Triumphrat

FattRat · 12-23-2006, 11:49 AM

Okay, so I like my factory Deco bullets-for-lights, but I'm giving thought to shopping 'round.

I really Really REALLY want some running lamps behind me, up front would be cool too. I want my rear signals (with some Red lens) to stay on full time. Would it be a simple matter of wiring in some front turn signals/running lamps from off another bike? You know, the kind that uses those bulbs with two contacts.....

Yeah sure, I already have a Signal Minder that can be wired to make running lamps of your signals, but that electrical stuff really intimidates me..... seems folks are frequently posting of their difficulties getting it right.

I think most (if not all) of the after-market indicators are wired to be used as turn signals alone. I might look hard at some Harley signals for the front; the old signals had readily available Red lens' you could replace the Ambers with.

Any ideas, suggestions?
:???:

Brooksie · 12-23-2006, 01:34 PM

I'm with you FR. I have a box as well but I didn't want it for signals. Too much distraction for me. I have not put it on yet as it looks to be some splicing. Anybody have details on how to put one on a Triumph?

Programr · 12-23-2006, 03:06 PM

hey there, i've wired up my signal minder to work and I also had reservations going into it, but it can be done

.

regarding red lenses, i was not able to find OEM replacement red lenses, but this fix worked great: http://www.triumphrat.net/modules.ph...65569&forum=51

regarding wiring the signalminder, if you don't have a multimeter, you should get one. I don't remember what color wires went to which left/right/break signal, but if you have a volt meter of some type you'll be able to find which one it which. the junction is under the seat and you'll be able to stick the multimeter probe into the base of each of the wires to see which does what. that's really the hardest part of the initial installation. i used the splice clips that came with the SM and it works ok. i did have a problem with losing contact when the wires got jostled after putting the seat back on. so if i have the problem again, i'll probably go in and replace the wire splicers with a real splice/solder job. be sure to electrical tape every thing up real well after you're done to keep shorts from happening and from water from getting in there.

the first difficult part of this project was disabling the switch lock on the indicator thumb switch. the switch is full of little bits and springs that fall out once you figure out how to get it out of the switch housing and then taken apart. i figured out how to put it back together w/o locking, but it took a good long while to get there. if you decide to do this part of the project, be sure to have a towel down on the ground to keep any little springs or brass connectors from bouncing away, and be mindful that things are just itching to jump out of the housing. i'd say this was the hardest part of the project as i was stressed the whole time that i was going to have to order a new switch after tearing mine to hell. but, for what it's worth, i did it, so you can too!

another problem i had was cross talk via the dash indicator bulb. the way it is wired from the factory has hot wires going into each side of the indicator bulb. when your right signal is on, it sends power to the bulb and grounds through the left side of the cicuit. but w/ the signal minder and the running lights on, there is a little power to the bulb from both sides at all times. when i'd hit the left turn signal w/ the bike running (only), it would light the left signal once then trigger the right signal instead of the left. if I unplugged the running lights, the problem went away. but i didn't spend all the money and time on the SM to not have running lights so i wrote the company. they sent me these two links:
http://tech.vtxoa.com/index.php?acti...minder%20diode
http://bareasschoppers.com/diode/

they have instructions on how to eliminate the cross talk problem. the bike they have detailed instructions for is not a Triumph, but the logic is the same. you need to have both of the hot wires going into one side of the bulb, and the other side goes to ground. Each of the hot wires needs to have a diode added to it. The diode acts as a one way valve for electricity and prevents one side of the circuit from sending a charge to the other side. Thus, you avoid sending the SM confusing signals. I was thinking about installing a diode on my girlfriend, but she just won't sit still. :wink:

I didn't want to take the time to find a ground wire in all the mess of wires coming out of the back of the headlight, so i just loosened up the handle bar holder hex bolts (what ever that piece is called) and ran a ground from the bulb in there, tighened it back up with the ground inside. it makes contact with the frame there and has worked fine.

here is a diagram from the diode fix. you'll need to solder and have some heat shring tubing or electrical tape to keep bits that aren't supposed to touch from touching.
http://bareasschoppers.com/diode/diodeschematic.jpg

All and all, taking apart the signal switch was the hardest part of the project. But it all works great now. I run the running lights at the bright setting, ambers in front, candy red in back. I wish now that i would have taken pics during the project as i think it would help with this explaination. but at the time, i kept thinking i was going to have to take it into the shop to have someone undo all the damage i did. who'da thunk that it would all work at the end of the day? :-D

good luck!

FattRat · 12-23-2006, 03:25 PM

THANKS!

Looks like a quick & easy project
FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY AND POSSIBLY FEB' ! ! !

No really, I appreciate you're having gone to the trouble of 'splaining things, I even printed it out. But now I'm afraid to so much as go NEAR my bike.... and I was gonna take it for a spin in a minute.....

Right now I'm VERY pleased with just having the SignalMinder plugged in and cancelling my signal for me. I make it a habit of punching the signal off while I'm riding so that it's cleared next time I wanna use it.... just a new habit. At least now a car will likely NOT pull a turn in front of me thinking my intention is to turn while the ole signal is just-a-blink'n away....

Anyways.... looking for some really effective (read BRIGHT) turn signals to mount on my mini-fender. Lotsa stuff out there, but I fear ending up with something virtually useless; I really want to announce my intentions to cagers, BUT assume that they either didn't see it or could care less.

Programr · 12-23-2006, 03:43 PM

yeah, sorry, i did make it sound kinda awful.

i just didn't want to pull any punches. all in all it was about 3-4hrs work + the time to put a few coats of paint on the lenses. so it isn't too bad, and like i said, the wiring was the easy part. it was the switch that was kinda tricky. i think if you go into it w/ a heads up about the little pieces inside, it would go allright.

i have a feeling that installing and wiring in more lights will be just about as big of a pain in the ass, plus, you've already spent the $100 on the SM, and you'd be using the lights you already have.

if you decide to give it a go and have questions, i'll check back on this post and try to help out. i'd send pics of what i've done, but i've got everything taped up, so it wouldn't be much of a help. if i pull apart my work for some reason, i'll be sure to take pics and post them.

ps - if you decide to install the running lights option, i'd say to go ahead and add the break light option as well. it is super handy for city driving and installs in the same junction of wires as the left and right signals, so you might as well while you're in there.

Programr · 01-04-2007, 07:26 PM

An update.

I removed the clips that came for attaching the SM to the signals/running lights and break light and soldered them instead. The connection wasn't very good and would lead to the lights cutting out. Also, I think every now and again it was causing the whole bike to short to ground causing the timing to stutter. I highly recommend soldering the connections rather than using the splice clips that come with the unit. Save yourself the trouble of having to go back in there and also avoid the safety issue of possibly not having your signals work.

I shaved off a patch of insulation off of the Triumph wires w/o unplugging them, then soldered the SM wires to the exposed patches. There wasn't enough space there to use shrink tubing, so i just electrical taped up each wire individually to insulate them, then bound them up tight all together with tape to minimize vibration and to protect from water/dirt.

While in there I made note of the applicable wire colors/connections. The SM has three coming out: red, white, black.

Red to green w/ purple stripe.
White to green w/ white stripe.
Black to green w/ red stripe.

Again, this is on an 02 bonnie and i have no idea if the wire colors have changed on other models (or even other bikes for that matter). I also didn't note which signal the white and black correspond to this time, as I'd figured that out w/ my multimeter on my first install. But if our wirings are all the same, it shouldn't matter.

If someone has different colored wires or wire combinations, please post so others will know of inconsistencies.

Vox66 · 01-04-2007, 09:27 PM

Programr - How do those springs fit into the signal switch? I took mine apart but I couldn't figure it out. Wiring up the Signalminder with the brake and running light option was pretty easy and I installed Hyper-lites as well. If you have any suggestions on installing those springs it would be much appreciated. I guess I'll have a new project to work on when my bike comes back from the dealership....they are replacing my leaking petcock...hey it happens! If the bike wasn't under warranty I'd probably install a Pingel.

:wow:
MY THRUXTON

Programr · 01-06-2007, 10:49 PM

you don't need to install the springs that came with the signal minder. it already has springs that push it back to the center position when you hit the unlock button. so, what you need to do is to disable the locking mechanism inside the switch so that the switch will slide back to the center position without using the button.

i don't know how deep you went into the signal switch, but you you have to take the whole thing apart. find every screw and remove it. inside the switch are four tiny U shapped brass pieces that act as both spacers as well as contacts for the switch circuit (i think). Also inside is a longer U shapped steel piece. all of these pieces will come tumbling out once you get the switch pulled apart, and they'll need to go back in their original places when you put it back together. this was a challenge as you have to balance them in their places while carefully putting the two switch halves back together.

once you've opened the switch into the two halves and kept track of the small bits, you'll see that the locking mechanism opperates via two tiny springs that push the button lock up from underneath. they are horizontally oriented and push on the plastic rocker arms that return the button lock to its UP position. I used a tiny jewlers screwdriver and pulled those springs out. I kinda buggered one of them when i pulled it out, so if i ever decide to take out the SM, i'll be buying a new switch

. So is life

. If you think you'll want to someday reverse this job, you'll want to be very carefull not to tweak those springs on their way out. and god help you put them back in :-D .

Then I carefully put everything back together. To be honest with you, i didn't think it was going to work, so I only put in two of the four brass U spacer/connectors thnking i'd be taking it apart again anyway. I thought that the button would still lock sometimes as it seemed like the locking mechanism would jostle into place and lock the switch. But i have had 0 problems since putting it back together. So, if you can't get all four spacers back in, be sure that the two that go in are the ones that make contact with the brass track inside the switch. I did get the steel U bar back in as well.

getting the switch itself out of the piece that holds the bright/dim, horn, and signal switch was tedious. i found that they can only come out in a certain order, and they can only go back in the same way. all of the wires are in the way of the screws that take it all apart, but everything gave enough to get a screwdriver in there. a little patience goes a long way on this part of the project. nimble small fingers wouldn't hurt either, but i'm fresh out of those.

like i said above, this was probably the hardest part of the process, but really i think it was mostly the stress of not knowing if it was going to work. it does, and now that i've soldered the main connections, my running lights are bright and worry free. i've even got emergency flashers and parade lights. i'm just dying to find a procession to lead or tail (preferably not a funeral

).

bonniesaltrat · 01-08-2007, 01:12 PM

Programr,

Thanks a bunch for these posts. The signalminder is among my recent purchases and your time and effort in explaining the process should save me a lot of time.

:

HiVel · 01-09-2007, 04:13 PM

I pass on this mod!!!