Turn signals. How to make them work the "right" way? [help] By scooter2 (Read 2,546 times)

[scooter2]

I noticed on my scoot that my front turn signals are always on as running lights, and they blink off when activated, but the rear ones stay turned off, and blink on when activated.

(EDIT: The "signals" I am referring to are the actual lens units, not the filaments. The blinker filament is only on when the blinker is activated, and when the blinker is deactivated, the running light filament comes on.)

Why are the rear ones off instead of always on like the front ones? I'd like to make them work like the front ones. How do I change that? The rear ones have just two wires. A ground and a hot wire. Not sure about the front ones.  

(EDIT: The front ones are three wires.)

It's a 2009 cfmoto Fashion 250 if it matters.
Thanks.

(EDIT: Thanks for your solutions everyone. I now have several ways to attack this mod so I can have running lights on the sides in back.)

[rks]

That's just plain goofy. Turn signals are supposed to light up when switched on....not go out. A lot of older vehicles ran bulbs that were running, turn, and stop all in one, but that was a 2 filament bulb, and I doubt you have those in your front turn signals...and if you did, the running light would stay lit, even with the signal on. Sounds to me like someone has monkeyed up the wires on the front of your scooter.

[Alleyoop]

Are you saying your scooter DOES NOT HAVE stand alone turn signals and that they are part of the running lights? Or did you or someone modify it.
WHAT SCOOTER DO YOU HAVE and I will look it up to see what it's supposed to have.
Alleyoop

[cyborg]

Is it a new scoot or did you get it used?

[richardv]

Many autos also have that feature. It takes a special flasher unit with an additional pole. One pole is always off (rear) and one is always on (front). When the flasher is activated they change from off to on and from on to off. If you figure out which pole is the always off just connect both front and back to that pole. But then you will not have the required "parking lights/side markers" up front and you will be illegal. As is the system is legal and safer, also cheaper to manufacture.

I would leave it alone.

[scooter2]

Sorry if I put this in the wrong place, JR. I figured turn signals were pretty ubiquitous on various types of scooters and my posts on the 250 forum don't seem to get many responses. JR,

[scooter2]

Apr 3, 2015 18:54:07 GMT -6 rks said:

That's just plain goofy. Turn signals are supposed to light up when switched on....not go out. A lot of older vehicles ran bulbs that were running, turn, and stop all in one, but that was a 2 filament bulb, and I doubt you have those in your front turn signals...and if you did, the running light would stay lit, even with the signal on. Sounds to me like someone has monkeyed up the wires on the front of your scooter.

I like the way the front ones work. They are only off on one side for one second at a time while turning. I'd rather be lit up all the time and blink when turning than to not be seen from the side. I put on some led strips so that's taken care of. They offer some no load flashers online and also units that make two wire bulbs work like my front ones which have three wires. 

[scooter2]

Apr 3, 2015 19:22:46 GMT -6 richardv said:

Many autos also have that feature. It takes a special flasher unit with an additional pole. One pole is always off (rear) and one is always on (front). When the flasher is activated they change from off to on and from on to off. If you figure out which pole is the always off just connect both front and back to that pole. But then you will not have the required "parking lights/side markers" up front and you will be illegal. As is the system is legal and safer, also cheaper to manufacture.

I would leave it alone.

The front ones are good. It's the rear ones that only come on when the blinker is on leaving the rear sides of my scooter dark and practically invisible at night. I put some led strips on to help with that. I'd like them to stay on until they blink. I could maybe hook the rear ones to the front unless that will mess things up, or get a unit that makes the rear lights stay on until they blink. Thanks.

[scooter2]

Apr 3, 2015 19:06:01 GMT -6 cyborg said:

Is it a new scoot or did you get it used?

It's used but the wiring doesn't seem to be tampered with, although now that I think of it, a plug in the dash was high-jacked to run some marker lights. From reading online I got the impression that Honda, who made the bike this one is a clone of, left the marker lights off in the rear on motorcycles, only coming on when blinking, hence the two wire setup in the rear and three wire setup in front. People are putting diodes on them to make them stay on or buying boxes that do that. That's probably what I will do as well.

[scooter2]

Apr 3, 2015 18:55:50 GMT -6 Alleyoop said:

Are you saying your scooter DOES NOT HAVE stand alone turn signals and that they are part of the running lights? Or did you or someone modify it.
WHAT SCOOTER DO YOU HAVE and I will look it up to see what it's supposed to have.
Alleyoop

It's a 2009 cfmoto Fashion 250.
The front signals are three wire. They stay lit all the time except when the blinker is on, then the turning side blinks off and on.
The rear amber lights are two wire and only light up when blinking for a turn.
Thanks.

[rks]

Well, now that you've said the front are three wire units, that means it is supposed to be a two filament bulb....one filament for the running or marker light (probably about 8 watts), and one filament for the turn signal (about 23 wats). It should be an 1157 type bulb, might be one of the low profile ones. If your turn signals are lit all of the time, they are using more power( 46 watts), than your headlight (35 watts), and I find it hard to believe any scooter is designed to work that way. See what bulbs you have, I still say the turn signal portion should illuminate when the switch is turned on, and the running light side should not have anything to do with it, and certainly not go out because signal is operating.

[richardv]

As said, now that we know the fronts are three wire, it does seem like the previous owner wanted the brighter turn signal on all the time for visibility. Which means the wiring has been tampered with. A real big issue with used motorcycles as well. People with enough "knowledge" to be dangerous. Hopefully not too much damage is done.

[cyborg]

I couldn't find any laws state or federal that require running lights on any bike,,,i have seen running lights on more than a few machines,,,so it very well may be stock,,,also in my law search i did read 2 studies that stated there is a 35-40% better chance of accident avoidance with running lights,,,i don't recall if i've seen any scooters with running lights,,but i havn't been paying attention either,,i will now,,,the 3 wire front sockets make me think it's stock but it may have been modified by the previous owner,,,how do the front lights look?,,,are they real clean or are they hacked up and cobbled together?

[scooter2]

Apr 4, 2015 8:48:43 GMT -6 cyborg said:

I couldn't find any laws state or federal that require running lights on any bike,,,i have seen running lights on more than a few machines,,,so it very well may be stock,,,also in my law search i did read 2 studies that stated there is a 35-40% better chance of accident avoidance with running lights,,,i don't recall if i've seen any scooters with running lights,,but i havn't been paying attention either,,i will now,,,the 3 wire front sockets make me think it's stock but it may have been modified by the previous owner,,,how do the front lights look?,,,are they real clean or are they hacked up and cobbled together?

They look clean. The 3 wire is standard for this bike.

I think my last scoot had front lights that stayed on while blinking, so it was like dim, bright, dim, bright, etc. I don't recall if the rear ones on that bike stayed on or not.

[cyborg]

I'd wager that it's stock,,,the only problem i see in this whole getting the rear lights to act like the front is the socket so you can run the aforementioned 1157 bulb and make it clean so it doesn't look like a beaver has been gnawing on it,,,the wireing is a gimme,,,and if you run led lights you wouldn't have to worry about wattage load,,,in the front and back,,,the charging systems on these scoots are marginal at best,,,,maybe you can get a couple whole front signals on ebay and just use the socket portion