Topic: Rear Turn Signal/Running Light combo

[chinaski]

Hello all. First post. Glad to be here.

I have a stock 1976 CB750K6. First bike.
In the interest of safety, I'd like to have my rear turn signals second as running lights. I understand that the bulbs are single filament on the rear turn signals and dual filament on the fronts. After some lurking here and there I've found recommendations of getting a second pair of front turn signal lights and installing them on the rear. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good tutorial on how to do this or possibly another alternative way of achieving this? I assume I would have to do some rewiring and I'm curious about how invasive that rewiring would actually be. Also, having running lights on the rear would pull more amps than the system is designed for, was wondering is this a good idea in general or can i make adjustments to the charging system so the bike will remain happy. Thanks all.

[jas67]

Just add one of these:

http://www.aerostich.com/a-to-b-utilities/lights/tail-lights-and-turnsignals/stopper-led-brake-light-versa-light.html

It has tail, brake, and turn functions, and attaches with your license plate's mounting boles.

I've had several non-riders, but otherwise conscientious drivers, tell me that there is not enough difference in brightness between the already on tail light and stop light in some conditions.   Cars have a third brake light that is only on when braking.   I wanted that on my bike(s) too, so I chose the stop-only model shown below.   I also replaced the 1157 tail-stop bulb with one of these LED plug-in replacements (the one pictured on the site is white, but that is the correct one, and you'll actually receive an light with red LEDs):
http://www.aerostich.com/a-to-b-utilities/lights/tail-lights-and-turnsignals/360-led-taillight-bulb-red-1157-red.html

Stop-light only LED strip:
http://www.aerostich.com/a-to-b-utilities/lights/tail-lights-and-turnsignals/stopper-led-brake-light-stopper.html


The combination of LED  replacement unit and the LED strip on the license plate is VERY bright and attention-getting.     I have installed this combo on all my bikes that I ride on a regular basis.

[KC_Northstar]

Check this out:

http://www.wolstentech.com/products/timedelayrelay/app7.php

KC

[jas67]

If you do use your rear turn signals as running lights, or even as stop lights, you'll need to change to red lenses.

Harley actually sells a replacement control module for their late model bikes to do just that.     You replace the lenses on the rear signals with red, and install this module, and the turn signals become turn/stop/tail lights, in addition to the center-mounted tail/stop light.   I did a trip with a friend who was riding a 2007 Sportster with this setup, and having three stop lights really makes it obvious when he was braking.

While you are at it, you could try to also add hazard light function, which, IMHO, all bikes should have.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

In theory this should be somewhat simple provided you can easily track down the correct wires in the harness that go to the front running lights. Connect to these and run the new wires to the new rear turn signals. As you've already discovered you'd need the new sockets with the extra wire. Perhaps zip tie your new wiring to the harness or re-tape them to the harness. With that said I doubt (but can't say for sure) that the additional draw would overtax the system. It would put extra draw on the fuse and through the switch housings on the bars but would that create a REAL issue? Doubtful. Looks like you're looking for Orange/White for the left and Light Blue/White for the right. If you want to keep it clean order some new connectors from VintageConnectors.com   

[jas67]

Switching to LED bulbs for your turn/stop/running lights would reduce the load on the system.
The 1157 bulbs used for tail/stop and signal/running lights use 21 Watts on for the bright filament (turn/stop), and about 7 or 8 Watts for the dimmer filament (running light).

LED replacements use about 3-4 Watts on bright, and about 1 on the dimmer output.   

You'll need to replace the turn signal flasher with an LED compatible one.

I documented this process for my CB360 (I did the same conversion to my CB400F) over on HondaTwins.net:
http://www.hondatwins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=13819

The comments regarding problems caused by the single turn signal indicator on the dash don't apply to SOHC4 bikes, as they have separate dash indicators.

I also saved a few watts by replacing the instrument cluster backlight bulbs with white LEDs as well.

[chinaski]

I like the idea of available wattage when converting to the LEDs. That would allow me to run some auxiliary gear in the future. I could still use front turn signal lights in the rear, wire them up to the front signals and switch the amber lens out for a red ones. I think that gets me to where I wanna be.
I Appreciate all the info and suggestions.