Not a car Q. but I know there are a lot of clever people on here so........
I replaced all my warning lights on the dash on my '98 Africa Twin with LED's today.
Anyway. They all work, very well too, excpet that the indicator flasher relay seems to swap the current flow direction to the dashboard bulb depending on what way you indicate!!!
So with a normal bulb, no problem, but with the LED it only blinks when you indicate left (Or right depending what way round!)
Yes I found this out once the screen, dash and upper cowling were back together.
I guess a 12v flasher relay is a pretty generic item apart from the shape so anyone know where you can get one that just flashes the dashboard light without messing about with current flow?! Also there were a couple of wires cut on it but all the bulbs work and always have done so....
I assume the fast-paced world of blinky wee lights has moved on in this area of course. ;o)
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i reckon the flasher needs a load like a resister or something
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The indicator bulbs are still the filament type BB
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yes i gathered but the led doesnt give a load so you have 21 watt x2 =42 watts total
what was the rating of the dash bulb as it might be critical
ie stick another 5 watt bulb in the circuit and see if she works then
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Oh only something like 1.5w - it's a 286/T5.
If I literally turn the LED 180 degrees in its socket, it will work when indicating right but not left!
Some sort of dual polarity LED (Or two stuck together if it would fit!) would be perfect but Google did not return any meaningful results.
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Get bi-colour leds' comes with a positve for each colour.
Red for Port (left) green for starboard (right)!
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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:^D Excellent, do you know of any places that do them in the 286/T5 size?
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the anode? is still in the middle though so wont work
i made one of these up a few years ago before the likes of maplins made them popular and cheap,think my two way flasher cost me the best part of £20
ask the knowledgeable one behind the spares desk at maplins he might be able to suggest a doofer that can change the polarity prior to the led
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Can you put 2 LEDs in? One wired one way, and one t'other? i.e., make use of the diode nature of the LEDs. There would be no problem then with a common anode, and you could have 2 different colours.
Number_Cruncher
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I was thinking this. The only problem is the space available is very small - in theory that idea is perfect though!
It would have to be 2 the same colour as there is a green filter over the space in the dash (It's just the one light for both directions).
When you think about it's suprising these aren't made... in 'normal' use they'd as easy to use as a bulb, and when it goes, turn it around and it's good for another 50,000 hours!
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I should add that if anyone knows of a relay that doesn't muck about with current flow just to make a warning light blink it'd be handy if they could post it up. I don't mind a bit of DIY!
Not that it's bugging me being able to change all of them to the new brighter reliable type but one... ;o)
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One LED with a carefully positioned diode might work. I haven't thought this through carefully 'cos I'm drunk, but a quick rumble around the ol' grey matter hasn't come up with any reasons why not.
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It's a common problem this one - happened to me years ago replacing dash lights with LEDs. I ended up with an Orange/Green LED this was a simple two pin one and worked quite well - it reminds you where you thought you were going ;)
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I think what you need is a (4 diode) bridge rectifier before your led. The led is then fixed across the pos. and neg. output terminals and the input will be to the ~ and ~ terminals. Whichever polarity is fed in, it only comes out in one direction. The specification would be something like '100 VRRM and 1A I ave'. Look on RS components at 296-5369, Maplin do something similar I expect.
Unfortunately you'll have to take it all apart to fit it....
Good luck!
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I should have thought of this earlier. Where did you buy the replacement led bulbs? They will be suitable for 12V dc, what you need is a 12V ac led bulb if they exist, they will have the bridge rectifier built in. (RS have a 24V version 382-4764 but it would be a bit dim at 12V)
HTH
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Good idea Percy! They were just an eBay jobby, nothing fancy. They've got a wedge connector at the bottom to allow them to be normal replacements for all the other bulbs (Oil, side stand, neutral, backlighting, etc)
I'll see what I can find!
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percy - I have looked on RS and found a hopeful looking AC/DC LED. (Stock number 382-3569)
These two lines of the description have confused me though, can you help?
- Anode identified by + sign side contact
- Reverse polarity protection diode
From that I gather it will need to be installed the right way round but will work when indicating in either direction...?
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No good I'm afraid - It only has a 1/2 wave rectifier - it would work with an AC signal of frequency above, say, 30Hz - it would turn off during the negative half cycles so quickly that you wouldn't notice, but with -12v dc, it would just switch off. As per Percy's post above, you need full wave rectification.
Number_Cruncher
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Thanks NC gives me something to look out for!
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Just an update - these little things seem to do the trick. (W01 BRIDGE RECTIFIER, 1.5A 100V)
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1801...0
Cheers all!
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Not sure I'm going to get a reply after all this time, but how was this sorted mss1tw?
I've got the same problem, also found the bridge rectifier on Ebay but no idea what to do with them???
Please help someone!!!!
Thanks
Jason
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