LED blinkers

[Tippie]

Getting my refurbed road SF2 happening in time to get some riding in before starting the pre-paid journey to Breganze, ferry to Keil and train Hamburg to Munchen (any grammar pedants here?). The little flyweight nifty LED blinkers that worked out of the box with their own relay, suddenly didn't and the horn tried to sound when I used the flasher switch. So I dismantled the LH switch and moved the insulation shrunk horn wire away from where it was contacting the flasher bit, a real challenge for my old fat fingers getting it back together, and the flashers try to flash but just glow very dim. Oh fark, must have wrecked the LED relay, but will a new one fix it? So I check this that and the other in the wiring and find that if I just use my test lamp screwdriver thingo at the relay with the output to the LH switch disconnected, it flashes from the relay, so the relay is in fact ok. Hmmm. So I check what is happening at the contact in the headlight shell to the front blinkers, and if I test for power at the + wire to the blinker, they bloody flash as good as new while I have the test lamp connected between the + and earth. OK so I surmise it needs a resister between the + side and earth for some reason now, which it hadn't needed before the LH switch issue. I test with a 10ohm one, they flash but it gets hot to the touch, try 100k one and they flash fine but it gets warm, so a 200k one and they flash fine and no heat detectable after a minute of flashing.
Any electro geniuses here to warn me off just wiring it in?

 

[piranha-bro2]

Fookin hell! i fitted my LED Motogadgets and std LED bayonets up front and a Tridon relay and it just worked straight off. Relay decided it din't work any longer when i put the beast back together after my enforced layoff. A cheap replacement from Jaycar and all is good again.

Something to do with direction of current maybe? Needs diodes? I run separate L and R idiot lights. Can they be causing probs for you? Def no short in the LH switch still? Try the circuit using incandescents (which I guess is what your test light does though).

 

[Vince]

I have had issues with earths on Plastic blinkers and for some odd reason old-style flasher cans work and electronic ones didnt. I also had a couple of LED tail lights fail, 2 staggered pin-type car replacement LEDs that cost enough to be good quality. But since using the ones sold by this place the taillights have been great, very bright and reliable. I think maybe they have built-in relays but that's well beyond my pay grade

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[Andy]

issues with earths

I'd agree with Vince, try running a wire from the lamp negative to see if that helps, but don't tell Jon you said "earth"
And definitely check your lamp (and wiring) polarity, adding resistors shouldn't help if it's meant to work without them

 

[Dellortoman]

Unlikely to be a polarity issue. LEDs are indeed polarity sensitive, but if the polarity was arse about they wouldn't work at all, not even dimly.
I'm guessing something has gone tits-up in your flasher relay to make it load-dependent. It seems an odd failure mode to me, but I'm a dunce when it comes to electronic devices. All I know is that they can do weird things when they go wrong. The failure could have something to do with the horn cross-connection, but also just as likely to have nothing to do with it at all. Anyway, try a new electronic flasher relay.