low beam and signal wires

[prachster]

Hi all,

I need help from the experts - again..

The head light bulb's low beam blew out. So, I changed the bulb.. still no low beam.. what is up with that?

I had bought some cheap mirrors that have the LEDs but no instructions. I want to connect them in parallel to the existing stock blinkers (I have the signal minder installed).... A) would it be OK? and, B) The mirrors have red and yellow wires - how do they match with the stock blue / bown wires?

Other then that, life is good here in TX...

Thanks,

Sanjay

[sweatmark]

What is the build date for your R1150R?

Low beam circuits differ between early and late models.

Are the LEDs designed for 12vdc?

[goomicoo]

Make sure they don't mess with the ABS computer if you have ABS

[prachster]

ooops.. sorry, missed the important info..

It is a 2004, non-ABS. The LEDs are 12VDC.

Meanwhile, I got another bulb, just in case. Still no low beam.

I, however, found out that more people see you if you have high beam on all the time. No one has tried to blind side me in last few days..

Thanks,

Sanjay

[Sunbeemer]

You're right, the high beam makes you more conspicuous and I use it during the day on busy city streets, especially at intersections.

It seems you aren't getting 12V at the headlight plug; you can check that with a voltmeter. It would seem improbable that two bulb's low-beam filaments would be bad, so it probably is a power supply problem. Four possibilities I can think of that could cause that:
1. The low beam wire has been chafed through by over-tightened wire ties behind the headlight (a common problem).
2. The bulb's plug inside the headlight housing is not making a good connection due to corrosion and needs to cleaned with a small screwdriver and/or 400 grit emory paper
3. The lighting relay (first on right in the front of the fuse box) failed or came loose.
4. The handlebar switch failed.

A volt-ohmeter can help determine which it is.

Using your LED mirrors should be fine with your Signalminder since they are designed for and have plugs for those --I think they called them "Vector" lights.

[sweatmark]

For 2003-2006 build date R1150R:

Headlight low/dip-beam powered through fuse 8, then through headlight relay as mentioned above. This relay is NC and switches off power to low beam filament when the high beam (fuse 9) circuit is energized.

So confirm status of fuse 8, then check the relay.

You can check continuity of the low beam circuit by pulling fuse 8 and the headlight bulb, measuring resistance from fuse pin 56b to bulb connector pin 56b (convenient notation).

As for those LED signal mirrors:

Years ago I talked with the Kisan folks about the circuit characteristics of the auxiliary jacks found in the top of the SignalMinder SM-5 module used for vectraLights add-ons. Cannot find my notes file, but IIRC there's 12v, ground, and a logic or PWM line for each side, left & right. The jack is a modular phone handset cord connection (see reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4P4C#4P4C). I bought some R9 plugs, handset straight cord, and the required hand crimper tool in order to add some LEDs that would blink with turn signals and illuminate when the SM-5's Running lights feature is used.

You might take advantage of your SM-5's capabilities by using the add-on jacks to power your new LED mirrors, thus avoiding any OE wiring hacks. If interested in doing so, I can dig up the Kisan info (or call them again) and make up a couple of connector wires for you. Technically speaking, the wire length required to span fuse box to handlebar mirror mounts will be mega-long-a$$. You pay shipping!

[prachster]

Thank you, Sunbeemer and Sweatmark for your help.

Sweatmark, I do remember the 'phone jack' connection in the SM-5 module. I think there we a small cord with it as well. I thought you have to buy their LEDs to go with it. I would more than happy to pay for the shipping and the cost of raw material if you can hook me up with the connection to the mirror lights. I, too would like not to hack in to OE wires.

I will update you guys whenever I get around diagnosing the low beam problem. Probebly this weekend.

Thank you again

sanjay