FZRSupport: the FZROnline Archive

First off, I don't know how these worked before I got a hold of it, since all of the lighting was missing.

anyway, on my 97 fzr600, I installed an integrated LED tail light and front and rear led marker/turn signal lamps.

First of the weird:

The turn signal lights are 3-wire lights, so they are designed to run as marker lights on one wire and turn signals on the other, with a common ground. They work fine when tested on a battery , but when hooked up to the bike the lights won't work at all,not even the tail light. I have found out if I wire them differently to the bike, I can get them to work but the marker lamp will be full bright and will flash full bright with the turn signal on. No matter what I do, I cannot get the "dim" side of the lights to work separately from the turn signals. I have installed the resistors that came with the tail light across the turn signal circuit, that helped out with the tail lamp not working when the turn signal lights are wired correctly, but the turn signals and markers still won't work wired this way. For now I decided to let the marker lights be full bright and flash with the signals on.

The second weird problem:
Fast signal flashing....I know, replacing filament bulbs with LED's will do that. But even with resistors across the signal circuits, they flash fast. I've even gone to the point of temporarily wiring in resistors and extra filament bulbs just to see what it will take to slow them down. It took a headlamp bulb in the circuit to finally slow them down...but that sucked so much juice, the LED no longer lit up 100% and you could see the the bikes headlamp flicker at the same pulse rate as the signals.....

something crazy going on here. All ground test good with my multimeter as well as the power wires.....it's almost as if something is bleeding across circuits or feeding back through.

at this point I am ready to let the biotch flash as fast as it wants to as long as it works,LOL

hawcer wrote:I have installed the resistors that came with the tail light across the turn signal circuit, that helped out with the tail lamp not working when the turn signal lights are wired correctly, but the turn signals and markers still won't work wired this way.
...
But even with resistors across the signal circuits, they flash fast.

What do you mean by "across"? Sounds like you've made a mess there and connected the resistor in parallel with the LEDs instead of in series.

I would suggest either posting a drawing/schematic of what you connected where or having someone experienced review what you've done.

The resistors are supposed to be wired in parallel, not in series. Wiring them in parallel, imitates the load of a filament bulb across the circuit, but doesn't reduce the voltage. Wiring the resistors in series will reduce the voltage to the lights,making them dim or some of the led's won't light at all.

To create more load = wire in parallel

To reduce voltage= wire in series

That goes for just about any DC circuit, regardless of it's components.

I think 25 years as an auto tech is experience enough to know how a simple circuit works.

Thanks anyway...

Sorry, I completely misread your post and thought you were using plain LEDs, not a proper light cluster.

But in that case you likely just have a resistor with an incorrect resistance. By calculations a proper resistance per "one bulb + resistor" assembly would be around 6.86 ohms, "2 bulbs + resistor" (front+rear) would be around 3.43 ohms. Actual limits depend on relay.

Instead of messing about with resistors I'd buy a proper LED relay. Saves the battery a bit and doesn't heat up.

My thoughts exactly,LOL.....I have a 4 pin LED relay on the way to wire in in place of the factory flasher module.

It shouldn't be too hard to wire up. Four wires: Ignition +, Ground, signal, output. Really not too much different than the factory flasher except it doesn't have the speed cancel circuit.(which I'm not using anyway)

Thanks again

Looking over the wiring schematic for the FZR600 turn signal circuits and looks as though I can get away with a 3 wire LED flasher. Even though the 4 wire one I have will also work, I just won't have to use one terminal.

What I don't get is what the Yellow with red tracer wire from the OEM flasher that goes to the turn signal switch does? It looks as if it is switched to ground. if that wire isn't needed to operate the new flasher, it should work out just fine.

That's the trigger wire that tells the self-cancelling circuit to start the timer.

DonTZ125 wrote:That's the trigger wire that tells the self-cancelling circuit to start the timer.

So that means.... no longer needed!

Thanks

I will be using a Tridon EP29 LED flasher...It's a 4 pin,so the middle pin out of the row of three won't be used. I've bench tested it and it should work out great.

Got it working?

Offtopic: What models/years have the self-canceling circuit?

Kevadlilleke wrote:Got it working?

Offtopic: What models/years have the self-canceling circuit?

My 97 has/had the self canceling circuit...

I have the turn signals working great at the moment without the marker side of the lights hooked up. To get the marker lamps to work along with the turn signals I'll have to install a diode in each turn signal lead to keep the the marker light circuit from back feeding into the turn signal circuit. It is a simple operation, I just haven't got around to finding the diodes I need yet.

I have components en route for a very simple plug-in dash-flash healer. Pricing to be confirmed, available in 2-3 weeks.

Oh - and all FZRs had the self-cancelling circuit.