Installing the Electrical Connection Turn Signal Conversion Kit (LED running lights)

[Dave77459]

Inspired by THIS POST, I installed the Electrical Connection Turn Signal Conversion Kit (EC-01315, bought HERE) on my 2006 Royal Star Tour Deluxe. There was one crucial step that was puzzling, and I made a few false steps. What follows is what I would do if I had to do it over again. I am posting this in the spirit of sharing lessons learned. *Insert more disclaimer stuff*

 

I got a rolling seat for Christmas as well as two magnetic parts dishes. These were great for not losing parts. Spend a minute and organize where you'll put stuff.

 

1. Put the bike up on a stand. I love the Carbon_One "RSV / RSTD Lift Frame Adapter" as sold HERE, especially with the legs. Puts the bike solidly at a good working height. Note that you will want the bike up in the air, since you will be working inside the rear fender.

 

2. Remove the blinker lens cover and silicone-glue in the LEDs as per the instructions. Note that although the LEDs are white, they will shine red.

 

3. We'll do the hard part one side at a time, and for fun's sake I'll pick the left side. The turn stalk is in two parts held together with a bolt. Before you loosen the stalk, remove this bolt to let the halves pull apart. Doing it while the stalk is on the bike is simply more convenient because it is solidly anchored.

 

4. Go inside the rear fender and unclip the left turn signal wire. There are three thin metal clips that hold the wire inside the fender. Bending them out and freeing the wire will give you slack. Note that dirt may fall out of your fender and into your eyes. Be smarter than me and use eye protection when you look up into a crud caked fender.

 

5. Remove the two bolts and heavy clip that hold on the left turn stalk. Note that the turn stalk may flop and ding your fender paint. Just be aware. You can push the slack wire out the exposed fender hole.

 

6. With the turn signals dangling, use a screw driver to pry apart the slot in the outer stalk, allowing you to separate the stalk into two parts.

 

7. Now, examine what you have and what you have to do. You will need to somehow thread the LED leads past the turn bulb seat and through the stalks. This is the step that stymied me for a while. Once I figured that out, the right side took 15 minutes. There are undoubtedly many solutions, but this is what I did:

 

8. I removed the bulb, then removed the two screws and thin metal strip that holds the bulb seat.

 

9. I used a metal skewer to slide from the stalk end into the blinker housing, between the rubber bulb seat and the metal outer housing. The bulb seat seems to be affixed, perhaps with glue but more likely a tight fit and age. I thought I was going to use the skewer to make a hole for the wires to go. Instead, I noticed the bulb seat was moving into the blinker housing. The skewer seemed to have broken whatever bond there was, holding the bulb seat in. Using a pair of pliers, I gave a gentle pull and the bulb seat came free. There were two wires still attached to the bulb seat, so I had to be gentle.

 

10. With that crucial step completed, I used the supplied vinyl tubing to thread the LED leads through the housing, then through the other part of the stalk. At this point, untwist the LED leads so that they will lay flat between the rubber bulb seat and metal housing.

 

11. Reinstall the rubber turn signal bulb seat. I ended up having about 2.5" of LED lead sticking out, situated on the bottom of the housing. I don't think it matters much, but make sure you keep plenty of wire showing as you shove the bulb seat back into place. I happened to have a 6mm socket handy, and it fit perfectly into the bulb seat. I used that to press the seat in evenly. I did not get it all the way back in how it was. Perhaps 1mm extra is sticking out and it threatens to contact the bulb. But since the bulb only blinks intermittently, I am unconcerned. If you are concerned, maybe you could take more care than me.

 

*TIP:

Use WD-40 to lubricate the outside of the turn signal seat. That will allow the seat to slide in easily and not damage the LED leads. Electrical Connection says that this is the location with the most frequent problems--a pinched wire. They will cut a groove into the seat with a Dremel, but that seems risky to me. See my post below describing the problems I had.

 

12. I went ahead and reinstalled the amber turn bulb. This involved installing the metal strip and two screws that holds the housing in place. This is when I noticed how slack my attempt to reinstall the bulb seat was. Oh well, the bulb fit in and works.

The steps 8-12 above took me 2+ hours to figure out, even with some hints from VentureRider.org. Lots of anguish over this. But the result seems pretty good, and took 15 minutes on the other side. I think making sure the wires are flat is important.

 

13. I used the skewer inside the supplied vinyl tubing to push the tubing through the rubber gasket holding the wires through the fender. Then I fed the wire through the tubing and into the inside of the fender. Almost home! I pulled out the tubing when it was all fed through.

 

14. My wife helped me for two minutes as I re-installed the turn stalks. She held it in place while I pulled the slack out of the wire, pushed the wire back over the retaining clips (including the new LED leads), and installed the heavy clip + two bolts. Wiping dirt from my eyes, I crawled out and put the turn stalk halves together using the nut and bolt. It looks like there is some red locktite on this bolt, but I don't have any. I'm not sure anyways. I'll make sure to check the bolt.

 

15. Remove the license plate to expose wiring. I was greatly surprised to see that there was a bundle of wiring back there. This is, I think, what the instructions in the Shop Tip mean about the "mustache. " I have a mustache, but I don't think my bike does. Anyways, this is where I did all the connections. I snipped the zip-tie holding the bundle together. Maybe there is a better way to unbundle than snipping. Will someone let me know? Separating the bundle and looking at the wires, you can make sense of how the wires come out of holes on the fender from either side. You can see which wires feed the left turn signal and which feed the right turn signal.

 

16. [Optional] remove the brake light lens cover. That way you can see the blue and yellow wires that operate the turn signal. I found it handy to have that visual color cue as I did the wiring.

 

17. I used the same piece of vinyl tubing plus the skewer to poke through the fender again and into the license plate area. I pulled the slack out of the LED leads, removed the tubing, and got more dirt in my eyes bending the retaining clips back inside the fender.

 

At this point, the left side wiring is done. If you are nervous (I was), turn on your lights to make sure your turn signal still works.

 

18. Do the right side, learning from the left side. If you want, you can do the connection stuff for the left side first so that you can see how the turn signal gasket goes back using the right side as a guide. The gaskets for the turn signal lenses constantly fell out for me, and I eventually just learned how they went back. I did the right side wire-routing first, before doing the connections behind the license plate.

 

19. With the right side done too, you can start the wire connections. I found this part scary, because I am not an electrician. But connecting the supplied heavy red-green-blue wires turned out to be easy.

 

20. I snapped the T-Tap onto the heavy Blue and Yellow wires from the brake light.

 

21. I wound together the two green wires from the supplied three-wire strands, and then crimped on a one connector. That's what they mean in the instructions that "The 2 greens can be connected together." (Hey, go down and read Step 30 and make a decision about how much wire you need.)

 

22. I wound together the two blue wires from the supplied three-wire strands, and then crimped on a one connector. That's what they mean in the instructions that "The 2 blues can be connected together."

 

23. Now you have a blue and a green connector ready to plug into the T-Taps on the blue and green break wires. What would you do? I assumed the blue wire connector went to the blue wire T-Tap. That turns out to be wrong. The supplied blue wire connects to the T-Tap on the yellow brake wire, and the supplied green wire goes to the T-Tap on the blue brake wire. If you do it backwards (I did), all that happens is that the LEDs come on all the time with brake-strength. If you do it right, they LEDs come on with running-strength, and power up when you pull the brakes.

 

24. At this point, I completed the instructions for the left side. That means connecting the supplied red wire to the black/white LED lead. Oh, it also means cutting the LED leads to length, and stripping the wire. You also use a T-Tap to connect the black LED lead to the colored turn signal wire. The turn signals have a color wire and a black wire; tap the colored one coming from the correct side of the bike. Left LED lead goes to left colored wire, etc.

 

At this point, I experienced my first real dissatisfaction. The skinny LED lead simply does not want to stay in the crimped connector. I used vise grips to crimp the snot out of it, but I know it will pull out. I plan to get a soldering iron and make sure the connection is solid. Luckily, all I have to do to access these flimsy connections is remove the license plate.

 

25. Plug in the leads onto the LEDs glued to the left turn signal lens, following the directions.

 

26. I turned on the bike and, GLORY!, I had a dazzlingly bright red LED running light! Try the turn signals. It works! Pull the brake handle. The LEDs get even brighter (if you connected the blue/green wires correctly; supplied blue=>yellow brake, supplied green=>blue brake).

 

27. Turned off the bike, stuff the leads into the housing, make sure the gasket is correct, and screw the lens cover back on. The entire left side is done.

 

28. Do the right side, trying not to grumble too much about the crimped connector. Plug in the leads, test it, and reassemble the lens.

 

Note: while the leads on the right side clearly had a black and white stripe, down at the plug end I really couldn't tell which wire was which. When I tested the light, the LEDs did not come on. Simply switching the plugs made it work.

 

29. With the wiring all complete now, test it to make sure the functions are working. At this point, I realized the LEDs were burning at full brake-strength all the time. I switched wires. You can never do too much testing.

 

30. [if you did step 16] Put the brake cover back on.

 

31. Now put all the wires back into the nook behind the license plate. Reinstall the plate.

 

I realize now that I should have cut the red/green/blue wire bundles, because there is a huge amount of wire trying to be jammed into the small nook. You have maybe 6" of wire when you need only a couple inches. The pre-stripped wire ends were simply too appealing, and I should have cut them. Now I have no spare connectors so I am kinda stuck. I'm going to a electronics/electrical parts store to see if maybe I can find some more connectors. I'll cut the wires when I solder the LED leads.

 

32. There is no step 32, because after step 31, you are done. Well, at this point you can take pictures and feel a bit of pride. You can also let me know if I screwed something up in these instructions. Sharing lessons-learned is one of the best parts of this site.

Edited January 12, 2009 by Dave77459

[Dave77459]

Thought I'd share an "after" photo with y'all.

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3260/3158548664_dcb8545aa1_m.jpg

[Eck]

Very nice write up Dave...

 

Glad you took time to write it down in detail steps because that may be valuable information that someone else can use later on.

 

 

Looks like the LED's, lights up the rear very well too...

 

good job!!!!!

 

[Dave77459]

Very nice write up Dave...

 

Glad you took time to write it down in detail steps because that may be valuable information that someone else can use later on.

 

 

Looks like the LED's, lights up the rear very well too...

 

good job!!!!!

 

Thanks! As for the detail, you never know where someone will get stuck and a little nudge will be helpful.

 

Dave

[SteveP]

Great write-up. I have the conversion kit in my garage for a winter project. This article sure will help.

[Dave77459]

Well, I had a hiccup yesterday. It was the second time out with the bike and I was waiting for something to wiggle loose. I bought solder and new connectors, but hadn't gotten to it yet.

 

I noticed yesterday when I was close to the office that the right blinker was acting very strangely. Instead of giving me the bright green blink indicator, it was muted. When I parked the bike, I took a look. It appeared all the rear lights were flashing when I turned on the right blinker. The left is working fine, as are the brakes.

 

When I got home, none of the turn signals were working, nor were the LED brakes. Yes, the auxiliary light fuse was blown. Replacing that got it back to where only the right bulb wasn't blinking.

 

I pulled off the license plate and looked at the wiring. I could really see nothing wrong. I thought maybe the actual yellow bulb was broken, so I pulled it out and inspected it. It seemed fine.

 

I started unplugging the LEDs from the circuits. That is really easy since I just unplugged from the T-taps. With the LEDs removed, the factory setup worked fine.

 

I started reconnecting the LEDs and discovered something really weird. When I have the left blinker connected, both the right and left blinkers work properly. That is, the LEDs seem to turn off when the yellow bulb comes on. But if I reconnect the right blinker LED, the left LED works properly but the right causes that all-blink condition.

 

I put the license plate back on, being reminded how over-stuffed the area is and that I need to trim wires. The troubleshooting guide suggests that something similar to my condition is caused by the resister inside the shrink tube might have been crushed and needs replacement. With the area so over-flowing, I can see how it would be crushed.

 

But, I really have no idea what is going on. I don't think the right blinker should work when it is disconnected. This situation is not covered in the troubleshooting page. I'm going to write the vendor and see if they can tell me what is going on. If they do, I'll add another update.

 

As an aside, it is this kind of mysterious electrical stuff that makes me hesitate to work on the electrical system.

[LUCKYSTIFF39]

......................................Well, now I do not feel so bad. I bought the same kit for a winter project last year. Lit the garage heater, put the bike on the lift and 5 hours later I was done. Well not really. I had the same problems you have, and some you do not appear to have yet. So................I started over, again, and again. Long story short, I gave up. Put it all back in the box in the cabinet, and went back to stock. So when I read your post I thought, finally........oops..............So, it looks like I will wait some more before I try it again.................

[Dave77459]

OK, so I did something I rarely do: I asked for help. Specifically, I wrote the manufacturer, and was told to call a certain tech (Phil). Phil scratched his head for moment, then suggested what he thought it was. Turns out, he was right.

 

The wire in the right turn signal housing was "pinched". The rubber turn signal boot had pressed into it, exposing the wire and causing a short.

 

So, the LEDs were being light all the time because the hot wire was working and the ground was grounding on the turn signal housing. It looked like it was flashing, but it was on all the time and the turn bulb drowned it out. It was obvious when I activated the turn signal while the LEDs were dangling by the wire. They were on and never blinked.

 

Phil also suggested the fix. I used a piece of heat shrink tubing to cover the bared wires. Then, I used WD40 to lubricate the turn signal boot while I reinstalled it. Holy cow, it slipped right in! So, it didn't pinch the wires and it works now.

 

Phil said that when they do the install, they use a Dremel to score the turn signal boot, creating a channel for the wires to slide in. I gave that a brief try, but the rubber is extremely thin in the tightest place. I abandoned that idea.

 

I took a 250 mile ride today and it is still working. Yay!

 

I'm amending my instructions above to add the WD-40 trick, and to mention the channelizing idea.

[Dave77459]

So, it looks like I will wait some more before I try it again.................

 

I am sorry you are having trouble. I think the problem I had with mine is that I was overly confident and rushed the right side. Slow and easy, and you can do it.

[yuckly]

Thanks! As for the detail, you never know where someone will get stuck and a little nudge will be helpful.

 

Dave

 

this is friggin' awesome!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!