodes only allow electricity to flow in one direction, unless you overwhelm their design current.
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