help! turns flash as flasher.. why??

[blackvalkyrie]

I have had led lights on my 97 Standard for almost 5 years with no problems. i took my bike to a shop to replace front and rear tires and fork seals. A few days later I noticed my turns all work in unison as flashers.. I don't know for sure if they did or did not do so before the shop.  any ideas? I'm leaving on a road trip in 4 days and i sure would like to have normal turns... any ideas.. btw, i haveCustom Dynamic Plasma rods in the rear of the bike that function as turns, brake and running light.. Appreciate any help possible

[gordonv]

I forget the details, but if all turn signals are LED you  need a resistor added to balance the power to the flasher. I suspect that this additional "box" is not functioning and your flasher is now charging faster, as LED need less power, there is more for the charging of the flasher relay.

[RonW]

For a quick fix, remove the bulb in the turnsignal indicator on the dashboard.

[gordonv]

For a quick fix, remove the bulb in the turnsignal indicator on the dashboard.

A fix, or just can't see what it is doing?

[blackvalkyrie]

if the relay is bad the turn  signal  will flash rapidly when you turn on one side or the other..not all four together. i don't have flashers on my bike it's that the turns are ACTING as flasher now

[MarkT]

This is caused by the OEM turn signal circuit design together with you installing LED front turn lights.  Honda used the opposite light from the one activated as the ground for the flash indicator.  Doesn't matter with incandescent bulbs.  But LED bulbs will light up with only the current through the turn indicator.  You need to isolate the grounds from the turn indicator instead of running them through the turn lights. There is a kit to do this, and this issue and soln has been posted here many times.  Search is your friend.  Resisters have nothing to do with it.  I addressed this on my bikies by installing separate red LED's with their own grounds for the left and right sides, in the indicator bezel.  This gave me a really bright red flash indicator - unignorable - and eliminated the 4-way problem.  Or you could buy the kit, or wire one up yourself if you have electrical skill.  Use the search function - I could do it for you but my computer is running slow and I don't want to wait for it when you can do it too.

[Jims99]

As Ron said. If not an interstate the indicator needs a diode added. If that was done before, it may have gone bad. Indicator back feeds to both lights and with LEDs (light emitting diode) it will cause all lights to flash. But pulling the indicator bulb will fix.
Never mind, mark beat me to it with much more detail.

[gordonv]

But pulling the indicator bulb will fix.

So this answered my question, pulling the indicator does fix this issue. As MarkT stated, it's feed back through the other turn signal circuit. So removing the indicator separates the 2 circuits from each other.

A quick test. If it works, and your signals function as normal, then you know what you have to do to fix them.

Would it be easier/faster to add diodes on the indicator bulb then?

[blackvalkyrie]

thanks to all for the help.. I will investigate!

[MarkT]

But pulling the indicator bulb will fix.

So this answered my question, pulling the indicator does fix this issue. As MarkT stated, it's feed back through the other turn signal circuit. So removing the indicator separates the 2 circuits from each other.

A quick test. If it works, and your signals function as normal, then you know what you have to do to fix them.

Would it be easier/faster to add diodes on the indicator bulb then?

As I said, I replaced the indicator bulb with 2 LED's which ARE diodes, to separate the grounds and provide the signal.  MUCH brighter than the bulb and red, can't ignore it.