LED Signals

First off, I want to say thanks to Jamie for posting this thread. http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=3135&highlight=grab&page=2

I recently put on some LED signals. As anticipated, I had some issues with the flash rate or just getting the signals to flash at all.

I did a few different things to try and correct the situation.

At first, with all 4 LED's installed and no other mods, when I hit the turn signal button they all came on but did not flash.

I removed the turn signal bulb from the instrument cluster and that solved the problem. They now flashed, but flashed quickly.

I wanted to keep the indicator light so I would know if my signals were on so I made my own diode assembly for $1.07 plus some parts I had on hand. If you don't already have some wire and heat shrink it may be worth buying it cause they are cheap. I bought my diodes at radio shack. See pics for wiring detail and part #'s. With the diodes installed the LED's flash but the flash rate is too fast. Some may not have an issue with it but I wanted to slow it down. In all reality, a dirt cheap way of making LED's work (at least it did on my bike) would be to just remove the indicator bulb. All is fine but the flash rate is high.

After the diodes went in I still had the flash rate problem. I bought an electronic flasher relay from the local NAPA auto parts. They only had 1 universal flasher and it did not work. I went to autozone (or maybe it was advance auto) and bought a Blazer electronic flasher. I bought the cheapest one they had. It was supposed to work with a small amount of load. It did not make the LED's flash for me.

I returned the ELFR's from the auto parts store and ordered the custom dynamics one. It works flawlessly. I did almost the same thing as Frosty but I just removed the two wires to power the relay from the factory connector and left the OE relay in place wired up with the rest of the wires in tact. The two I removed from the connector pull out real easy if you just press down on the release tab in the connector. Then I used those to wires to power the new ELFR. I drilled the mounting hole in the new relay out with a 1/4" bit and mounted it with one of the screws that mounts the whole heat shield/ electrical panel to the bike under the left scoop. The bolt in the center, under the OE flasher relay worked great. I was able to tuck the new realy in right uner the OE relay and it all fit nice and neat.

I have since removed the Vboost controller and relocated the relay onto the mounting screw for it.

Mike thanks for the post as well...Any chance you can post a picture of how you wired the custom dynamic relay, I can't visualize what you did. Thanks

I want a full wire-up kit with working LED blinkers.
I am not electronically inclined in anyway shape or form

I've had a few people send me PM's asking how to wire in the electronic flasher relay and asking for pics.

Pics are attached and should be relevant to any Max from '93 up to '07. The 85-92 bikes are a bit different looking under the scoop but the process *SHOULD* be the same.

I removed the two brown wires from the relay connector. There is a small plastic tab inside the connector you must depress to release them. On the new relay I crimped and soldered 1/4" male disconnects and plugged them into the two brown wires. The striped brown from the bike went to the blue wire on the new relay. It DOES matter which goes where. Not saying its the same on every relay but this worked for me. Cover with heat shrink, and that was it.

As I said in the original post, I drilled the mounting hole on the relay out with a 1/4 bit and you can mount it right behind the OE relay. See the photos. My bike may look a bit different as I took out the vboost controller and wiring.

After I installed the diode on the indicator bulb, my problems only occurred when I had the front marker lights plugged in. With them plugged in, when I hit the flasher it went into this ******** flash with both sides flashing without a conceivable pattern. After I unplugged them, they worked fine (although, a bit quick)....sooooo, I just leaved em unplugged. if you can't see my headlight and 2 driving lights, then these 2 little LED lights aren't going to make a damn....

I thought about fixing it...but just haven't go around to it. After your post though, I wonder if it would work right if I yanked the indicator bulb...and if so, would it work still if I replaced it with a LED indicator....hmmmm...what can I say, I really like self canceling turn signals

To work around the flash rate on mine I just wired in some 10k resistors, problem solved.

Mike thanks very much for posting those pictures, very helpful in understanding what you did.

I just did the diode on the dash bulb and it works perfectly! Only suggestion is to make sure you use copper stranded instead of solid copper wire since its easier to work with and bend.

I tried today to plug my LED turn signal.
I added a flasher relay (3 pins) recommended for LED turn signals.
The relay is responding perfectly but the turn signals won't blink.
My halogen signals are blinking perfectly with the new relay.

My LED turn signals might be bad, the quality is bad but I'm planning to replace them. I just need to know if I will still get LED type or not.

Any idea ?

Diablotin said:

I tried today to plug my LED turn signal.
I added a flasher relay (3 pins) recommended for LED turn signals.
The relay is responding perfectly but the turn signals won't blink.
My halogen signals are blinking perfectly with the new relay.

My LED turn signals might be bad, the quality is bad but I'm planning to replace them. I just need to know if I will still get LED type or not.

Any idea ?

Click to expand...

Its hard to tell, but did you wire up the brown and brown/white off the plug? What is the other one you used and your reasoning? I have full LED's and I have yet to do the relay swap since I do not wish to loose the self canceling functionality. I do have a EFR 3 prong to use, but if it doesnt give the self canceling functionality, I prefer not to use it. Everyone I talked to on here just used the 2 prong EFR.

I Just replaced the relay by the other one as advised somewhere else.
It's a 3 pins relay +12V, ground and LED. Little bit different than yours.
What are the 2 brown for ? From what I saw one, bottom right, is the +12V.

Diablotin said:

I tried today to plug my LED turn signal.
I added a flasher relay (3 pins) recommended for LED turn signals.
The relay is responding perfectly but the turn signals won't blink.
My halogen signals are blinking perfectly with the new relay.

My LED turn signals might be bad, the quality is bad but I'm planning to replace them. I just need to know if I will still get LED type or not.

Any idea ?

Click to expand...

My guess would be that you need a different ELFR. Not all of them will make your leds flash. I got 2 from the auto parts store and wired them up and they would do the same thing. The stock lights would work fine with them but the led signals would not flash. Then I got the relay from custom dynamics and put it in and it worked perfectly.

Before buying another relay or another set of signals I would test your leds out by connecting them directly to a 12VDC power source and see if they light up. Take note of which wire is + and - . The leds will only work one way.

Diablotin said:

I Just replaced the relay by the other one as advised somewhere else.
It's a 3 pins relay +12V, ground and LED. Little bit different than yours.
What are the 2 brown for ? From what I saw one, bottom right, is the +12V.

Click to expand...

The custom dynamics uses the brown and brown/white wires which are the left/right side LED circuits. Thats why I asked since if you dont wire those into the new relay, then it will not work. See link for the ELFR DOT wiring:

http://customdynamics.com/yamaha_flasher.htm

You will loose your auto self canceling feature going LED unless you leave it with the stock relay which I did.

You need both the dash diode installed to fix the power overflow to each side (left/right) issue and then the ELFR to fix the fast blink rate to the normal slow rate if you so desire.

Hope this helps.

Mike
VMOA #2116
MD Chapter Leader

Thanks for the tech info guy's. I followed the directions here after experimenting. I just did the LED conversion on my '06, with mini cateye LED's with black metal bodies. They look great, very clean and those little LED's are plenty bright. I also soldered the crimp on the main postive battery cable when I put my new battery in and saw a +1.7 VDC rise in charging voltage with that. I'm hoping it lasts a little longer than the last one

jedi- said:

To work around the flash rate on mine I just wired in some 10k resistors, problem solved.

Click to expand...

4 resistors. One on each leg? between the relay and signal light I assume?

Try http://superbrightleds.com they have some of the bulbs you may be looking for without all the extras. Click on car bulbs and search for motorcycle stop tail and brake and license lamp.Next page click tail-brake and turn bulbs

vmax2extreme said:

The custom dynamics uses the brown and brown/white wires which are the left/right side LED circuits. Thats why I asked since if you dont wire those into the new relay, then it will not work. See link for the ELFR DOT wiring:

http://customdynamics.com/yamaha_flasher.htm

You will loose your auto self canceling feature going LED unless you leave it with the stock relay which I did.

You need both the dash diode installed to fix the power overflow to each side (left/right) issue and then the ELFR to fix the fast blink rate to the normal slow rate if you so desire.

Hope this helps.

Mike
VMOA #2116
MD Chapter Leader

Click to expand...

the vmax has auto self cancelling??? i never knew..

sidwin said:

the vmax has auto self cancelling??? i never knew..

Click to expand...

Try running for a little while with them on, they should stop flashing after a pre-determined distance, or a certain amount of time when stopped.

naughtyG said:

Try running for a little while with them on, they should stop flashing after a pre-determined distance, or a certain amount of time when stopped.

Click to expand...

i believe they will never cancel when stopped. i think its 15s or like 400m whichever comes LAST

I went with Mikes idea with the diodes and the custom dynamics ELFR and it turned out great! I plugged the OEM relay back in and it seemed to be brighter so I'm staying with the stock flasher. Thanx to everybody for all the help!