CaliforniaRSV Posted July 7, 2010 Share #1 Posted July 7, 2010 Does anyone know if there is supposed to be only 6 volts at the turn signals? I need 12 volts to power an LED light array. After installing them I found them to be too dim, so I put a volt meter on the signal lead and found 6 volts. Is this normal? If I jump to the battery I come up to full brightness. Any solutions? I thought about using relays but is that the best solution? If so what kind of relay should I use and how do I wire it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tx2sturgis Posted July 7, 2010 Share #2 Posted July 7, 2010 Those are 12 volt lamps...so if they look dim, something is wrong...OR...if they are normal brightness, then the way you are measuring is not correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpalshadow Posted July 7, 2010 Share #3 Posted July 7, 2010 Do you have them wired in series or parallel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliforniaRSV Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share #4 Posted July 7, 2010 The stock turn signals look normal brightness, but the LED's I hook up are half brightness. If I hook up the turn signal portion of of the LED array to the brake light wire (I measure 12 volts there), they light up to full brightness. I may not be measuring the voltage correctly, but the bottom line is there isn't enough voltage to bring the LED's up to normal brightness when connected to the turn signal wires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliforniaRSV Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share #5 Posted July 7, 2010 Do you have them wired in series or parallel? I have them wired in parallel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tx2sturgis Posted July 7, 2010 Share #6 Posted July 7, 2010 The stock turn signals look normal brightness, but the LED's I hook up are half brightness. If I hook up the turn signal portion of of the LED array to the brake light wire (I measure 12 volts there), they light up to full brightness. I may not be measuring the voltage correctly, but the bottom line is there isn't enough voltage to bring the LED's up to normal brightness when connected to the turn signal wires. The 6 or 12 v reading is in reference to a ground...make SURE you have a good ground. If your getting ground for the meter and the LEDs at the housing of the turn signals, try another spot. Those housings are NOT grounded. The socket base IS grounded...but I dont know where your getting ground, or exactly how familiar you are with electrical systems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliforniaRSV Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share #7 Posted July 7, 2010 I admit I'm not that great with wiring systems, but I do understand needing a good ground. I have connected the new LED light array to the wires behind the licence plate on the RSV. I connected the signal wires and the brake light wire to the wires that are feeding the stock signals and brake light, and the ground to the ground wire the stock lights are connected to. The brake portion of the array is perfect, its the signals that are half brightness. As I said, if I connect the signal wire the to brake wire feed I get full brightness, so I know its not a grounding problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tx2sturgis Posted July 7, 2010 Share #8 Posted July 7, 2010 I know the rear lamps are different in the base design, but I assume they are 12 volts...I could be wrong..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard765 Posted July 7, 2010 Share #9 Posted July 7, 2010 (edited) I had the same problem when I was adding LED signals as well. I couldn't get them to full bright by wiring directly to the harness. I troubleshot that for hours. What I wound up doing was running a power wire from the battery and using relays to turn on the signals. Now I have full bright and works fine. Added bonus I guess is that is isolates the extra lights from the harness. I also did my trailer hookups this way. This whole affair drove me nuts. I wound up chasing every plug I could find on the bike and cleaning the joints then plastering with dilectric grease. None of this solved the problem until I went direct to the battery. Wayne Edited July 7, 2010 by Wizard765 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaliforniaRSV Posted July 7, 2010 Author Share #10 Posted July 7, 2010 Wayne, This is just what I wanted to hear, someone who had been through this. You've confirmed my gut that what I need is relays. I don't have any experience with relays, can you help me? What did you use and how did you wire them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard765 Posted July 7, 2010 Share #11 Posted July 7, 2010 Relays are easy.. There are usually 5 spade connectors on a relay. One goes to power. One goes to ground. One goes to signal in (activates the relay) and 2 go to Power out to your light(s). I ran a (1)fused power wire to the back of the bike from the battery. Then I powered all my LEDs from that. I also ran a ground wire. Then I tapped into the existing harness for signals (I also did brakes and running lights) to activate the relays. You can purchase the relays at pretty much any auto supply stores. Here I got mine at Canadian Tire which would be much like your Auto Zone... If you have any more questions PM me with your phone number and I'll call you (long distance for me is free)... Wayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spear Posted July 7, 2010 Share #12 Posted July 7, 2010 I assume you have both left and right blinkers? Your bike is 12 volts? Well there ya go. 6 volts for the left and 6 volts for the right! (Sorry - my bad.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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