Super speed indicators.
 

I know this has been covered before because I contributed to the thread last time it was mentioned, but I've tried a search and nothing came up :(

I have Kellerman indicators fitted front and rear. They have always worked fine apart from on first fitting, one side flashed faster than the other. Reversed the polarity of one lamp and all was well. Been fitted to the bike for about 4 months now and get used daily. On my way home from work this evening I noticed that one side has again started flashing faster than the other.

In the last thread, there was talk of fitting a resistor or something to resolve this problem. Anybody point me in the direction of the thread in question or let me know the details of what bits and bobs I need to sort out this little problem?

Mr Nick,

Here's the threads you need.

http://ducatisportingclub.com/contro...ad.php?tid=897

http://ducatisportingclub.com/contro...ad.php?tid=238

Will probably be worth a U2U to Jasper or Jon who have used the resistors. I've got Kellerman's but never had a prob apart from when they were first turned on.

Regards, Guido

\'tis a strange one!!!
 

When I first fitted mine,both sides flashed too fast. Then after removing them for a trackday and then refitting them one side was slow and the other fast. I tried swapping around teh wiring on each pair of wires (for each indicator) and managed to get them to work fine.
Then after a couple of weeks, one side started to flash quickly again!!!

I thought it must be a loose wire or similar, but could not fix it. I've tried several combinationjs since to no avail. Jasper did send me a diagram of how to wire power resisitors up in parallel with the rear pair to get it to work, but as I didn't need them before, I'm struggling to see why I do now.

I contacted the guy who sold me them and he said that it may be to do with the type of indicator relay I have,but he was a bit vague!!

So the answer is - I don't know!!!

I will try the power resistors and see if that cures it.

'tis a strange one and no mistake!!!!

I can email Jasper's pic to anyone interested (as long as Jasper's happy for me to!!)

Tim

Shirley its down to the watage of the bulbs......

I'm no electrician, but the system need 2x 10 watt bulbs operating in series to operate correctly.

I recently fitted LED's (rated at 0 watts) to the front mirrors and uprated the rear bulbs to 23 watt and the system works fine.

Most aftermarket indicators seem to be fitted with 23 watt bulbs, two of these units front and rear would certainly stop the flasher unit working correctly(46 watt on a 20watt system), drop back to 10 watt bulbs and they work fine.

That makes sense, until.....
 

....you realise that they change, either from quick to slow or slow to quick!!!

maybe its those kerbside monsters again!!! They're out there you know, just waiting to drag some innocent sole off their bike!!!

It IS down to the wattage,The Kellermanns are Halogen lamps and are only rated at 5W(even though they are bright!),your relay requires a parallel circuit of 2 X 21w,you can SOMETIMES get away lower wattage.The relay is seeing exactly the same as when a bulb blows,ie too little wattage.By putting two resistors in the circuit of 10W each you are giving the relay what it needs to flash at the correct speed.Make sense?It does to me!!Roughly it should be wired like this:

Oh,and why they sometimes go fast and sometimes go slow,i don't know!!Bad connections maybe(if you had a bad would it would be good!).I have instructions to go with the rather crappy drawing if you want!

That\'s cleared it up!!!!
 

:P

I would just like to point out that the diagram is BOLLOX and it is a wiring diagram for a mate to parallel some lights in a Kitchen!!My apologies to anyone who has just tried to wire their bike with live,earth and neutral at 240v!!!OOPS:D
RATTLER,would you care to post the drawing i sent you,please!!Before we end up with loads of Dukes lit up like xmas trees!!!!

Not that would have been funny!!!
 

Jasper
I'll email the pic back to you as I can't host it anywhere!!!

Ta
Tim

[Edited on 16-8-2003 by Mr Nick]

Bloody hell! I've just managed to drag myself down to RS Components and get the resistors in question. Just wired them up and hey presto - still flashing like the clappers. Removed the resistors and they are slow and steady. Bloody nuisances. I think I'll start using hand signals instead!!:mad:

Guy is still ahving problems with his.It might be of interest to see if the year of manufacture has anything to do with it.Mine is a 95.No problems with the resistors!

Mine is an early 2000 Biposto on a 'V'. Oh and it's yellow so do you think that could be why they are faster??:lol:

Mine are still going like a set of sparklers on bonfire night.

Am gonna try a Ducati OEM flasher relay cos I can only guess that the Halfords unit is the chink in the armour.

Having said that…..Mr Nick’s scenario has now confused me.

I have the resistors and still it blinks like buggary. Before my relay failed, I had no resistor and the Kellermans worked fine.

2001 748R ‘51 plate

:mad::o:mad::o:mad::o:mad::mad:

Guy,why not have a ride up here and we'll try mine?It is looking like a post 1999 problem-i wonder what they changed?

I had similar issues.....
 

.......mine flashed too fast, the I removed them, replaced them and after trying different combinations of wirings (are the indicators polarised?) I go them to work fine!!

Then one set started flashing quicker than the other side!!! I thought that this might be a loose connection, but all seemed fine!!

I've now taken them off the SPS and will be putting them on the R soon, so will try again.

Is it to do with wiring polarisation? Perhaps the front sets? Is there a wiring diagram that covers the correct wiring polarity for the indicators?

'tis a weird one and no mistake!!

Tim

They shouldn't be polarity concious,but who knows!!

I think the answer is a"heavy-duty flasher relay". They provide a constant flash rate and are not sensitive to load changes. I've used them in the past and they work well. They are a form-fit-function replacement for the OEM relay. Not sure where you get them as they don't seem to available in this country upon a cursory check. I now you can get them int he states at any auto parts store.

Have a look here:
Grote Industries

Mine are OK.
Got them on the rear and mirror indicators at the front so think that it balances the lower drain from the rear Kellermans?

I think I'll just do a search on EBAY for some table-tennis paddles, paint them luminous yellow and use them..

Will be simpler.

Rich, Think I'll take you up on that offer..need to see that lovely bike of yours. Will bell you when I think I can make it.

Gc

Well, after last nights tinkering, all appeared well. No resistors and a slow steady blink. Went to work, all was fine. Rode home and all was fine. Flicked indicator on as I was turning into my drive way and presto - fast as fcuk!! Always seems to be the right hand side that is affected. As for the polarity, I don't think they can be that conscious as the pair I have on the front have two grey leads whereas the rears have black and white leads.

Wiggle stuff (technical terminology.) You've got a intermittent connection somewhere.

Whenever the front or rear bulb burns out in a directional light circuit the reduced load to the flasher unit will cause it to blink at twice the rate.

It's usually caused by corrosion in the bulb socket but also check for a bad connector or solder joint.

Finally got to the bottom of my problem today.

Rear nearside gave up completely and put the front into warp speed. Did a bit of waggling and one of the leads came out of the indicator housing.

I then removed the indicator so that I could re-solder the lead to the lamp holder. When I had soldered the lead back, the other lead fell off. The wire is quite stiff and I assume that the vibes from the bike had shook the joints loose. I have now replaced the wire with much more flexible stuff and all seems well.

And there was me thinking it was going to be something I'd done wrong. Bloody shoddy workmanship!!