Wiring Harness & LED's

[jeffstatham]

I've got just about everything ready to go on my '83 Aspencade "Barn Find". One thing that seems to be troubling me though - I've converted all of the bulbs to LED's. I put in an electronic flasher so I have the proper flashing speed

[jeffstatham]

Argh! Sorry, I hit the enter key by accident, before I finished.

So, as I was saying, I've replaced all the bulbs with LED and put in an electronic flasher. The flasher is supposed to be good for 10 bulbs and I've got 8. When I put in the rear signal bulbs though, (#'s 7 & 8 in the count) they won't flash. I put the old bulbs back in and it's fine. ???

Another thing, the previous owner did a lot of questionable wiring which I've been trying to clean up. I've also discovered a rather large mouse nest in the fairing and the wee rodents seem to have feasted upon some of the wiring. I think I'd rather just replace the whole harness at this point instead of trying to cobble it together. Are there seperate harnesses for the engine and body (fairing) ? Mine is the Aspencade as well so I assume that will be a different harness.

Only 4 more months of this deep freeze left!!

[seabee_]

It could be a resistance issue. Regular bulbs have a higher resistance and when you install led's the flasher won't work. Explains why the flasher works with old ones. Is the flasher designed to work with the led's? Sometimes you can install resistors to create the extra load to mimic the regular bulbs, or buy the led bulbs designed to work with the old cars/bikes. What type are the led's you have?

As far as the wiring, if you can find all the mouse damage you can repair it. Just be sure to solder the wires as you repair them, don't use crimp connectors. Slip some heat shrink on the wire before soldering. Make sure to find all their nest materials. If they nested near something that can overheat it can burn out. The best thing you can do is get a shop manual so you can trace out the wiring the PO butchered.

There's a lot of good help here, so we can get you up and running.

Oh yeah, If you hit the enter button too soon just click on the 'edit' button to continue with your post.

[WingAdmin]

The Aspencade does have a separate harness, it connects mainly behind the steering weight (mounted on the front of the triple tree).

Your electronic flasher should flash regardless of what is connected - even if nothing is connected. Does your electronic flasher have three pins or two? If it's a two-pin flasher, with the LEDs it sounds like you haven't got enough current flowing to activate the coil of the flasher relay. If this is the case, replace it with a three-pin flasher, which incorporates its own ground. There is actually a third (ground) lead right next to the connectors for the flasher, intended for that purpose.

The flasher may be rated for 6-8 incandescent bulbs, but you should be able to run hundred of LEDs, as their current draw is negligible in comparison, so don't be worried about that.

[jeffstatham]

Thanks for the advice guys! I actually started with the wiring back in the fall and have been tending to indoor projects for the last couple of months. (I know, that's why God invented patio doors - so motorcycles could be indoor projects too!) I put in an electronic flasher which, unlike the usual mechanical ones, isn't bothered by resistance. Like I mentioned, it was a few months ago when I put it in (a three pin flasher) and at first it didn't work and there was smoke and angry fuses! I did some research on the interwebs and read where the third pin (ground?) could be the issue. I cut it off and sealed it up - problem solved but, I still have the issue with the rear signals.

As far as I can see, there is no reason why this flasher shouldn't work properly. I've read on here where guys have used one from a company I can't remember right now...maybe I need to try that?

Maybe the previous owners spagetti style wiring is the issue - but then again, the signals wouldn't work with the original bulbs if that were the case.

[WingAdmin]

Thanks for the advice guys! I actually started with the wiring back in the fall and have been tending to indoor projects for the last couple of months. (I know, that's why God invented patio doors - so motorcycles could be indoor projects too!) I put in an electronic flasher which, unlike the usual mechanical ones, isn't bothered by resistance. Like I mentioned, it was a few months ago when I put it in (a three pin flasher) and at first it didn't work and there was smoke and angry fuses! I did some research on the interwebs and read where the third pin (ground?) could be the issue. I cut it off and sealed it up - problem solved but, I still have the issue with the rear signals.

As far as I can see, there is no reason why this flasher shouldn't work properly. I've read on here where guys have used one from a company I can't remember right now...maybe I need to try that?

Maybe the previous owners spagetti style wiring is the issue - but then again, the signals wouldn't work with the original bulbs if that were the case.

If you are not using the third pin (ground) on the three pin flasher, then it is attempting to power the coil by using current drawn through the light bulbs. That's fine for incandescent bulbs, but LEDs draw a tiny amount of current, and can cause a two-pin flasher to not function due to insufficient current to pull the relay coil in.

Two pin flashers have an input terminal that is supplied with +12V, and an output terminal that sends the flashing, intermittent +12V to the bulbs, from where it goes to ground. The flasher is dependent on the bulbs for its ground.

Three pin flashers have the same input and output, but a third ground terminal, which the flasher uses for grounding the relay coil, as well as the flash circuit. That's what you're going to need to use.

[jeffstatham]

Hmmm....that makes sense. Looks like I'm going to have to try the three pin again.

Thanks!