LED lighting, HELP ME

R

Rastlin_imp

New to the forum
Thread starter
the bike, 2014 honda CB1100.

i took my bike to the Honda dealer and the guys cant figure out how to get led lights to work in the back for my rear turn signals, and tail light. now, that said,

they added resistors all the way around, that didn't work, except for the front.
they now have removed the rear resistors, but still, even with the led bulbs that have the resistor built into the bulb, those ones dont work in the back.

now, when i say dont work, i dont mean hyper-flash. i mean they dont come on at all. standard bulbs come on, but led bulbs dont turn on at all. in the front, without resistors, they just didn't blink. but, at least they turned on. the rear just doesnt turn on. i need some serious help on this guys. this project has been going on now for 18 months.... 300$ later... any help would be appreciated. i was told, by a Harley mechanic i know, to use voltage regulators in the front and back, as well as resistors. any ideas. also, i am color blind so take care when asking me about colors of wires. lol.

oh, and yes, all of the bulbs work. i have a tester i rigged up to check them out. all work, ive even bought 3 different styles of them; 2 without the resistor built in, one with. im out of ideas.

thanks everyone, in advance, for all your help, and even just for reading this post to see if you could help.

merry Christmas everyone.


Rastlin
 
It ain't the bike, as far as I know.

Without much thought, I bought an LED tail light/brake light bulb at the Honda store. Removed the oem bulb, twisted in the LED bulb. No problems. No drama.

And...I have Hyperlites mounted to the rear assembly for runnning, brake, and turn signals. But they came with their own "sender". The polarity was correct on my bike.

Good luck!
 
One of the things I learned from installing aftermarket led turn signals was that the effect of the resistors is cumulative across all four corners.

If you have four load resistors, in addition to internal resistors in the rear bulbs this may be too much to even allow the bulbs to even turn on.

When I did mine, I had 2 ballast resistors in the front and none in the back and that was enough to give me a normal flashing rate. You could try removing the front ballast resistors and then just running the internally resisted LEDs in the rear lights.

Probably the ultimate solution though would be to use LED bulbs with no resistors and getting the proper LED flasher module.

POSH : Wide Watt Winker Position Relay [090015-WR]

You do have to remove the tank to install this. But it is on sale right now!
 
Dump the resistors and replace your mechanical flasher relay with a digital one...

Amazon.com

Also, I'm not sure why someone would tell you to use a voltage regulator AND resistors... the voltage regulator's purpose it to deliver the exact current you need; the resistor(s) is/are built into the regulator.

Edit: Hmm, the fronts are always on, and are reverse of the rears in the blinking cycle, so you're probably going to want to buy what kmoney linked to; a generic relay most likely won't work on our bike.
 
Yup. The generic digital ones won't work on our bike. You could probably get a pin-out diagram of the flasher from someone on this forum and make one work by cutting the connectors and using your own spade connectors, but once you see where/how it's mounted under the tank it's not worth it. Kinda sucks because the generic ones are 90% cheaper.
 
I found the rear turn signal wiring was backwards when I installed led turn signals. Luckily, led lights will not flow current backwards so no damage or blown fuses.
 
I still can't figure out why companies still use incandescent light bulbs. LED bulbs have been around on motorcycles since at least the early 2000's, and they're definitely cheap enough to build and supply these days. I know, this is a retro-bike, but Honda didn't put carburetors on this thing, did they? I'd eventually like to switch my entire bike to LEDs, just not sure if I'll wait till the originals burn out first. They're definitely the way to go in my opinion.
 
Look gentleman I wrote this up some time ago. Mr. T can provide a direct replacement flasher relay by Posh that will allow led turn signal bulbs. Resisters are not the way to go IMHO. Next the polarity on the 2014 DLX was reversed and the same others reported for the 2014 std. So the ground wire and power wire colors are reversed versus the Honda wiring diagrams. Look for my post somewhere on the site and good luck.


2014 CB1100 DLX
2013 CB1100 Std
1990 BMW K75 RT
 
Well this definitely seems to be the best way of switching to LEDs at the 4 corners, but it's a bit more expensive than I would've imagined.

LED turn signals

(I'm thinking the stock bulbs look just fine for now)
 
Thread starter
kmoney_imp said:
One of the things I learned from installing aftermarket led turn signals was that the effect of the resistors is cumulative across all four corners.

If you have four load resistors, in addition to internal resistors in the rear bulbs this may be too much to even allow the bulbs to even turn on.

When I did mine, I had 2 ballast resistors in the front and none in the back and that was enough to give me a normal flashing rate. You could try removing the front ballast resistors and then just running the internally resisted LEDs in the rear lights.

Probably the ultimate solution though would be to use LED bulbs with no resistors and getting the proper LED flasher module.

http://japan.webike.net/products/21124583.html

You do have to remove the tank to install this. But it is on sale right now!
Click to expand...
i tried this, however, the back lights still wont function with led bulbs in the socket. even with the bulbs that have the internal resistors.... but regular bulbs work. >.<
kmony, thanks for the help. i will look into that relay, i looked for, literally 2 days, and couldnt find that thing. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously. you saved me some time there. ill order it, then have them put the thing in. thanks again man.
last question, where is that relay located on the 2014 cb1100? i cant find it, and the wiring diagrams honestly just confuse the crap outta me. the dealer told me to start cutting away the wiring harness casing until i find it, and good luck putting it back together. literally, that is what big valley honda said to me here in reno.... i couldn't believe it. been almost 2 years now, and still, they haven't got my issue fixed. never-mind that though, you guys rock. now i have something to go and show them, when the manager finally gets back from vacation again...

Happy new year everyone!
 
Rastlin_imp said:
kmoney_imp said:
One of the things I learned from installing aftermarket led turn signals was that the effect of the resistors is cumulative across all four corners.

If you have four load resistors, in addition to internal resistors in the rear bulbs this may be too much to even allow the bulbs to even turn on.

When I did mine, I had 2 ballast resistors in the front and none in the back and that was enough to give me a normal flashing rate. You could try removing the front ballast resistors and then just running the internally resisted LEDs in the rear lights.

Probably the ultimate solution though would be to use LED bulbs with no resistors and getting the proper LED flasher module.

POSH : Wide Watt Winker Position Relay [090015-WR]

You do have to remove the tank to install this. But it is on sale right now!
Click to expand...
i tried this, however, the back lights still wont function with led bulbs in the socket. even with the bulbs that have the internal resistors.... but regular bulbs work. >.<
kmony, thanks for the help. i will look into that relay, i looked for, literally 2 days, and couldnt find that thing. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously. you saved me some time there. ill order it, then have them put the thing in. thanks again man.
last question, where is that relay located on the 2014 cb1100? i cant find it, and the wiring diagrams honestly just confuse the crap outta me. the dealer told me to start cutting away the wiring harness casing until i find it, and good luck putting it back together. literally, that is what big valley honda said to me here in reno.... i couldn't believe it. been almost 2 years now, and still, they haven't got my issue fixed. never-mind that though, you guys rock. now i have something to go and show them, when the manager finally gets back from vacation again...

Happy new year everyone!
Click to expand...
i tried this, however, the back lights still wont function with led bulbs in the socket. even with the bulbs that have the internal resistors.... but regular bulbs work. >.<
kmony, thanks for the help. i will look into that relay, i looked for, literally 2 days, and couldnt find that thing. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously. you saved me some time there. ill order it, then have them put the thing in. thanks again man.
last question, where is that relay located on the 2014 cb1100? i cant find it, and the wiring diagrams honestly just confuse the crap outta me. the dealer told me to start cutting away the wiring harness casing until i find it, and good luck putting it back together. literally, that is what big valley honda said to me here in reno.... i couldn't believe it. been almost 2 years now, and still, they haven't got my issue fixed. never-mind that though, you guys rock. now i have something to go and show them, when the manager finally gets back from vacation again...

Happy new year everyone! Whatever you do don't touch the harness. The relay is located under the gas tank, when you remove it there are 2 relays in front of the ECU. If you were to draw an imaginary line straight downward, it would be basically be right below the gas cap. I don't have (and couldn't find) a picture of it l, but I'm sure someone on here has one.
 
Thread starter
awesome. thanks kmoney. If my mechanic friend can fix the polarity issue, that would be the best option at the moment, it think, because i have the bulbs with the built in resistors, so if the polarity was right, i would be fine. if he cant, ill be buying the relay and will take a picture of it when i get to that point. thanks again guys. all of you have been lifesavers, seriously. this dealership is gonna owe me on this one.
 
Bob Sdaman_imp said:
I still can't figure out why companies still use incandescent light bulbs. LED bulbs have been around on motorcycles since at least the early 2000's, and they're definitely cheap enough to build and supply these days. I know, this is a retro-bike, but Honda didn't put carburetors on this thing, did they? I'd eventually like to switch my entire bike to LEDs, just not sure if I'll wait till the originals burn out first. They're definitely the way to go in my opinion.
Click to expand...
completely agree..and I contemplated changing out, except Im terrified I will experience what Rastlin is going thru...
 
Old thread, but here is a pic of the ECU and relay. ecu
 
jrns_imp said:
Bob Sdaman_imp said:
I still can't figure out why companies still use incandescent light bulbs. LED bulbs have been around on motorcycles since at least the early 2000's, and they're definitely cheap enough to build and supply these days. I know, this is a retro-bike, but Honda didn't put carburetors on this thing, did they? I'd eventually like to switch my entire bike to LEDs, just not sure if I'll wait till the originals burn out first. They're definitely the way to go in my opinion.
Click to expand...
completely agree..and I contemplated changing out, except Im terrified I will experience what Rastlin is going thru...
Click to expand...
completely agree..and I contemplated changing out, except Im terrified I will experience what Rastlin is going thru...
thinking of relocating my turn signals and puting smaller bright led on so my saddle bags fit better talk to a tec friend he says buy them with resistor built in should have no problems will let you no how turns out
 
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