Mini Turnsignals and LED Bulbs..

[Dezeez]

Here's another mod I did that kind of evolved on me.

I bought the clear lens Mini-turnsignals off Ebay (the Lollipops had to go!) and when I saw that the entire set of 4 was wired for 1157 bulbs I thought great, I'll set the back ones up as running lights, just like the front. Of course, someone on this forum ruined my fun with the info that yellow running lights on the back were illegal.

So I tried to get red 1157 mini bulbs. No luck. I then tried to buy LEDs. None of the ones with the 90 degree mounts were small enough so I tried mounting one in sideways without the socket. I hardwired the bulb and set it in silicone. This wasn't bright enough because the leds were facing in the wrong direction (out the sides and not backwards). I decided what the heck, if I don't need a socket, I don't need the bulb, either. I cut the circuit boards out of the bulb, then hardwired it and set it in silicone caulk.

I still wasn't happy with the brightness of the lights so I found that I could fit two circuit boards side by side and wired in parallel in each socket. The silicone caulk holds them on place but don't use it with regular filament bulbs. They run much too hot.

The pictures don't do the leds justice. With the double circuit boards, they're fairly bright.

 

[maxcruiser]

Dezeez, you read my mind, I was just thinking of trying to get led bulbs for the same signal lights - I was riding today with a couple of bikes and I was in front and they both commented that my signals were very hard to see.

I was hoping that there was a led bulb that would fit - but your idea looks like it will work perfect.

Thanks for sharing - you :git:

Mike

 

[Neil-3446]

If you could fit 2 of the custom dynamics mini bars in there, it would be bright as heck.

Those things are the brightest LED's I have ever seen, but, very directional like most LEDS. I'm pretty sure you can just buy the bulbs from them.



Item #: 02241
http://www.customdynamics.com/Light_bars.htm

Neil

 

[Redbone]

Here is couple more options for your LED upgrades. I have turn signals that have already have broken bulbs (non LED). I was warned that they have tendency to break the wires b/c they are solid mounted. I looked around and came up with these . I don't know how bright these are but I like the right angle 30 LED (1157 for front turn/ run lights).....if they will fit?

 

[RVAVMAX]

Here's another mod I did that kind of evolved on me.

I bought the clear lens Mini-turnsignals off Ebay (the Lollipops had to go!) and when I saw that the entire set of 4 was wired for 1157 bulbs I thought great, I'll set the back ones up as running lights, just like the front. Of course, someone on this forum ruined my fun with the info that yellow running lights on the back were illegal.

So I tried to get red 1157 mini bulbs. No luck. I then tried to buy LEDs. None of the ones with the 90 degree mounts were small enough so I tried mounting one in sideways without the socket. I hardwired the bulb and set it in silicone. This wasn't bright enough because the leds were facing in the wrong direction (out the sides and not backwards). I decided what the heck, if I don't need a socket, I don't need the bulb, either. I cut the circuit boards out of the bulb, then hardwired it and set it in silicone caulk.

I still wasn't happy with the brightness of the lights so I found that I could fit two circuit boards side by side and wired in parallel in each socket. The silicone caulk holds them on place but don't use it with regular filament bulbs. They run much too hot.

The pictures don't do the leds justice. With the double circuit boards, they're fairly bright.

Looks great! BTW what sort of exhaust are you running?

 

[Dezeez]

Looks great! BTW what sort of exhaust are you running?

It's an older style UFO 4-2.

 

[Dezeez]

Here is couple more options for your LED upgrades. I have turn signals that have already have broken bulbs (non LED). I was warned that they have tendency to break the wires b/c they are solid mounted. I looked around and came up with these . I don't know how bright these are but I like the right angle 30 LED (1157 for front turn/ run lights).....if they will fit?

They won't fit in the mini turnsignals with the sockets attached. I thought about trying some of the high power leds off of that site but they're pretty expensive. These boards are kind of delicate and easy to screw up while hardwire soldering.

 

[maxcruiser]

Alright, I went ahead and changed my mini signals over to led bulbs - I picked up some led arrow head (6 bulb) with two wires. Once the original bulb socket and bulb were removed, they fit in perfect and held in place with silicone. Pretty straight forward mod except when I went to turn the signal light on - all 4 started flashing as hazard lights. :bang head:

I did some research on the net and found that can happen because there's only one signal light indicator on the dash of the vmax - I had to make a diode kit to fix it. You can buy the kit, but it is very easy to make, just need a couple of mini diodes from Radio Shack or other electronic supply store.

Definitely brighter than the old incendescent bulbs.

Mike

 

[Dezeez]

Alright, I went ahead and changed my mini signals over to led bulbs - I picked up some led arrow head (6 bulb) with two wires. Once the original bulb socket and bulb were removed, they fit in perfect and held in place with silicone. Pretty straight forward mod except when I went to turn the signal light on - all 4 started flashing as hazard lights. :bang head:

I did some research on the net and found that can happen because there's only one signal light indicator on the dash of the vmax - I had to make a diode kit to fix it. You can buy the kit, but it is very easy to make, just need a couple of mini diodes from Radio Shack or other electronic supply store.

Definitely brighter than the old incendescent bulbs.

Mike

I was lucky, I didn't need a diode for the indicator but I did have to install load resisters.

 

[mnmax]

I just installed LED blinkers on my vmax and wondering what do I need to make them work properly.

Do I need load ressistors, flasher relay or diodes?

Heres how mine worked out.

With the rear halogens still on, I hooked up the front right and it worked properly, it just blinked at the correct speed. Then hooked up the left front and it was on 100% of the time and didnt blink while the right blinked only.

I switched the wires around and now they blink and work as running lights, kinda. A true running light the brightness would be at say 50% and when blinking they would blink at 100% brightness> But mine are lit at 100% brightness and when they blink they cut out/blink off.

Now when I hook up the rears the fronts dont work at all and the rears are on 100% of the time and when they blink they blink dimmer, the opposite of a running light, also they blink at the same time wether I put the switch to the right or left.

What do I need to correct this?

 

[Neil-3446]

I just installed LED blinkers on my vmax and wondering what do I need to make them work properly.

Do I need load ressistors, flasher relay or diodes?

Heres how mine worked out.

With the rear halogens still on, I hooked up the front right and it worked properly, it just blinked at the correct speed. Then hooked up the left front and it was on 100% of the time and didnt blink while the right blinked only.

I switched the wires around and now they blink and work as running lights, kinda. A true running light the brightness would be at say 50% and when blinking they would blink at 100% brightness> But mine are lit at 100% brightness and when they blink they cut out/blink off.

Now when I hook up the rears the fronts dont work at all and the rears are on 100% of the time and when they blink they blink dimmer, the opposite of a running light, also they blink at the same time wether I put the switch to the right or left.

What do I need to correct this?

You need to hardwire an ELFR-1 into the harness just before the stock flasher relay.

http://www.customled.com/PRODUCTS/FLASHER_RELAY/flasher_relay.htm

Neil

 

[maleko89]

I just installed LED blinkers on my vmax and wondering what do I need to make them work properly.

Do I need load ressistors, flasher relay or diodes?

Heres how mine worked out.

With the rear halogens still on, I hooked up the front right and it worked properly, it just blinked at the correct speed. Then hooked up the left front and it was on 100% of the time and didnt blink while the right blinked only.

I switched the wires around and now they blink and work as running lights, kinda. A true running light the brightness would be at say 50% and when blinking they would blink at 100% brightness> But mine are lit at 100% brightness and when they blink they cut out/blink off.

Now when I hook up the rears the fronts dont work at all and the rears are on 100% of the time and when they blink they blink dimmer, the opposite of a running light, also they blink at the same time wether I put the switch to the right or left.

What do I need to correct this?

When you ou put the right-front LED in did you mistakenly plug it into the running light wire? According to Rusty you only need resistors if you put LED's in the front AND back. Are you indicators two stage? If not I would expect them to turn on/off when blinking.

A diode is required if they blink like hazzards but you can remove the indicator light in your instrument cluster to rectify this. I would put your rear halogens back in, remove the indicator light and try to get the fronts working first.

Otherwise, an aftermarket electronic flasher relay will cure all problems. No need for load resistors or diodes. Neil's solution will work too.

Here is an except from Rusty....he used two resistors...one per side.

You only need load resistors if you go to LED's front AND back.

You can buy resistors at radio shack.

You want the rectangular ceramic ones in the highest wattage you can find, which will usually be 10 or 20 watts, they can get hot but it's not a big deal unless you leave drive around all day with the signal on.

I believe I used 2 ohm resistors.

You put one across each left or right signal doesn't matter front or back or where you mount it, you just want to parrallel the led. One on each side. butt splice them into the circuit and then bury the entire resistor in electrical tape so it doesn't corrode the wiring.

The ohm's will set the blink rate; a 1 ohm will make it blink faster than a 2 ohm.

Rusty

 

[Dezeez]

I just installed LED blinkers on my vmax and wondering what do I need to make them work properly.

Do I need load ressistors, flasher relay or diodes?

Heres how mine worked out.

With the rear halogens still on, I hooked up the front right and it worked properly, it just blinked at the correct speed. Then hooked up the left front and it was on 100% of the time and didnt blink while the right blinked only.

I switched the wires around and now they blink and work as running lights, kinda. A true running light the brightness would be at say 50% and when blinking they would blink at 100% brightness> But mine are lit at 100% brightness and when they blink they cut out/blink off.

Now when I hook up the rears the fronts dont work at all and the rears are on 100% of the time and when they blink they blink dimmer, the opposite of a running light, also they blink at the same time wether I put the switch to the right or left.

What do I need to correct this?

I had a similiar problem when I first installed the Mini-turnsignals I bought off EBay. The first thing I would do before buying any load resisters or controllers is to check the wiring on all of the new turnsignals. Mine were not wired properly and gave me all kinds of weird results depending on which ones I hooked up. Use a wire directly off the battery post and check to see if the same color wires from each turn signal do the same thing. Other people have had the same issue with new "made in China" turn signals.

 

[Dezeez]

When you ou put the right-front LED in did you mistakenly plug it into the running light wire? According to Rusty you only need resistors if you put LED's in the front AND back. Are you indicators two stage? If not I would expect them to turn on/off when blinking.

A diode is required if they blink like hazzards but you can remove the indicator light in your instrument cluster to rectify this. I would put your rear halogens back in, remove the indicator light and try to get the fronts working first.

Otherwise, an aftermarket electronic flasher relay will cure all problems. No need for load resistors or diodes. Neil's solution will work too.

Here is an except from Rusty....he used two resistors...one per side.

You only need load resistors if you go to LED's front AND back.

You can buy resistors at radio shack.

You want the rectangular ceramic ones in the highest wattage you can find, which will usually be 10 or 20 watts, they can get hot but it's not a big deal unless you leave drive around all day with the signal on.

I believe I used 2 ohm resistors.

You put one across each left or right signal doesn't matter front or back or where you mount it, you just want to parrallel the led. One on each side. butt splice them into the circuit and then bury the entire resistor in electrical tape so it doesn't corrode the wiring.

The ohm's will set the blink rate; a 1 ohm will make it blink faster than a 2 ohm.

Rusty

I had to install load resistors and I only put LED's on the rear signals.

Also, my local Radio Shacks do not carry any resistors except for audio resistors. I had a heck of a time finding high watt resistors locally and ended up ordering them off the net. Some places really rip you off for these things so be careful. I bought from here, $5.00 a piece. Just watch the shipping.

http://superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR

 

[maleko89]

I had to install load resistors and I only put LED's on the rear signals.

Also, my local Radio Shacks do not carry any resistors except for audio resistors. I had a heck of a time finding high watt resistors locally and ended up ordering them off the net. Some places really rip you off for these things so be careful. I bought from here, $5.00 a piece. Just watch the shipping.

http://superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=CAR

Dezeez, I'm finding that it seems what works and what doesn't varies with each person. I've heard that some run LED's all the way around on the stock late-model flasher relay? Some flash hazzards, some don't flash at all. Crazy. Anyway, I found this link from Rusty's post. Nice ceramic 25 watt resistors are about $1 a piece.

http://www.action-electronics.com/resistor.htm

 

[Dezeez]

Dezeez, I'm finding that it seems what works and what doesn't varies with each person. I've heard that some run LED's all the way around on the stock late-model flasher relay? Some flash hazzards, some don't flash at all. Crazy. Anyway, I found this link from Rusty's post. Nice ceramic 25 watt resistors are about $1 a piece.

http://www.action-electronics.com/resistor.htm

Yeah, everybody seems to have a different experience. With the shipping, it's only $5 cheaper to order the bare resistors. The leads being installed and gel connectors were worth it to me. No runs to the hardware store for connectors and heat shrink.

 

[Redbone]

Here is couple more options for your LED upgrades. I have turn signals that have already have broken bulbs (non LED). I was warned that they have tendency to break the wires b/c they are solid mounted. I looked around and came up with these . I don't know how bright these are but I like the right angle 30 LED (1157 for front turn/ run lights).....if they will fit?

After further investigation I found that what I thought was a bad bulb was just a bad connection inthe headlight shell.unk:

 

[Frosty72]

Do the diode for the single flasher indicator next to the tach and a replacement flasher from costom dynamics, both come with instructions and are not expensive, and work!

If you need very specific info I can give you part numbers and install instructions, it's not hard if I can do it! I have LEDs all around and no load equalizers. Check the thread I started about a turn signal grab bar.

402-880-8955

 

[maleko89]

So Frosty...what were you really doing at the Home Depot? Did you ever get those lawnmower wheels to work on your Vmax sidecar? lol

 

[Neil-3446]

The ELFR-1 fixes all these problems @ $19.95 -
2 minutes with a crimp connection and done!
...hello????

Neil