wiring of turn signals, need help

[garyheskett All 49 x 3 st.louis]

OK, another thing in life I'm not is an electrician.  Bought some turn signals for the rear at Cycle Gear.  They have one black wire and one black/white stripe wire.  The original wires are one orange and one light blue, two green wires, and one light brown and one green.  And, I can't see sheit anymore. It appears that the one orange and one light blue go to one side, and the light brown and green go to the other side. The last two green wires plug into one connection.  I've tried hooking up the new lights several ways, and the front signal blinks faster than normal, and nothing on the rear. This has got to be simple, but I'm not getting anywhere. The turn signals are real small, but do not say they are LED, so I assume they are not.  And there were no instructions in the package.  Thanks for any input/help.

[Joe Hummer]

Hey Gary,

Here are some schematics to help you figure out the wiring. 

http://www.rattlebars.com/valkfaq/schematics/

Sheet S2 has the turn signals. 

If your rear signals were not flashing with the fronts, then I would say they were not connected properly.  Are the signals you bought dual element bulbs?  If so, they probably want you to run ground through the mounting and Honda does not work that way, so you might have to run a separate ground wire into the light and connect it in the hosing.  You would have to hook one of the wires on the new light to the running lights circuit (brown wire in the tail light) and the other wire to the orange or light blue wire. You will have to test one of the lights and see which wire on the light makes the light burn burns brighter.  This one would be your turn signal wire. 

Hope this helps.  If you have more questions, feel free to email me at JoeValkIS@Spirit-1100.com. 

Joe

[shortleg]

  The green is the ground
   The orange and the blue are the left
and right turn signal leads, the brown is the running light.
        Shortleg[Dave]

[RonW]

Bought some turn signals for the rear at Cycle Gear. The turn signals are real small, but do not say they are LED, so I assume they are not.

To begin with, do you have a pic or the webpage of the 'some' turn signal. This would narrow things down a bit. If you remove the lens you'll be able to verify whether it's LED. Led's produce it's own unique set of glitches. The color codes that Honda uses for the turn signal wiring (left/right) are mostly the same for all models. For example, As Dave already noted, Solid-Orange is for left-side blinkers (fronts and rears). Green is ground. Brown is for the tail light and license plate light (both constant ON). Brown has nothing to do whatsoever with the rear signals even though it may be bunched nearby or adjacent to the same wires that go to the rear signals.

The original wires are one orange and one light blue, two green wires, and one light brown and one green.

that should be a Green with a Yellow-stripe. It's for the rear brake light.

[BF]

If you don't already have a Clymer's manual for the Valk, get one.  It's got the best, full colored wiring schematic I've seen. 

The one in the Honda manual is just black and white and they tell you the colors on their diagram.  The Clymer's schematic seems to be more visual and easier to follow with it being colored.....at least for me it is. 

[garyheskett All 49 x 3 st.louis]

I've got the Clymer manual.  I connected the orange wire at first to the (new) turn signal black/white wire, and the blue wire to the (new) turn signal black/white wire and the two (new)solid black wires to the green wires. Didn't work, so I reversed it, still didn't work. The front blinkers will blink real fast but no blink on the new ones.  I'll look again tomorrow in the daylight. And unfortunately, I can't work the ole computer very good, so pics are beyond me.

[BF]

Sounds like they're led's.  Can you take the lens cover off and see what's in there.......maybe even change out the bulb that came with them with a normal bulb from your old rear turns?  Try that....if they work with regular bulbs in them, it's because they're led.  

If they're led's, the simplest thing to do is install an led turn signal relay.  You can get one from Big Bike Parts.....it's plug and play.....in other words, just take out your old turn signal relay and plug the led relay in.  It'll make the turns blink normal and not hyper blink and the rears oughta work then.  

http://www.bigbikeparts.com/Inventory/Navision/13-306?catalogNo=1

[RonW]

And unfortunately, I can't work the ole computer very good, so pics are beyond me.

If the above was in response to my earlier post .... no need for pics as far as the wiring is concerned since rear signals only have 2 wires and polarity doesn't usually matter. It's just that occasionally other people have bought the very same item and know it's glitches. Anyways, back to regular programming ....

[garyheskett All 49 x 3 st.louis]

OK, give me the dumbsh-t award.  I had cut the fender a little shorter when I painted the bike a few years ago. Since then, the fender started cracking vertically along the turn signal assembly.
So....I decided to cut the fender just below the brake light and put some small new turn signals on. When I took off the turn signal assembly, I "stuffed" the wires up in the fender so they would be out of the way and cut the fender off.  Put the new turn signals on and no blink.  Today I went out and tried numerous ways, getting frustrated, and finally just hooked up the old ones.  No blink. Hmmm, I looked up under the fender and the wires I "stuffed" up there didn't stay stuffed and I cut them when I cut off the fender. A little time stripping wires, soldering, and everything works as it should.  I thought I quit doing stupid things the older I got, but here is the proof I can still do stupid!!

[RonW]

Alrighty, then. (And you're not entitled to more than the 20 lashes that you just gave your ownself.)