Turn signals. How to make them work the "right" way? [help] By scooter2 (Read 2,551 times)

[cyborg]

Oh i forgot to mention ,,i run led turn signals on all my bikes and you will have to go with a digital flasher relay,,,cheap on ebay,,,so you don't run into no flash/super fast flash situation,,,led's don't pull enough to make a regular flasher work correctly

[scooter2]

Apr 4, 2015 4:36:47 GMT -6 rks said:

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.

On my fashion, the running filament stays on, and the blinker filament stays off, but when the blinker is activated, the running filament goes off, and only the blinker filament blinks on and off. Interesting.


I checked another 250, a Commuter, and its running filament stays on while the blinker is blinking.

[scooter2]

Apr 4, 2015 8:58:49 GMT -6 cyborg said:

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

That sounds like it would work fine. I can just wire the running filaments to the tail light. Thanks.

[scooter2]

Apr 4, 2015 9:08:37 GMT -6 cyborg said:

Oh i forgot to mention ,,i run led turn signals on all my bikes and you will have to go with a digital flasher relay,,,cheap on ebay,,,so you don't run into no flash/super fast flash situation,,,led's don't pull enough to make a regular flasher work correctly

I ran into that issue last night. I tried to put a relay in the signal so it would be run from the tail light wire, then be shut down by the blinker wire when the blinker was activated, but the flash rate went high. I tried putting resistors in line with the relay but all I got was either no flash, or fast flash. I could get a digital flasher to make that circuit work.

[cyborg]

i would think if you want it to act like the front,,,both wires for each side need to be pulled to the rear so when you hit the turn signal the "running light" turns off when flashing,,,there has to be some sort of relay that is handling that

[scooter2]

Apr 4, 2015 5:39:22 GMT -6 richardv said:

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.

That's the interesting thing. Only the running filament is on until the blinker is activated, then the running light shuts off while the blinker blinks on and off. If it's hacked, it's well hacked. 

[scooter2]

Apr 4, 2015 9:22:03 GMT -6 cyborg said:

i would think if you want it to act like the front,,,both wires for each side need to be pulled to the rear so when you hit the turn signal the "running light" turns off when flashing,,,there has to be some sort of relay that is handling that

Yes. I'll have to take a closer look at it next time I open the dash. I play around with electronics but the wiring harness on this bike is confusing to me. It has a ton of wires that come out of one harness, go into a block, then come back out of the block on another strip in the block, out to other harnesses, or circuits, with all of the wires on each row in the block being connected to each other by the block. with five or six strips total. Lots of wires. 

[cyborg]

Yes very confusing,,,it seems the chinese are a little weak in their wiring,,,(i'm being kind here)

[scooter2]

Apr 4, 2015 10:17:33 GMT -6 cyborg said:

Yes very confusing,,,it seems the chinese are a little weak in their wiring,,,(i'm being kind here)

I am guessing that if you're a tech, you can pop those strips loose, run a meter across them, and boom, problem found, but for me it's a nightmare. I am very weak on electrical and on diagnosing internal mechanics. I have changed the head gasket on my last scoot, and I was impressed at how I could pop the engine out with just a few bolts. I really like that part of how these scoots are designed. I really like the CVTs too, and have made some spreadsheets for doing various calculations for tuning them with weights and shims. Stuff like cheap body panels is a pain though, and my exhaust manifold pipe being an inch or less from my rear tire, and making it get hot, is stressing me out.  

[w650]

I just went out and looked at my Fashion. Yes, the amber lights outboard of the red tail light don't light unless the turn signals are being used. The only problem I see is that the red tail light is kind of low but it is pretty big and at night it is lighting your license plate. In New York the plates are amber. I'm not sure but if my dusty memory is correct it's illegal in this State to have amber lights on all the time in back. Plus on both sides of the tail light are large red reflectors that would enhance the back of the bike when a headlight shines on you. Does your scooter have the red strobe bar up above the trunk lid? Mine does and I'm not a fan. I can tell it annoys people behind me and have gotten passed in some ridiculous places because of it so I know they see it. Before you go to the pain and aggravation of replacing sockets and rewiring you might want to consider either the strobe bar or silver reflective tape on top of the trunk lid.

[scooter2]

Apr 8, 2015 10:57:51 GMT -6 w650 said:

I just went out and looked at my Fashion. Yes, the amber lights outboard of the red tail light don't light unless the turn signals are being used. The only problem I see is that the red tail light is kind of low but it is pretty big and at night it is lighting your license plate. In New York the plates are amber. I'm not sure but if my dusty memory is correct it's illegal in this State to have amber lights on all the time in back. Plus on both sides of the tail light are large red reflectors that would enhance the back of the bike when a headlight shines on you. Does your scooter have the red strobe bar up above the trunk lid? Mine does and I'm not a fan. I can tell it annoys people behind me and have gotten passed in some ridiculous places because of it so I know they see it. Before you go to the pain and aggravation of replacing sockets and rewiring you might want to consider either the strobe bar or silver reflective tape on top of the trunk lid.

Thank you for that info. Yes I have the strobe and also I've put some LEDs on the sides so people can see me better. Can you tell me, does your back tire get pretty darned hot after riding for about 10 miles or so? 

[w650]

Nope. It gets warm. Keep in mind it's a ten inch donut spinning at Warp speed. I have a 17.5 mile ride home from work and do 40 mile jaunts pretty regularly. You might want to look for something rubbing or a small exhaust leak. When I first got the scooter I used to smell burning rubber when I stopped and it caused me some concern. I would check to see if the tire was hot or scuffed and it wasn't. Finally one day I noticed there was a rubber mud flap in front of the tire that had some wear on it. It's a guard to keep crap out of the engine compartment. Once I saw that I stopped worrying.

On the subject of the tail light I also compared it to my Wife's Honda Rebel parked right next to it. Mine is easily 1/2 again as big but hers is much higher. I just figure since it's a copy of the Honda Helix those Japanese guys know what they're doing so it must be OK.

[keithpetrella]

well if you are in the USA the rear flashers that are amber CAN NOT be lit unless flashing only the fronts can it is DOT regulations that say permanent lit lights amber in front and only red in the rear. A permanent amber in the rear can make a driver coming upon you from the rear think that a vehicle is actually coming straight at them rather than away. USA dot regulations specifically state that permanent lit lights of amber can only be on the front and red in the rear.

Read more: scooterdoc.proboards.com/thread/1054/oops-flasher-relay-yy250t?page=1#ixzz3WpQEmDjj

[scooter2]

Apr 9, 2015 10:00:56 GMT -6 keithpetrella said:

well if you are in the USA the rear flashers that are amber CAN NOT be lit unless flashing only the fronts can it is DOT regulations that say permanent lit lights amber in front and only red in the rear. A permanent amber in the rear can make a driver coming upon you from the rear think that a vehicle is actually coming straight at them rather than away. USA dot regulations specifically state that permanent lit lights of amber can only be on the front and red in the rear.

Read more: scooterdoc.proboards.com/thread/1054/oops-flasher-relay-yy250t?page=1#ixzz3WpQEmDjj

That settles that then. Thanks for the info.

[scooter2]

Apr 9, 2015 8:07:40 GMT -6 w650 said:

Nope. It gets warm. Keep in mind it's a ten inch donut spinning at Warp speed. I have a 17.5 mile ride home from work and do 40 mile jaunts pretty regularly. You might want to look for something rubbing or a small exhaust leak. When I first got the scooter I used to smell burning rubber when I stopped and it caused me some concern. I would check to see if the tire was hot or scuffed and it wasn't. Finally one day I noticed there was a rubber mud flap in front of the tire that had some wear on it. It's a guard to keep crap out of the engine compartment. Once I saw that I stopped worrying.

On the subject of the tail light I also compared it to my Wife's Honda Rebel parked right next to it. Mine is easily 1/2 again as big but hers is much higher. I just figure since it's a copy of the Honda Helix those Japanese guys know what they're doing so it must be OK.

Thanks. Mine gets pretty hot on the exhaust side, and after I shut it off, and wait a minute or two, I can rotate the tire around and it's very hot where it was next to the pipe. I have checked for leaks, wrapped the pipe, shielded the muffler, tried another muffler, and nothing helps. I tried switching carbs, raising the diaphragm needle, and upjetting too. The only thing I can think of is timing or something letting hot gasses heat up the pipe. The pipe gets VERY hot. Runs great though.