How to wire front turn signals???

[justin317537]

Hello all. I have a question on how to wire front turn signals. i purchased a nice set on turn signal mirrors and thought i had them wired properly ( tested them before final wiring). once i had it all buttoned up and fired it up to see them in action i noticed they didnt blink when activated but rather stayed lit. and yes they were waired same way during test, that im positive.... the mirror had 3 wires off them 2 reg wires and one that was kinda braided with no sheathing,( not sure what that is).
i had just noticed that if i remove fuse from headlight the turnsignal mirrors will work perfectly, but i dont have headlight then.
i have deduced that the blue wires are the positive, both wires go to same terminal.
and not sure what the green or brown wire are? these are wired to individual terminals are these negative or neutral?
and the black wires? these are wired to the same terminal are these negative or neutral?
any help would be appreciated. once again they worked during mock up but not when i finished and tried.

[madtom421]

The blue wire is the running lite (turnsignals stay on when ignition is on), black is ground, Green is right turn signal, brown is left turn signal. The braided wire on your mirrors is probaly the ground.

[MikeOlmt]

The braided wire from your new mirrors should be a ground... wire it to the black original wire.

One of the wires from the mirrors (which should light up the LED's dim) is gonna connect to the Blue factory wire as a running light.

The other wire from your mirror (which should have the LED's light up full brightness) is the turn signal (+). Use the orig green on the right mirror, and the brown on the left.

Then it should all be Kosher!

Except for the fast blink you're gonna get from having LED's... If they are LED's. You also may find that if you shut the motor off using the killswitch... you get a clicking from the right side of the motor.

DON'T FREAK OUT!!!

This is what we call the Click of Death, or COD. It's not serious, but you will need to use the key to shut the bike off from now on, instead of the killswitch. Or you will need to wire a light bulb or a resistor into the blue wire circuit that you just attached your mirrors to, to stop the clicking.

You may also want to invest in a new blinker relay for LED's to stop the fast flash that you now have.... If you want. Some guys like the fast flash!?

Good luck!!!

[60ftgap]

Just had the same problem with the fork wraped leds i just put on, I had to get the relay that mike is talking about because the leds don't have enough resistance to blink, or something like that It's what the tech said at custom dynamics. and it worked

[LeaderDuece]

If you have stock rear tail lights, then you won't have to worry about COD.

If you have an integrated tail light or have replaced the stock filament bulbs with LEDs, then you WILL have an issue with the COD and you must make sure the bike is in neutral when you shut it off. The best method is neutral and use the key (not the kill switch). What happens is that excess generated energy is directed through the signals to the decompression solenoid. If you have regular filament signals, then the energy is dissipated through them. If you don't, then the energy continues on to the DCS, and it starts clicking. It might click a couple of times, or it might click until the battery dies. Thus the requirement to turn it off with a key in neutral. If you want a long term solution using a relay or a resistor or a filament bulb, do a forum search for COD or look for COD in popular mods to see how to solve it.

Probably the reason you didn't have a problem when you tested everything is because the headlight doesn't come on until the bike is actually running. So testing before the bike is running won't catch everything.

Everybody else has addressed colors of wires etc, so you should be good

[arizonawarrior]

May I ask what brand and part# turn signal mirrors you have?

Since there are 3 wires exiting each mirror they are probably mirrors with both running light and turn signals. They could be incandescent bulbs inside and not LED (wiring is the same). A few guys already mentioned the wire colors, its probably a good idea to disconnect all the wires and start fresh. BTW I got your PM and replied to it too, sorry for the delay I was out most of the day.

[gilly]

I do not think you should hook the blue wire up for the running lights in the mirrors, because you will have the lights on in your mirrors all the time while you are driving down the road. Could be a distraction to you especially at night.

[arizonawarrior]

Most of the one's I've seen have running lights recessed into the chrome 'back' of the mirror that faces forward and they sorta act like side-marker lights for traffic in adjacent lanes lol. The only bike I rode with them had Kuryakyns and didn't even see a faint glow. But I know guys who complain about exactly what Gilly said, must maybe be up to the brand.