Topic: Need to get the Blinkers working

[Grabcon]

This is a 1974 CB750 K4. I have been riding without blinkers and have decided to put the factory blinkers back on the bike. The blinkers are setup with a 2 wire and a ground in front and 1 wire with a ground in the rear. This is a standard configuration. I have tested all blubs and they all work fine.

Symptoms
Key is on, headlight is switched off; head light and front blinkers are off. Headlight turned on so are the front blinkers and tail light. This is what I would expect. Now any time the key is on the Winker Relay is clicking. This did not happen before I put the blinkers back on, most likely because the Grey wire for the Winker was disconnected.

Whether the lights are on or off when I push the Blinker control switch to the left or right the running lights for that side turn off, but nothing else happens and the Winker Relay continues to click.

I have checked continuity of the wires from front to back and they are good and not broken or grounded. I have not opened up the left hand controls to investigate there.

So what is not connected at this point. The indicator lights for Oil, High Bean, Neutral and Signal indicator. Also the signal beeper. Non of which I don't think should matter.

Any thoughts?

[Sprocket75]

I'm no expert...but... I just finished (last night) rewiring my bike and had a similar issue. Look up my posts... Take a multimeter and check the winker relay. I bet you have power wired from the switch by accident somewhere. The relay thinks you are sending the blink signal (I.e. power) when the key is switched on instead of the turn switch. Check the wiring. Trace both the gray and the black all the way to the bucket. What position is the key in when this happens? Pull the winker relay and test from the gray wire for continuity to the turn switch. Then check the black...

[HondaMan]

The winker circuit works like this:
The Black wire to the winker is 12 volts, the Grey one goes to the center of the L-R turn switch. It only applies the load to the winker when the switch is set to either L or R, at which point the winker starts cycling. So, if it is always cycling now, the Grey wire is somehow connected to either a load, or grounded accidentally. They wink away happily when accidentally grounded on the Grey wire, just has a real short ON time.

Maybe that will help?

[Grabcon]

Thanks guys

[LesterPiglet]

Is it the standard relay? I had the same symptoms and reversed the connections on the relay and they worked fine after that.

[Grabcon]

I found part of the issue. It is in the control switch. When the controller is tightened on the bars the winker clicks all the time. when the control is removed it does not. So I am looking for a short in the wires or switch.

But I have another control and wired it up and the Winker stopped clicking. The front and rear blinkers turn on now but do not flash. I have reversed the leads on the winker with the same results. Hmmm. Thoughts?

[Sprocket75]

I found part of the issue. It is in the control switch. When the controller is tightened on the bars the winker clicks all the time. when the control is removed it does not. So I am looking for a short in the wires or switch.

Sounds like the wire is getting pinched when you tighten the screw. That switch is a conundrum of twisted wires and moving parts... I actually re-routed my wires inside since I modified mine to have the wires OUTSIDE of the handlebars. Check the little PIN inside of the switch to make sure it is not pinching the wire. Also check the GRAY wire where it connects to the circuit board...make sure its not accidentally touching another wire?

But I have another control and wired it up and the Winker stopped clicking. The front and rear blinkers turn on now but do not flash. I have reversed the leads on the winker with the same results. Hmmm. Thoughts?
[/quote]

When you say the front and rear turn on now, but do not flash....do you mean they all just light up solid when the key is switched on? (running lights) Really sounds like you have either a short (ie grounded wire) or something mis-wired. Try this. Bypass the switch completely, use some spare wire...connect the winker to one of your lights (say, the front left) and test it that way. Also, and I learned this the hard way, the front turn signals have TWO wires for TWO different brightness levels. You probably already knew this, but I spent HOURS trying to figure this out, not realizing it was SUPPOSED to be this way and that the bulbs were dual filament.

[Grabcon]

Sprocket75. My wires were on the outside of the bar and I found that the Grey wire was pinched and cut even with shrink tube. I am fixing that now and making the cut out in the control a little larger to accommodate the wires better.

Yep I knew about the brightness level on the lights. The back are single wire so only go on with the blinker.

[HondaMan]

If the voltage at the winkie-er is less than 10.8 volts, they just stop blinking until it goes above 11.4 volts or so. Maybe stick a battery charger on it while testing, to see if that makes it go? I have to do that often. Interestingly, this issue shows up most when the winker is unused for a long time, gets better with more consistent use. This might indicate unplated electrical contacts, which seems likely? Back in the 1970s, those flashers were about $.80 new if you got the one without the rubber hanger.

[Grabcon]

Okay finally got everything working. I found it interesting that even with a full charge on the battery the blinkers did not flash until the bike was running. I have not checked the voltage at this time with the bike running, only with the bike off and the readings were above what Hondaman recommended.

Oh well everything works I am happy. Thanks for the help from all.