How does the turn signal indicator lamp work

Hi.

I've been fixing up my KZ200 and adding new LED turn signals. I've installed a CF14 flasher and they flash bright and at the correct rate.

The indicator lamp (which is also LED) is odd. It's not as bright as the others, flickers and only seems to work when the left flasher is in. I had a look.at the wiring diagram and I'm confused.

They show the connections as grey and green, the positive feeds to the turn signals from the flasher. When turning, one will be positive but the other will be earthed through the other turn signal. Seems odd to me. I guess it somehow worked with bulbs but the diodes prevent the system working with LEDs

I plan to connect the indicator lamp to switched flashing positive (orange) and earth (yellow and black). Why wasn't it wired this way from new? Seems far more logical. I'm sure there's a reason so I'd like to understand it.

Thanks

Went through that. Put a standard bulb in. LED's only work one way.
Steve

Like steve said, the problem is that a diode only flows one way.

Connecting to the orange could possibly work. It was not done this way originally because then the indicator would be on all the time. Whether it works will depend on the flasher's sensitivity. If the flasher is too sensitive, then the indicator will flash all the time. If the sensitivity is too low, then the LED turn signals might not be able to activate the flasher.

You can install a small bridge rectifier to make it work using the black and green wires slightly modified from how they are now. Then the indicator will only flash if the signals flash. Rectifiers are easily available and pretty easy to wire up, but you will need a place to hide it. The headlight buckets are already pretty packed.

There is a possibility that the dash lamp, once it's working properly can cross-feed power from left to right and right to left, so the opposite side will light up a tiny bit when it shouldn't.

I believe you need a diode kit like this..

www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/flasher...diode-kit/1190/2805/

They sell it for bikes with single turn signal indicator on dash, when switching to LED turn signals. The Y diodes connects the indicator to both sides, isolating each. The other indicator side would go to ground.

...the problem does not exist with bikes with two (right & left) indicators.

hugo wrote: I believe you need a diode kit like this..

www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/flasher...diode-kit/1190/2805/

They sell it for bikes with single turn signal indicator on dash, when switching to LED turn signals. The Y diodes connects the indicator to both sides, isolating each. The other indicator side would go to ground.

...the problem does not exist with bikes with two (right & left) indicators.

According to that link, he would only need one of those if he follows their instructions and adds a ground wire. He would have to re-configure the harness as they show on that page... converting one of the signal wires into a ground.

That would be a way of eliminating the possibility of cross-feeding power, but again there's some harness hacking involved.

One other option, which may take some searching, would be to find an LED bulb that already has the rectification done internally. I know they exist, but I don't have a link handy, and I don't know exactly what bulbs he has... screw in or bayonet... probably bayonet. The thing to check for is "DC/AC" use or "non-polar.".. something to that effect. It will not eliminate the cross-feed problem, though. It might be a small enough wattage that the opposite signals won't light up.

I just went with a standard bulb and had done with it. The LED's have a slight glow to them even when they're off IE brake warning light.
Steve

Hi.

Thanks for the advice. As said above using the orange wire and ground causes the flasher to be permanently active. The solution was to use a couple of 1N4001 diodes on the green and grey wires before joining them to the positive terminal of the flasher indicator led and the negative terminal goes to the back and yellow wire which is ground.

The diodes are tiny and take up no space on the head light. With my CF14 flasher the LEDs are all bright and clear and completely off between flashes. The indicator light works perfectly too. Note that this is a KZ200 and I don't think it has the bulb out warning.

Everything is working perfectly now. I've attached a photo of the wiring with diodes just before the plug on the harness which connects to the warning light pigtail. There's a photo after adding heat shrink to show how little space is required by the finished product

Nice job.
Yes, you essentially built the device from that link above and wired it according to the instructions in that link.