Steve Saunders Goldwing Forums banner

Tail/Brake Light Question

2K views 27 replies 12 participants last post by  CrystalPistol 
#1 ·
When I operate the brakes on my '87 1200, the "Tail Light" idiot light in the dash goes out. When I release the brake, the idiot light goes on. The brakes and all the lights work as they should. The idiot light thing is intermittent...so it only bothers me sometimes. I had the bike apart over the winter and everything is good, except the idiot light thing. And I changed out the bulbs for LED bulbs for better visibility. Is it the LEDs?? Did I mess up a ground wire??
 
#5 ·
Sorry to say that I wholeheartedly disagree, at least with what I put into the '87. It is bright(er). No question about it. There are lots of LED options so it pays to be selective. I also put LEDs in my '07 Vic. Took it out for first ride today and it's a def improvement. Easy to see how the front turn signals lit up the tails of cars while at stop lights.
 
#9 ·
Maybe just take the bulb out of the idiot light and be done with it? That was my fix for a non-working "Always-On" neutral switch in the 1100, quickly got tired of the green light staring me in the face going down the road. Don't need the bulb to find neutral....
 
#11 ·
My 86 Interstate did the same thing after I switched over to LED bulbs. There is a sensor under the seat near the relays / battery area. You might need a wiring diagram to find the right wire to snip. I think I cut a "Pink" wire, but it's been a long time. And if you use a RED led lamp behind a red lens you'll be surprised at how much better you;re seen at night.
 
#12 ·
There's a brake light monitor, it looks for a certain draw, when below that it thinks bulb out, it tells you so by turning on that idiot light when you'r not braking to let you know, need bulb. You just don't have enough bulb draw to keep it happy.

LEDs may seem brighter but that's the blue shift of the light effecting your eyes differently, plus the lenses & reflectors aren't designed to direct LED light that has a different focal point within the housing, they are designed for standard bulbs … really. As long as you think LEDs in those bulb oriented fixtures is brighter, may it bring you comfort.
 
#13 ·
I've found that "Blue Shift Aside" if you use Red LED's for Red Lights, and Amber LED's for Amber lights, and ADD additional actual LED"s to the back of your bike linking some of them to the Flasher Controls, you do in fact get better lighting with less drawl on your Stator/Alternator. By changing all my incandescent lighting to LED's I was able to breath life back into my Stator. The biggest drawl however was the Headlight, but finding a LED that worked and worked properly without affecting other lights on the bike was a problem.

That is until I realized what was going on. Most LED High Beams backfeed to the Low Beams which causes a problem with the 1983 GL1100a wiring. I solved this by putting a Diode in the low beam power wire and now everything works great. The easiest way to accomplish this by putting a "Pigtail" between the headlight and the headlight harness plug, then cutting the Low Beam wire and putting the Diode there. You can tuck the original harness plug into the fairing hole the wire comes out of, then tuck the diode behind the headlight.

I would be sure to carry a spare diode on the bike for replacement if ever needed. I've got photos of the fix and items required if anyone is interested.

Thanks for the forum Steve! :)

Alan Miller
 
#17 ·
Sorry about that, I was responding to your statement: <snip> "blue shift of the light". However, the 1000's , 1100's, & 1200's all share the same Stator/Alternator problem which is why everyone wants to go to LED's.

While your statement about looking brighter and actually being brighter is valid, those wishing to go LED are most likely going to do so anyhow. My goal was to give options to those who may be going that way. I may have improperly assumed that I was responding to the original poster at the bottom of the thread. If that isn't the case, I apologize.

Normally I'm looking here for information specific to my 1983 GL1100a, but today for the first time, I got an e-mail from GoldwingFacts.com with a bunch of links it it, and that is how I bounced into this forum.

I hope the information I provided just like the information you provided helps another Goldwing Owner out there with their project. I know others on this forum have helped me.

I hope you accept my apologies if I inadverently offended. Alan Miller
 
#18 ·
Had this happen when I switched to LED lights on my '85 Limited. Bit annoying and it's because the circuit needs a minimum load. To remedy this I put one incandescent back in and all was fine.
 
#19 ·
I'm assuming you/we are talking about the headlight?



I bought this bike (1983 GL1100a two years ago (after 6 owners that I was able to track) and everything worked great the first season. I saw no reason to switch out the lighting sources on the bike. However, I started having ignition problems on my last couple of rides 2 years ago, so I hooked up my Digital Voltmeter on a ride to see what was going on, and checking the voltage after about 20 miles, I was down to 11.8 Volts. It would not charge above that until I pulled the Headlight Fuse at which point it, jumped back to 13.9 Volts Continued the Daytime ride sans the headlight, but using my LED Running Lights for safety, and never dropped below 13.6 Volts.



I figured if I could get an LED Headlight in, it would solve my charging problems at least temporally. Then the saga started.



I tried about 8 different LED Light options with various outcomes as indicated below. Every light "Bench Tested Good" both before installing in the bike and after failure or disappointment.



The H4 LED Bulbs with the little powered fan on the back worked great, however I didn't want to cut a hole in the headlight socket of the Fairing to make it work.



I then tried 6 different Manufactured Low Profile H4 LED lights of which only 2 worked. When I say worked, both High/Low Beams came on as they should with the switch. The 4 that didn't work, worked fine on the low beam, but went black on the high beam.



Of the 2 that worked; the light output of the 1st. was pitiful at best, and dangerous at worst.



The other one that worked, worked great except for the light pattern between High and low, there was a 6" dark zone at 10'. and seemed to point at the moon at 150'


So, I bought a multi-bulb LED light housing like Harley has these days. Center 5 Lights = Low Beam ..... Top/Bottom 4 Lights each + Center 5 Lights = High Beam. When I flipped the High Beam Switch there appeared to be a direct short on the bike, so I shut it down.


This is when I took a break and started reading up on electric equipment testing, faults, diodes, resistors, etc. Then one day taking a shower, the Light Bulb in my head came on, and that's where the idea of putting the diode in the low beam wire came to life. Once complete, everything worked correctly, all 8 LED Solutions worked, but I decided a headlight housing specifically for the LED's was the best way to go.

Additionally, I permanently wired in a digital LED Volt/Ammeter above the right side glove box, with everything wired through a shunt so I've got an accurate reading on everything the electrical system is doing while riding. Rarely am I now drawing more than 0.8 amps off the battery when running 2 sets of running lights, extra LED's on the rear of the saddle bags, and scoot boot. It will jump to 1.4 amps when I hit the air horn that also activates the flashing brake lights simultaneously. After about 2 minutes the amp draw returns to a range between 0.00 and 0.08. And I never drop below 13.5 volts with everything running.

I'm hoping I can get another season before I have to install the PoorBoy I'm building. Then again, I drive School Bus, schools are shuttered in Oregon at least until the end of this month; most likely until the end of the school year, so who knows?

Alan Miller
 
#20 ·
Alan, as Dave and Dennis have already mentioned, switching to LED lights does NOT help the stator.
What it really does is cause the Regulator to take on the full load of the stator, as stators are not Regulated like an Alternator.

Stators always put out FULL POWER for a given RPM, and the Excess Power must be absorbed by the loads, or the Regulator....

You could have replaced the Regulator/Rectifier with a Series Regulator and that would have lightened the load on the Stator, but not with the Honda supplied Reg/Rectifier... which is a Variable Short Circuit To Ground.... properly known as a SHUNT REGULATOR.
 
#21 ·
Alan, as Dave and Dennis have already mentioned, switching to LED lights does NOT help the stator.
What it really does is cause the Regulator to take on the full load of the stator, as stators are not Regulated like an Alternator.

Stators always put out FULL POWER for a given RPM, and the Excess Power must be absorbed by the loads, or the Regulator....

You could have replaced the Regulator/Rectifier with a Series Regulator and that would have lightened the load on the Stator, but not with the Honda supplied Reg/Rectifier... which is a Variable Short Circuit To Ground.... properly known as a SHUNT REGULATOR.
Well now, there's still time for that as I've got a whole list of other items to go through on the bike before this riding season. So, where would I get, and what part number would I get, to make the revision you are suggesting?

And will the same regulator work for the Poor Boy Conversion?

I'm open to suggestions, but my fix (however unorthodox it was) has allowed me to climb the mountains around me at 100% power versus the 30% I was getting before the LED change, and the fear of being run over by an 18 wheeler has gone away. On the other hand, if I burn out a regulator on a mountain grade, I guess I'll have 0% power and become an instant speed bump.

Dead is one thing, maimed and sent to an emergency room in the current state of affairs is an entirely different scenario I don't want to visit in the short term.

So what's your setup recommendation? I'll thank you in advance! Alan
 
#23 ·
As i understand it the poorboy conversion uses a car type alternator that has an internal regulator and rectifier so all the Honda stuff is redundant
correct:

If the current Stator is good? which I am suspect of right now, because of what you said about changing to LEDs and the charge voltage came up to "normal"... then a series MOSFET Regulator/Rectifier would be the proper way to go, and would help to maintain the bike in Factory condition.... more or less.

The "Poorboy" conversion requires that you do a bit of hacking around.
If you are handy with tools, it is not overly difficult to do, as many folks have done it.
Should you decide later to do that, there are some very good threads on here about that.

I would suggest finishing up your other projects to get the bike ready to ride, before making that decision.

This is a Series Reg/Rec: SH847 SERIES R/R KITS
That is way down on this page: Home

321868
 
#26 ·
As AZgl1800 said above … Why I ran two 37.5 watt sealed beam fog lights most of the time, took some load off regulator … and I liked the looks of the old school Unity SS housings. I noticed also that with them "on" the analog volt meter stayed rock steady where as it would fluctuate a little when they were "off". I never tried to open the faux tank door and removed the tray to feel the reg/rec' temperature while riding, but it should have run cooler with less excess power being shunted to ground.

321869


For some reason, every time I try to quote recently, I get this message: "No messages were selected."
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top