Need Help Front indicators flashing; rear indicators solid

[Just_Willliam]

Hi guys, I’m new to this forum and I got this 2006 FZ6 sometime June 2019. Whoever had it before me converted the FZ6 to FZ6N, and also needless to say did not clean or take care of the electrical components while in his care.

The flash relay was not In the rear compartment to the left of the seat where everyone said it was supposed to be originally. I had to go searching for it and ended up finding it shoved between the front of the battery box and the frame. I snipped the two wires that were connected to the relay and ran wires taped together to the rear of the motorcycle, and fixed the relay where it was supposed to be originally (I did make sure that the right wires went to the right parts of the connector).

Now I’m having a problem where the front indicators are still a little fast, but my rear indicators (which are integrated), are solid yellow with a very faint blink. The indicator lights on the dashboard are staying solid.

Any ideas what could be the culprit? Thank you for the answers in advance!!

 

[ShoopCE]

Wow,,,, Just Wow. This isn't going to be easy. What a mess.

There are several guys on here who have a better grasp of electrical issues, but they seem to be keeping their social distance.

Some basic info that would help:

What was it doing or not doing before you made the change?

Are the signal bulbs LED or incandescent, or mixed?

Does the relay appear to be original or does it look like a replacement? Is there a name or ID?


Some basic insight, but probably not the whole answer to your problem.

The original signals and flasher relay are based on incandescent bulbs. The timing for this type flasher relay is set based on the amount of current that flows through the bulb.

LED bulbs draw much less current than the original LED bulbs.

If you switch one pair (front or back) or both pairs to LED while using the original relay, it will flash at about double frequency, for one set. I'm not sure how fast they'll go if you switch both.

The simple solution is to put resistors across the LED bulbs so that they draw roughly the same current as the original incandescents. The better fix is to change out the relay to use one designed for LEDs.

So, your problem could be caused by any mix/match of incorrectly connected bulbs, resistors, or power leads to the relay.

If the relay was replaced, a relay for LEDs should be solid state and they tend to work or fail completely.

It is possible that the original reay was used with resistors, and that you now have the resistors in series with LEDs, Or that you have a partial short from the power lead to the relay into one of the leads to the signal bulbs, which might explain things for either type of relay,

Please reply back with more details.

 

[Just_Willliam]

Thank you so much for the reply! Before I moved the flasher relay to the back of the bike everything was working normally except I had a hyper flash on all lights.

All signal bulbs are LED, and the flash relay appears to be the original stock

when I said I had to move the relay to the back of the bike are used 18 gauge wire i had in my shop instead of the original 22.5, that’s about two 2.5 feet of wire I’m wondering if that would cause a current difference?

Are there any specific pictures you would like me to take to get you a better idea?
Thanks!

 

[ShoopCE]

OK That should be enough info to get started. I don't think any photos would be helpful.

I used to sort of understand circuit design, but that was years ago. So I have some insight for you and some suggestions.

Suggestions first:

1. Buy a relay that is intended for use with LED indicators.
2. Buy a pair of "LED Load" resistors that you will wire across the signal and ground wires to each side of the signal system.

With the resistors approach, this causes the LED circuits to draw an amount of current that is close to the amount that would be drawn by two incandescent bulbs (front and rear). So the flasher will cycle at the intended 60 hz rate.

With the different relay, the rates are not influenced by the current draw. Some units have adjustable flash rates. This device will waste less current. But this won't matter much unless you're trying to run electrically heated gear or your stator is getting weak.

Explanation - as well as I can remember it.

A conventional flasher relay is set up for a certain current load, and while both incandescent bulbs, front and rear, are working, the current will heat a little bi-metal strip inside the relay and it will toggle back and forth at a set rate to alternately send current to the bulb versus to the heating of the strip. The rate is about 60 cycles per second CPS or Hertz. When one of the bulbs burns out, the current that would go to that one bulb ends up heating the strip faster and so the relay cycles faster. This was a "design feature" of the old style turn signal systems because when the rate doubled, then you know that one of the bulbs on that side of the vehicle has burned out.

This is where my memory of the theory gets sketchy. Basically, the cycle rate of the flasher relay is dependent on the amount of current available and on the swing rate of the bi-metal strip, and you can get to a very high rate where the changes in current flow depend more on a concept called impedance rather than just on the resistance of the wires and connections.

So, my guess is that when you relocated the relay and used larger diameter wires, the impedance dropped (even though the wires were longer) which let the relay go to higher frequencies, which caused the LEDs to look like they are on almost all of the time. They're actually flashing very very fast.

So, regardless of whether I remember the concept of impedance correctly, the basic problem is that you need a relay that is designed to work with LED bulbs, or you need resistors in the circuit so the LED bulbs look like they are incandescent bulbs.

Next week's lesson will be on quantum theory of electrons moving through a semiconductor junction. Kidding...

When I bought my bike, third owner, I found that one of the prior owners had replaced the rear fender and with it, the rear signals. The replacement signals were LED (very very dim) and consequently the signals flashed at double the normal rate. I REALLY wanted brighter rear signals and was reluctant to look for brighter LEDs and then still have to wrestle with the flash rate issue. So I ended up buying a fender eliminator from R&G that let me mount the signal stalks from the original incandescent bulbs from a salvaged fender set. They don't look modern, but they're nice and bright.

Where are you in OH? I ride with some guys from CBus and Cleveland that come down to the twisty stuff in Southeast OH.

Chris

 

[Motogiro]

This info may help and is worth confirming color codes.

Rear Turn Signals Not Working

My rear turn signals on my FZ6 stopped working. I am not sure what happened. The front turn signals work and the rear running/brake lights work. The rear turn signals were replaced which some I purchased off ebay a while back. They are not LED but when I installed them I did noticed the turn...

www.600riders.com

These colors apply to all FZ6 S1 and S2 models.

Left front turn signal with running light. That's two filament per bulb in the front.
Chocolate colored wire= turn signal filament.
Blue with a red tracer colored wire= running light filament.
Black wire= Ground or negative.

Right front turn signal with running light.
Dark green colored wire= turn signal filament.
Blue colored wire= running light filament.
Black wire= Ground or negative.

Left rear turn signal.
Chocolate colored wire= turn signal filament.
Black wire= Ground or negative.

Right rear turn signal.
Dark green colored wire= turn signal filament.
Black wire= Ground or negative.

Here's a link to an electronic flasher relay that many use and at a great price.
Here's the link... https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...ic-led-flasher-relays-for-motorcycle/787/842/
LF1-S-FLAT Universal Motorcycle Electronic Flasher $8.95!