Turn signal insanity (or its me)

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Help Please!

So I brought another (Canadian) max for my old age and fancied changing out some parts, all good then comes the bl**dy turn signals.


Standard bulbs 2 wire aftermarket bullet indicators


Wired the back no problem, wired the front and all hell broke loose, burnt through both of the front earth (black?) wires!?!

So leaving the black wire alone, now if I just connect the chocolate (left) and green (right) wires on the front then I get the turn lights on but not flashing and can hear the relay trying to kick in?



Two questions please: -

I assume the frame is earthed or if not then some voodoo is at play

Have I fried the relay?



Any help to unscramble my fading mind on this would be appreciated!

 

[02GF74]

This is unusual as replacing indicatord should be simpler than falling out of a tree.

What is the wattage of the replacement bulbs?

The frame is earthed but all the looms (car and motorcycle that I've worked on circa 10) have wire for earths.

Disconnect the indicators from the loom at the front, all 4 wires.

Try the indicator switch, if it doesn't flash either the bulb wattage is too low or relay is hosed.

Disconnect power to one rear indicator and connect it to the power for the other one, you may need to use bits of wire temporarily and insulation tape (the earth's for them go to a common 4 way connector)

Try the indicator as above. Not the green lamp on the instrument panel won't light up, don't worry about that.

I believe the relay uses a bimetallic strip with heating element, how quickly it heats up depends on the wattage of the bulbs fitted, I'd be surprised if shorting it to earth would damage it, all that should happen it heats up quicker. I've never tried that and wouldn't recommend doing that.

 

[Bailed Out]

This is unusual as replacing indicatord should be simpler than falling out of a tree.

What is the wattage of the replacement bulbs?

The frame is earthed but all the looms (car and motorcycle that I've worked on circa 10) have wire for earths.

Disconnect the indicators from the loom at the front, all 4 wires.

Try the indicator switch, if it doesn't flash either the bulb wattage is too low or relay is hosed.

Disconnect power to one rear indicator and connect it to the power for the other one, you may need to use bits of wire temporarily and insulation tape (the earth's for them go to a common 4 way connector)

Try the indicator as above. Not the green lamp on the instrument panel won't light up, don't worry about that.

I believe the relay uses a bimetallic strip with heating element, how quickly it heats up depends on the wattage of the bulbs fitted, I'd be surprised if shorting it to earth would damage it, all that should happen it heats up quicker. I've never tried that and wouldn't recommend doing that.

Thank you, came to the same conclusion re the wattage so swapped out one of the (cheap) unmarked bulbs for an original and it lit up like a (flashing) Christmas tree.

sanity returned, turns out all thats needed was a single live feed and somewhere near a reasonable wattage, going to have to buy halogen lights to keep the bulbs small enough and the wattage high enought

 

[02GF74]

The original bulbs, BA15S, with the compact glass domes (the ones with larger domes are too big to fit inside the indicators) are available in 23w (original and most expensive), 10w and 5w, I've not seen them halogen style. They are also available in amber colour to work with smoked or clear lenses.

 

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