signal replacement

I have a 78 Kawa 750 twin with no signal lights. The only thing I see are the 3 wires. One looks like it goes to a ground and the other two are loose.
I have a set of smaller lights I would like to mount but these I think are marker lights with two wires. How can I use them for signals?? If possible?? Any info would help..JC

Three wires means you are talking about the front lights. They normally plug in inside the headlight housing, along with a whole mess of other wires, one wire from each light (the running light) plugs into the same place (think Y connector), each of the other two wires (turn signals) goes to a different plug.
There are so many wires inside the headlight housing on that bike that it's hard to fit the headlight back in the shell

To use your new lights as turn signals, hook one wire to the turn signal wire inside the headlight and run the other wire to ground.

Post edited by: steell, at: 2006/04/15 03:14

steell wrote:

Three wires means you are talking about the front lights. They normally plug in inside the headlight housing, along with a whole mess of other wires, one wire from each light (the running light) plugs into the same place (think Y connector), each of the other two wires (turn signals) goes to a different plug.
There are so many wires inside the headlight housing on that bike that it's hard to fit the headlight back in the shell

To use your new lights as turn signals, hook one wire to the turn signal wire inside the headlight and run the other wire to ground.<br><br>Post edited by: steell, at: 2006/04/15 03:14

I forgot to mention I was working on the front lights:blush: With respect to the wires...these wires are coming from the headlight,one is going to a grounded washer & the other 2 are loose.
I'll try hooking up either wire & see if I get it to blink. Thanks......JC

Tried doing what you said but it didn't work..... Any other suggestions on how to make a two wire marker light work with three wires so it will blink :huh:
This is for the front.......incse any one else chims in....Thanks..JC

deletion!

Post edited by: hwms, at: 2006/04/16 14:26

The 750 twin has the grounding washer that goes behind the nut that holds the stem on because they are mounted in rubber, so the signals won't work without that ground.
johnny chop, are you sure the wires are plugged in inside the headlight housing? You can make a test light (or buy one, they are cheap) and see if it flashes when the turn signal is on and it's connected to the wire.

Is the marker light dual filament or single filament? If it actually is a marker light then it is a single filament and will only work as a turn signal or a marker light, not both. Also, if it is a single filament then one of the wires will go to the turn signal wire while the other will go to ground.

Post edited by: steell, at: 2006/04/15 23:35

steell wrote:

The 750 twin has the grounding washer that goes behind the nut that holds the stem on because they are mounted in rubber, so the signals won't work without that ground.
johnny chop, are you sure the wires are plugged in inside the headlight housing? You can make a test light (or buy one, they are cheap) and see if it flashes when the turn signal is on and it's connected to the wire.

Is the marker light dual filament or single filament? If it actually is a marker light then it is a single filament and will only work as a turn signal or a marker light, not both. Also, if it is a single filament then one of the wires will go to the turn signal wire while the other will go to ground.<br><br>Post edited by: steell, at: 2006/04/15 23:35

Yes I see the ground wire going to the washer,behind that is a rubber bushing of some kind,then I have two wires. I'll check inside the headlight housing & see if the wires are plugged in. I'll also try the test light (I got one). Didn't check to see if the new light is a single or dual filament. If it's a single I'll try hooking up one wire and the other to the ground. (I'll try 1 wire then the other). Just want a signal up front,marker ain't important.
Thanks for your help......I'll let you know how it went...JC...

JC - I didn't respond to your email but will respond here. If you need fast help, go to my forum on my web site where I look in, even on the weekends, to answer questions. I don't have time to respond to individual private emails anymore.

In any case, first, pull the bulb out of your new turn signal. Look at the base of the bulb holder. There will be either ONE little contact or TWO contacts. The single contact is a turn signal that ONLY works as a turn signal and the double contact means it is not only a turn signal but a running light.

If you have ONE contact, and have two wires coming off the turn signal, one is a hot and the other a ground. If you have TWO contacts, both wires are hot and you must ground the turn signal.

On almost all KZs, Kaw uses a black/yellow wire with a metal ring that goes between the turn signal and nut that holds it on to provide grounding. If your turn signals doesn't have a metal body and there is no metal contacting the metal ring on the end of the black/yellow wire, you will have to take a screw out of the bulb holder and attach a piece of wire to join to the black yellow wire. This is your ground.

As far as the hot wire(s), Kaw uses pretty much the same wiring colors. Too bad you didn't mention the colors of the wires you suspect. Generally, they will go with light gray and medium green for the turn signals. One color is used for one side and the other for the other side. Check your rear turn signals to figure out which color goes to which side. I can't remember but if you do hook them backwards, it is just a matter of swapping the plugs inside the headlight shell.

Since you have what appear to be TWO hot wires in additiion to the ground for each side, you may have front running lights. There is no standard color I know of but some Kaws use blue for the front running lights.

If you HAVE A TWO CONTACT bulb holder, I think the bulb will only go in one way. That means that there will be a long/large filament and a small/short filament touching the contacts and the small filament is the running light... the larger/longer will be the turn signal.

Since you have different types of turn signals, with different bulbs, you will also need a HEAVY DUTY turn signal relay. They sell them at an autoparts store. Your relay has |_ shaped prongs. The ones at the autoparts stores have prongs shaped like this and will be cylinder shaped about 1 inch long. A heavy duty flasher relay should cost about $7.

Thank you all for your replies & esp WiredGeorge for giving me your web page & useful info.....Will try it out & see what happens.....JC

Post edited by: johnny chop, at: 2006/04/17 12:45

Just to let you know that the signals NOW WORK:woohoo: It seems that I had only a "marker light" with two wires. So I grounded one & connected the other to power, And just taped off the third.
Also got that HD flasher....everything works great!
Thanks again............. JC

Well as you know my signals now work,thank you all for the help! But now I've noticed that my guage lights have stopped working. Are the signal light wires tied into them?? I just replaced both bulbs so I know it can't be that. Any clues?? JC

johnny chop wrote:

Well as you know my signals now work,thank you all for the help! But now I've noticed that my guage lights have stopped working. Are the signal light wires tied into them?? I just replaced both bulbs so I know it can't be that. Any clues?? JC

Here is a pic of the wires...I'll go over what I did..
I'm using the green(gray) wire for the signal on each side of the bike (front) & also the blk/yellow,I guess that's the ground.I found out that the same BLUE wire that I'm not using from the signals,runs to the guages. Do I need that blue wire to make the guage lights work again?? JC

Post edited by: johnny chop, at: 2006/04/20 12:36