Only 8.5 Volts on turn signals??

[luke000]

Today I got my bike wired for the trailer, I used the U-haul 5 to 4 wire converter. I hooked up my trailer a harbor freight 40*49 that i replaced the incandescent bulbs with LED's and noticed that my turn brake lights don't get much brighter than the running lights. The difference is slight and barley noticeable unless you look at them in the pitch black. I ran it off just a 12v battery and all the lights worked fine. I took a multi-meter to the pigtail on the bike and my readings are 12v on running lights 8.5 on left turn/brake and 8.5 on right turn/brake. I checked the ground for the converter and no change, I also replaced the plastic connectors with just a solid soldered connection to each of the wires I tapped into. And the final notice is that the bikes turn signals work just fine. Does anyone have an idea why I am getting a low voltage reading and barley any tun or brake lights on the trailer?

[Flyinfool]

First question, Is your converter rated for LEDs? Some are not and will not work correctly with low power draw of LEDs.

 

Do you have a powered converter?

If so is the power and ground wires solidly and properly connected?

Is the fuse still good?

 

If you have 12V going into the converter and 8.5 coming out, my guess would be a bad converter.

[Marcarl]

Fire the bike up and then post the findings at the bike side of the pigtail. Also would be handy to note the voltage at the signal light bulb socket.

[luke000]

First question, Is your converter rated for LEDs? Some are not and will not work correctly with low power draw of LEDs.

 

Do you have a powered converter?

If so is the power and ground wires solidly and properly connected?

Is the fuse still good?

 

If you have 12V going into the converter and 8.5 coming out, my guess would be a bad converter.

 

I believe this converter is rated for LED's, it is not a powerd converter.

[luke000]

Fire the bike up and then post the findings at the bike side of the pigtail. Also would be handy to note the voltage at the signal light bulb socket.

 

Unfortunatly I can not fire the bike up, I have no radiator on the bike and am trying to fix a coolant leak. And it looks like there is only 8.5 volts going into the converter any idea why that would be? I have 12 up at the fuse box but not at the converter?

[wes0778]

Today I got my bike wired for the trailer, I used the U-haul 5 to 4 wire converter. I hooked up my trailer a harbor freight 40*49 that i replaced the incandescent bulbs with LED's and noticed that my turn brake lights don't get much brighter than the running lights. The difference is slight and barley noticeable unless you look at them in the pitch black. I ran it off just a 12v battery and all the lights worked fine. I took a multi-meter to the pigtail on the bike and my readings are 12v on running lights 8.5 on left turn/brake and 8.5 on right turn/brake. I checked the ground for the converter and no change, I also replaced the plastic connectors with just a solid soldered connection to each of the wires I tapped into. And the final notice is that the bikes turn signals work just fine. Does anyone have an idea why I am getting a low voltage reading and barley any tun or brake lights on the trailer?

 

Been there Done that, There is a poor ground connection between the battery(-) and the trailer frame.

[Marcarl]

Been there Done that, There is a poor ground connection between the battery(-) and the trailer frame.

That would be my guess.

You could always hook up a charger to the battery to bring up to full charge.

[Flyinfool]

Unfortunatly I can not fire the bike up, I have no radiator on the bike and am trying to fix a coolant leak. And it looks like there is only 8.5 volts going into the converter any idea why that would be? I have 12 up at the fuse box but not at the converter?

 

OK

More questions.

Are you using the trailer frame for the ground? Run a separate wire to each light fixture to do the grounding with copper wire not painted steel.

 

But if you are only getting 8.5V going into the converter then it is less likely to be a trailer problem. But, bad grounds on a trailer can cause a lot of weird seemingly unrelated symptoms.

 

As mentioned above, hook up a battery charger and try it again.

If that does not fix it, then you may have a bad connection on the bike somewhere.

[etcswjoe]

Are you getting a steady 8.5 volts? If you are measuring your turn signal it should be flucuating.

 

 

I had to go from a non powered to a powered converter to get mine to work.

[Cougar]

I myself have had bad converters right out of the box brand new

those brands were hoppys.maybe lasted a year each

 

Then switched to u haul brand ,been five years

I also run a zillion leds

[luke000]

I got the bike running and tested the lights again with the bike running at about 2.5K and the same story low voltage running to the turn signals. I also made my own test with another battery as an external power source for the bike side of the light converter and i would get full power to the trailer. My turn signals work just fine dispite having a little low voltage. So instead of messing with the entire bikes wiring I am just going to spend the money and buy a powered converter with a battery wire. Is this what I should be working for?

[Flyinfool]

That looks like the same one that I have, Mine has been flawless for 2 years now.

[luke000]

That looks like the same one that I have, Mine has been flawless for 2 years now.

 

bought it!

[meach]

bought it!

Did changing your converter out fix you turn light issues?

I'm having similar issues with my lights, I added LEDs to trailer.

I'm using an converter I already had, new still in package but several years old.