Fitted a set of winkers to my B31 with a Puretech adjustable relay.They didn't work and after checking all conections and swapping the wiring on the relay still got nothing.Thinking I had been sent a duff relay, I tried a little experiment.Disconected the positive+terminal and took a wire direct from the battery+ to the relay+ leaving the relay earth in place,and it worked perfectly.I seem to have temporarily conected the relay negative earth, the bike is positive earth.
Is there any way of conecting this relay to work in a positive earth bike? I suspect not, so I will need to buy one specifically for positive earth.Any suggestions as to a supplier?
The Puretech one was £9-95 but if anyone wants it you can have it for the price of a pint.
The Puretech one was £9-95 but if anyone wants it you can have it for the price of a pint.
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So you're looking to make a profit then!
I was meaning the price of a Northern pint!not the overpriced Southern horse urine.
Seriously,there is already too much useless junk in my garage so I am thinking of having a clear out.
Had a look on the web,and there are several positive earth flasher relays on there, so I will buy one.Which is what I should have done in the first place.I never gave a thought to positive or negative earth.
Every day is a school day.
Put it in a rubber tube, now its pos earth : )
Quote from: Janacek on 06 Sep, 2025, 20:36 Is there any way of conecting this relay to work in a positive earth bike?
Swop the battery polarity? Simple enough as long as you haven't got any electronic polarity-conscious components fitted.
I've gone neg earth on my bikes. Its not a huge job and it makes a lot of things easier. I did it on the Road Rocket so I could fit LED flashers.
Quote from: limeyrob on 07 Sep, 2025, 15:57 Put it in a rubber tube, now its pos earth : )
Don't think that will work as the relay has an earth conection.It won't work without.
Can't swop battery connections as I have just fitted a positive earth DVR2.
A pos earth flasher relay is less than a tenner,so I will buy one,thanks for the replies.
Quote from: Janacek on 07 Sep, 2025, 20:37 Quote from: limeyrob on 07 Sep, 2025, 15:57 Put it in a rubber tube, now its pos earth : )
Don't think that will work as the relay has an earth conection.It won't work without.
It's all about direction of current flow. As long as the flasher unit receives a +ve and a -ve on the relevant terminals it doesn't care whether the current flowed from the earth (chassis/frame) or direct from the battery.
Yes, remember the days of wrapping a neg earth radio in an old inner tube to fit it to a pos earth car to save a couple quid. Sooner or later something touched it blew the lot :-\
Bought anather relay.This one is for positive earth.
Exactly the same result as the other.ie the indicators and repeater illuminate, but do not flash!
I remember reading somewhere that with retro fitting LED indicators some flasher units require a higher current flow to activate the flasher.
The winkers I fitted have 5w standard bulbs,and I am wondering if there is not enough current flow to activate the flasher.
Sounds right.
Can you up the wattage of the indicator lamps?
This reminds me of problems with my DIY LED indicators that drove me mad. You may have one or more:
1 If the battery / volts are low the whole set up does nothing as though its unplugged, up the volts and it comes back to life.
2 The indicators will not flash with LED tell-tails but they will with filament ones, 5w is enough. I put a pair of diodes and a 5W Lucas instrument bulb and the whole thing worked. You can of course use a 5w bulb for each side. If you don't want to have tell-tale lights just stick it inside the headlight
3 You have to wire the tell-tale to earth. If you use a single one it must not cross connected as it can be with filament bulbs. If you do cross connect it the indicators just glow dull all the time.
I have had no problem with the indicator relay that I have. It's one that makes a noise when it flashes. It doesn't mater wether it is flashing one or two bulbs.
Tried connecting the stoplight into the winker circuit thinking that the extra 21w would be enough to activate the winkers, but no, the result is the same ie the indicators and stoplight all illuminate but do not flash.
For some reason the tell tale repeater is on all the time,as it was with the other flasher unit regardless of the switch position.
Battery voltage is 12.4v and tried unplugging the repeater,but it's the same.
If the winkers had been working and this happened,I would have said that the flasher unit was faulty,but this is the second one I have tried and I doubt that both could be faulty.
At my wits end,so any suggestions (apart from learning to use hand signals again) as to what could be wrong.
Was it Sherlock Holmes who said something along the lines of "when all avenues are exhausted it must be the remaining one, however unlikely" or something like that.
Could you substitute a a known working flasher unit?
Winkers now working!
The fault,was two faulty flasher relays!!
Bought a Lucas unit from Classic Bike Shop and now ok.
Although I have had decent stuff off E Bay before, I don't think I will buy electrical components again from there.