Triumph Rat Motorcycle Forums banner

Wiring Issue - Signal relay buzzing when attempting to signal L/R

16K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  jsagrati  
#1 ·
So I tried to McGyver a set of turn signals on my 2010 T100 EFI and cut up the standard harness splicing in the Green/Red and Green/White for the appropriate L/R rear signals. (BTW - the BC signal harness kit only worked for the front. The rear had me going McGruber) the signals worked great for about 5 minutes. I slapped on the seat and was ready to take her for a rip. Once the seat was on the the signals stopped working. I could hear a buzz coming from the signal relay every time I tried the signals. Then it blew the 10amp fuse. Replaced the fuse, blammo, again blown. I de-McGrubered the wiring harness, reverting it back to the original state. Now I get the buzz again with no blown fuses, and the signals are no longer hooked up.

What to do, what to do!??
 
#2 ·
Depends on what type of turns you were fitting, but it sounds like you blew the flasher relay. The stock ones are pretty delicate and expensive, and only handle around 40 watts total.

The relay to go for is the CF13GL-02. You can get it cheaply from Ebay, is a plug n play replacement, handles upto 240 watts (20A) and is also suitable for LED turn signals.
 
#4 ·
Yes, that's the one.

The signals I have are these:

http://www.british-customs.com/bullet-brushed-turn-signals.html

Non-LED, pretty basic.
Yes, I see they have a halogen bulb, probably 21 watts. The stock bulbs are not halogen and only 10 watts. That's probably the reason why your stock relay died.
 
#7 ·
No, don't change the fuse rating. Your horn and brake light are also on that fuse (fuse #7) and fuses are there as a deliberate weak link, they protect the circuit by comitting suicide if anything happens. A higher rated fuse wouldn't blow so easy so you would get more damage, in some cases even fire.

Its a good idea, if like me you do lots of work on the electrical system, to replace all the fuses with the 'glow as they blow' type, of the same rating of course. These fuses have a small LED built in which lights up when the fuse has blown. They should be available from almost any auto parts store, and save you quite a bit of testing/checking if you have problems.
 
#6 · (Edited)
If you replace the 10 amp fuse with a 30, then your wiring isn't protected properly any
more. The wire diameters in a circuit are chosen for the expected amperage. If you
put significantly more current through the circuit and the fuse doesn't blow, you can
melt wires or start a fire.

The best thing to do is calculate the amperage that the new bulbs draw and see if
it's still less than the 10 amps the circuit was designed for. If BC sells the kit it's
probably fine. Upgrading to the better relay makes sense if that's the case.

(Current in amps= Power in watts divided by voltage)
 
#8 ·
I replaced the relay and have the same exact issue. Fuses blow on signal. No other wiring or lighting changes have been made to this bike... I do not understand. Frankly I'd be willing to try another signal solution. Do you have any recommendations? I will take your advice and get the glow as they blow fuses from the local hw store, thanks for the tip.
 
#9 ·
Start with the basics. Take a careful look at all the wiring you worked on to make sure
you don't have something chafing. If it worked before you replaced the seat and didn't
after have a look and make sure the seat isn't pinching a wire. Another thing you can
do is disconnect one portion of the circuit at a time and see if you can figure out which
portion of the harness is causing the short. (If you have a multimeter you can also work
through each portion of the harness looking for shorts.) And be sure that the wires are
really hooked up properly.
 
#10 ·
+1 Yes its likely that you wired one of the lamps the wrong way around or that a power wire is in contact with the frame, which is grounded. It's got to be a short somewhere. Don't use spliced joints taped up, use proper connectors that are insulated and make sure that all the lamps are wired the correct way around.
 
#11 ·
Circling back ... I took your scientific approach of testing each and every possible configuration and break point and ALAS the signals are working perfectly. the issue was that the wiring harness provided by BC had a black wire, and a black wire with a white stripe. I mistakenly paired the two black wires and connected the striped wire to the red/green stripe... at any rate, that blew the fuse every time. I connected each signal in all possible configurations, blew a bunch of fuses, but now I know it's working correctly. Woots!

Thanks for the help!