| Author | Message | ||
     Midknyte |
I was checking my wires out to hook up my running/turn sigs to make sure I have polarity right: Turn signal wires - Black negative/ground and Brown positive/hot. Pulsing on Flasher. Ok. Running/Aux - Black negative/ground and Orange positive/hot off the lighting sub harness Positive. Steady. Ok. But here's the screwy part - If I meter across the Brown and the Orange, I get backflow power when the turn signal is flashing on the off cycle. I would expect to see nothing across these as then are both Positive/Hot. Can someone explain? Thanks. | ||
| Jos51700 |
They are not BOTH positive/hot when the T/S is in the OFF cycle, and you seeing current flow from the running light wire(which is always on) back through the T/S wire. The electronic relay grounds the power internally to provide the "BlinK" (or "off"), and this is where you're getting circuit completion. | ||
| Jos51700 |
(By the thread title, you're saying it does make sense, BTW) | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
 Double negative! | ||
| Mikef5000 |
It's true. They are both HOT when both lights are on. But when the turn signal is off, that line is not hot. | ||
| Pkforbes87 |
The signal bulbs themselves do not cause the flashing. There is a flasher somewhere in the circuit that is a heat activated switch. The current flowing through the signal bulb builds up heat in the flasher, and the switch is designed to reroute current AWAY from the signal bulb, and into an internal ground. The flasher ground is a lower resistance connection than the signal bulbs, so while in the "flasher ground" position less heat is generated in the switch. When the switch cools it reroutes the current to the signal bulbs and begins to heat again. etc etc.. When you test between brown (positive turn signal) and orange (positive running lights) you are seeing the current from the running lights circuit going into the flasher's ground. I would guess that if you pay very close attention while you're testing, your running lights also dim very slightly each time the signals are blinking off.  | ||
| Midknyte |
Ok, thanks for the confirmations. I found it a curiousity but was not overly concerned as a circuit from orange to brown does not exist anyway when things are hooked up right.  | ||
| Midknyte |
Pkforbes87 - Thanks for the illustration! It makes sense now. What I see is just power leaking back thru the relay. | ||
| Iamarchangel |
Guys, guys, with all this electrical genius, please look at my post and help me figure out which part of the circuit I need to track down. Especially the part about the running light always on, which is now backwards on my bike. http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/messages/327 77/399352.html?1222806440 |
