I've got a VT-8 that I'm wiring. The bike had blinkers on it. I put in a 2 pin LED relay. I have this switch cluster, un the picture. The #2 wire is power to the blinkers. I wired the L side of the flasher to #2 and wired the B side to an on off switch that's connected to the battery. My headlight #6 and tail light power is also connected to this switch, so I can shut off all power. My problem is when I turn on the blinker it takes the tail light and headlight flash. Maybe I have the relay wired in wrong? Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Here is a pic of my great wiring diagram skills if that helps.
Blinker flasher relay
- Thread starter Nick Felt
- Start date
The headlight and taillight both flash when the brinker is on. I thought it might be a short in the cluster, i could not find one. The taillight wiring is not connected to the cluster, only to the on/off switch and it does the same thing. I tried putting the power side of the relay straight to the battery (before the on/off switch) and the same thing happens. Maybe a bad relay?
Sounds like you've troubleshot it pretty good. I was wondering about quality, too. But maybe it's still just a matter of the end of the circuit you place the switch at? Like is the #2 wire at the beginning or end of the +/- run?
I'm currently trying to set up my blinkers with this relay and led switch and the order of the components became important - partly because I wanted the led to light only when ON but also because at one point I had it lit up and blinking both signals while in the OFF position. Other configs made the led not light at all, or stay lit all the time. I don't know if the tail light blinked in any of this. Tho I do know the horn didn't honk. And the headlight was not connected, so..
In my case, I did have to worry about jumping the additional led leads, and my set up is obviously different, but I found that:
B+/relay/light/switch/B-
...was no good.
And:
B+/switch/relay/light/B-
...was no good either.
Only B+/relay/switch/light/B-
worked correctly for me.
I'm currently trying to set up my blinkers with this relay and led switch and the order of the components became important - partly because I wanted the led to light only when ON but also because at one point I had it lit up and blinking both signals while in the OFF position. Other configs made the led not light at all, or stay lit all the time. I don't know if the tail light blinked in any of this. Tho I do know the horn didn't honk. And the headlight was not connected, so..
In my case, I did have to worry about jumping the additional led leads, and my set up is obviously different, but I found that:
B+/relay/light/switch/B-
...was no good.
And:
B+/switch/relay/light/B-
...was no good either.
Only B+/relay/switch/light/B-
worked correctly for me.
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I did some experimentation with blinkers, was able to get them to work by using 2 "no load relays".
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Feu4gmhcETQ
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Feu4gmhcETQ
The headlight has a ground wire. The blinkers and tail light are direct ground, no wires. I'm only using #18 guage wire from the battery and for the battery ground. Standard 12V battery that I use on my old 49 Harley trike that I built. The Harley flasher is set up the same way I've been trying to set up the VT.
Maybe I need to try a 3 pin relay, the way that works for you is the same I tried.
The taillight power comes after the switch same as #2 wire for the blinker power.
The relay is wired from switch (B+) to relay B, #2 (power to blinkers) ties into L. It seems as the relay L is moving to the taillight power line for some reason and is taking over the power to the taillight, even though the only wires that are together are the B relay terminal and brake light power out of the switch.
The taillight power comes after the switch same as #2 wire for the blinker power.
The relay is wired from switch (B+) to relay B, #2 (power to blinkers) ties into L. It seems as the relay L is moving to the taillight power line for some reason and is taking over the power to the taillight, even though the only wires that are together are the B relay terminal and brake light power out of the switch.
After more work, the headlight and taillight do dim a lot almost when the brinker is on. I did up the battery wire to 12ga that I had around, that helped.
Looks as my on/off switch wiring is too small of a guage for the wattage my blinkers are using 26w hallogens, I bypassed that and it helped with the dimming but still does it.
I could not find a good 1156 LED bulb to work in them without adding a resistor if I remember that correctly researching online.
Anyone have good suggestions for LED 1156 compatible bulbs? I'd like to keep the stop blinkers, but also not necessary if I can't find a good bulb replacement.
Looks as my on/off switch wiring is too small of a guage for the wattage my blinkers are using 26w hallogens, I bypassed that and it helped with the dimming but still does it.
I could not find a good 1156 LED bulb to work in them without adding a resistor if I remember that correctly researching online.
Anyone have good suggestions for LED 1156 compatible bulbs? I'd like to keep the stop blinkers, but also not necessary if I can't find a good bulb replacement.