Turn Signal Modification

Convert Your Turn Signals to Running Lights/Turn Signals - An Alternative Method

By Loren Cole

I picked up some red turn signal lenses from a nearby motorcycle salvage shop. Lucky find! They are brand new Yamaha lenses that must have been sitting in that bin for years. (An alternative to this is using a Custom Chrome Lens or picking up some Red Translucent Testors Model Paint at a hobby shop or at Wal Mart)

I planned on doing the 1156 mod on Tidy’s Tech Tips page, so went to Radio Shack for a pair of 12 volt, 2 amp single throw, double pole miniature relays. Well, the only ones they had looked like they would go onto a printed circuit board. Certainly not automotive quality/durability. So went next door to Schucks Automotive. No relays of that sort either.

Then on a whim, I checked the trailer lighting section. Sure enough! After studying the wiring diagram I decided that a 3 wire to 2 wire tail light converter would work. It's made by Reese - p/n#74209. The converter itself is about 3x4 inches square and about 1/2 inch thick. It retails for less than $20 and should be available at any auto parts store.

Step By Step:

I've removed the seat from my bike. I'm sitting on a stool on the left side of the bike. Coming from under the gas tank is a large bundle of wires. It goes to behind the bike's left side cover. Splitting off from there is a smaller bundle of wires containing five wires; brown, dark green, yellow, black and blue. These fire wires terminate at what we'll call the upstream side of the connector, which at this point is still connected to the downstream side of the connector. The downstream side of the connector, headed towards the back of the bike with the tail light and turn signals, also has five wires; brown, dark green, yellow, black and blue.

Uncouple the upstream and downstream sides of the coupler from each other.

Pull the brown and dark green wires out of the downstream side of the coupler. Leave the yellow, blue and black wires connected to the downstream side of the coupler. Do not pull any wires out of the upstream side of the coupler.

From the "to trailer" side of the Reese module, splice the green "right turn/stop" wire to the dark green wire you pulled out of the downstream side of the coupler.

Again, from the "to trailer" side of the module, splice the yellow "left turn/stop" wire to the brown wire that was pulled out of the downstream side of the connector.

Finally, from the "to trailer" side of the module, connect the white "ground" wire to the negative battery terminal.

We'll now turn our attention to the upstream side of the connector and the "to car" side of the module:

Splice the green "right turn" wire to the dark green wire attached to the upstream side of the coupler.

Splice the red "stop" wire to the blue wire attached to the upstream side of the connector.

Splice the yellow "left turn" wire to the brown wire attached to the upstream side of the connector.

Connect the white "ground" wire to the negative battery terminal, just like the other white "ground" wire.

Plug the upstream and downstream sides of the coupler back into each other.

Turn on the motorcycle's ignition key.

The two turn signals should be lit up, as well as the tail light.

Activate the brakes by squeezing the front brake lever on the handlebars. The tail light should get brighter. Release the brake. Activate the right turn signal. The right turn signal should start blinking off and on.

Activate the left turn signal. The left turn signal should start blinking off and on.

If you wish, wrap some electrical tape around all the connectors and bundle up any excess wires. Wrap some tape around those excess wires and try to position them neatly somewhere where they will not be disturbed or in the way.

Replace the seat.

You're done.

Explanation:
If you don't understand the reasoning of using the module's "stop" circuit, wired to the blue tail light wire, to power the running lights, here's an explanation.

As you can see in the wiring diagram, it's to get a continuous source of power to the running light, that the module can use to interrupt (blink) the bulb via it's turn/stop circuits.

I used the terminology that's physically written on the module and in the directions that came with the module, but perhaps it’s less confusing to think of these circuits in terms of how we're actually using them.

On the module, pretend that the "tail" circuit does not exist, as we do not use it (if using 1156 bulbs).

Pretend that the "stop" circuit on the "to car" side is really "running lights"

Pretend, on the "to trailer" side, that "right turn/stop" is really "right turn/running light" and "left turn/stop" is really "left turn/running light".

Those who need visual aids as they work could even take a label maker and relabel the individual circuits on the module, using the above "pretend" terminology.

To have used the "tail" wire also would have required dual filament bulbs. As it is, with the stock single filament bulbs, they're both on all the time (whenever the key is on), and when a turn signal is activated, it blinks off & on. They do blink about twice as fast as before, but no big deal. Works great!

I hope I didn't make this sound more difficult or confusing than it was. It was really very simple, and took me less that 30 minutes.

I guess I'll have to include the standard disclaimer that I take no responsibility for any damage to your motorcycle or your mental health if you attempt this modification.

I would appreciate any feedback, good or bad, that you may have. You can email me by clicking on my email address toward the bottom of each page of my site.

Thanks,

Loren

P.S. This modification is also on "Tidy's Tech Tip Pages". See my "Links" page.

Update – August 1^st, 2005

About a year ago, my turn signals quit working. All connections appeared to be okay, so I just ended up removing the trailer light module. After rewiring back to stock configuration everything worked fine, so I suppose that maybe the module had gone bad. It lasted for two years. Not too bad, for around $15, I guess. Anyway, I was in the auto parts store yesterday and on impulse, picked up another module.

This time I decided to wire it differently, so that instead of running lights, the turn signals would light up along with the brake light when the brakes are applied. The job went fairly quickly, as I had put everything back together using bullet type crimp connectors.

The only difference in wiring for this mode is that the "stop" wire on the "To Car" side of the module is wired to the bike’s yellow wire (stop light) instead of the blue (tail light) wire.

I think that running this way will be a pretty good safety enhancement. The rear end really lights up now, when the brakes are applied. The turn signals still blink twice as fast as normal when the brakes are applied, but they blink normally when not using the brakes. I think a load-equalizer would slow down the fast-blink, but I’m not going to bother. As a matter of fact, I think that going from a slow blink at cruise to a fast blink when braking might even do a better job of catching the attention of the cagers.

Again, this is an alternative to my turn signal/running light mod and it just involves one wire change (yellow instead of blue). As mentioned previously, using the stock 1156 turn signal bulbs, we’re unable to wire this in three-way mode (running lights/brake lights/turn signals). That would require dual-filament 1157 bulbs. But now we have a choice of either running lights/turn signals or brake lights/turn signals.