Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators


Technical information and Q&A applicable to all years and models of Goldwings
Post Reply
User avatar
wing rider 2012
Posts: 259
Joined: Thu May 16, 2013 4:49 pm
Location: Medford, Oregon
Motorcycle: 2012 GL1800 Level I Blue/Silver
1998 GL1500 Aspy
1985 Venture Royal 1300
1979 GL1000

Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by wing rider 2012 »



How many have seen those turn signal indicators mounted within the left and right mirrors and thought those would be nice to have on my bike? I decided to built my own, and they work pretty darn good. If your inclined to do so it isn't expensive at all and you'll need to practice a little on your soldering. I'll give you a step by step how to. First of all my Wing is a 2012, so I don't know how the mirrors remove on the older Wings or what the mirror is made of.

First you will need 14 Red or Amber High Out-put LED's, seven for each side and 2ea 150 ohm 1/4 watt resistor and 2 ea 180 ohm 1/4 watt resistor. (both the red and orange led's have about the same forward voltage value Red=1.7 and Orange=1.9)

Remove the bolt that holds in the mirror assembly, this is located on the bottom of the mirror housing. Lift the mirror from the bottom and pull out. Now, if your wife doesn't mind, heat the oven to about 150 degrees and put the mirror and mount in the oven for about 5 minutes, what this does is to soften the bonding agent they use to hold the mirror to the mount. (One word of caution, you can scratch the mirror so be careful) Once this is done you can easily peel back the lip that goes over the mirror edges, then slide a butter knife in between the black mount and the mirror, working the knife back and forth you can remove the mirror from the mount. Don't throw away the bonding agent. After you have have the mirror free of the mount you can clean the rear of the mirror with mineral spirits. Set it aside. With the mount mirror side down you can then drill seven holds in a 45 degree shape to produce an arrow indicator, make sure they are free of any burs of the plastic. Now you can put the mirror and the mount back together, if you have pulled any of the bonding agent off now is the time to put it back in place, put the mount and mirror back in the oven again for 5 minutes, then reinstall the mirror back in the mount and let it sit for a few minutes. Now insert you LEDS into these holes and configure the LED lead arrangement for a "series" application. (Series application you will be soldering the negative lead of one LED to the positive lead of the other.) Just a word about LED's, look at the leads there is a long lead and a short lead, the long lead is positive and the short lead is negative.
Now that you have all of the LED's in place (make sure they are pushed in the hole) you will have 4 LEDs on one leg of the V shape and 3 Leds on the other leg of the V shape. Starting at the tip of the V shape LED 1 and working on the 4 LED leg side, bend LED 1 negative lead back toward LED 2 positive lead solder these together and clip off the leads at the solder joint, at LED 2 bend the negative lead back toward LED 3's positive lead and solder, again clip off the leads at the solder joint. Bend LED 3's negative lead back to LED 4's positive lead, solder and clip off at the solder joint, this will leave LED 4's negative lead free. Now do the same for the other side of the V shape leg, starting with the negative lead, when you are finished you will have 2 positive leads free (both at the same end) and two negative leads free (both at the same end.) Solder the two positive leads together, on the negative lead of LED4 you will solder the 150 ohm resistor, one the negative lead of the leg that only had 3 LED's you will solder the 180 ohm resistor. Connect the open end of the resistors together and solder a 8 inch wire, one the positive leads solder an 8 inch wire. I'd suggest you use heat shrink to insulate the connectors. To secure the leds in place I use a hot glue. The positive lead will connect to the turn signal (positive) wire, and the ground will connect to the Green wire (ground). Then reattach the mirror mount in the housing.




Vietnam Veteran
9th ID, Jan 69 - Oct 70
Member: Military Order of the Purple Heart
Member: Vietnam Veterans of America
Member: GWTA. Chapter A, Grants Pass, Oregon
User avatar
thrasherg
Posts: 2123
Joined: Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:21 am
Location: Plano, TX
Motorcycle: 2017 Yamaha FZ07, 2015 Yamaha Super Tenere ES, 2005 Honda Shadow 750, CRF450X, CRF230, CRF250X, XR200, CR500, Gas Gas TXT200

Re: Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by thrasherg »

Nicely done, I like the finished result, but as my indicators are self canceling I have never felt the need to have a repeater in the mirror as well. However it is nicely done and a great writeup on how to do it, so many thanks for taking the time to post and share it.

Gary
User avatar
Viking
Posts: 3760
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:59 pm
Location: North Bay, Ontario, Canada
Motorcycle: 2009 GL1800 AD
1987 Harley Softail Custom
1974 Harley FLH (sold)
1965 Harley FLHE (sold)
1957 Harley Chopper (sold)

Re: Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by Viking »

We used to - long time ago - make all our custom stuff ourselves. Nice to see somebody is still at it. It is what made all of our bikes individual.
It ain't about the destination - it's all about the journey

Image
User avatar
WingAdmin
Site Admin
Posts: 23316
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 4:16 pm
Location: Strongsville, OH
Motorcycle: 2000 GL1500 SE
1982 GL1100A Aspencade (sold)
1989 PC800 (sold)
1998 XV250 Virago (sold)
2012 Suzuki Burgman 400 (wife's!)
2007 Aspen Sentry Trailer
Contact:

Re: Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by WingAdmin »

That looks great, and is far cheaper than the ones sold at retail!
User avatar
PastoT
Posts: 436
Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2012 9:20 pm
Location: Mt Home, Idaho
Motorcycle: 2002 GL1800 (128k)

Re: Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by PastoT »

Did you have to remove anything from the back surface of the mirror or will the LEDs shine directly though it?
Tom, in Mountain Home, Idaho
2002 GL1800 (Illusion Red) Non-ABS, 128k miles
Retired Air Force

"Audentes Fortuna Juvat"
User avatar
wing rider 2012
Posts: 259
Joined: Thu May 16, 2013 4:49 pm
Location: Medford, Oregon
Motorcycle: 2012 GL1800 Level I Blue/Silver
1998 GL1500 Aspy
1985 Venture Royal 1300
1979 GL1000

Re: Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by wing rider 2012 »

PastoT wrote:Did you have to remove anything from the back surface of the mirror or will the LEDs shine directly though it?
The LED's will shine through the mirror, just make sure the area in which the LED's are going to shine through is free of any of the bonding agent.
Vietnam Veteran
9th ID, Jan 69 - Oct 70
Member: Military Order of the Purple Heart
Member: Vietnam Veterans of America
Member: GWTA. Chapter A, Grants Pass, Oregon
User avatar
smilam
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2011 9:02 pm
Location: Olathe Ks
Motorcycle: 2009 GL1800 With a Roadsmith Trike Conversion

Re: Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by smilam »

I saw another Goldwing with these turn signals around his mirrors which showed up real well so I did mine the same way and really like them. Just use a shorts strip of LED's and attach them to the turn signals inside the mirrors.
Attachments



LED's with self adhesive around inside of mirror housing
LED's with self adhesive around inside of mirror housing

CaptLen
Posts: 41
Joined: Sun Aug 25, 2013 8:39 am
Location: Norwalk, Connecticut
Motorcycle: 2012 GL1800A

Re: Builtding your own mirror turn signal indicators

Post by CaptLen »

Thank you to Wing Rider 2012 for the excellent "how to" and Smilam for the additional idea. I'd been thinking of purchasing a kit, but with the excellent instructions......maybe


Post Reply