issue #63  95RB 

OK you have gone out and bought

those LED indicators cos nobody

had the sense to buy them for you

at Christmas, even though you left

brochures all over the place. You

wire them in, invite all your buddies

over to watch the unveiling, like

they would be as impressive as

New Year’s Eve fireworks on Sydney

Harbour and they start flashing like

an epileptic pig is switching them

on and off – Damn!

The “fix” is simple and very

cheap to do. You can buy a “flasher

fixer” package or for around $1 to

$2 plus a little bit of time.

FirSTLY, wHY DOESiT HappEN?Most flsh nts deend on the

totl ndcto blb tte

(wtts) to contol the flsh

te. Tht s hy een hen

conentonl blb blos thee e

less wtts connected to the flsh

nt nd the flsh te nceses.

Tyclly blbs e n the ne

of 10 to 20 wtts, hlst LEDs

ndctos e ond 0.5 to 1

wtt, deendn on ho mny

LEDs thee e nsde. The lo

oe consmton of the LEDs

stffs the flsh te, so yo

need to ncese the oe dn.

Ths s done by ddn smle

comonent clled essto

beteen the oste nd nete

es on to ech ndcto.

pc one shos ht the lod

on the flsh nt s th stock 10

wtt blbs, fo one LED ndcto

nd to LED ndctos. Ths

shos tht the LEDs t mch less

wtts lod on the flsh nt nd

ext s eqed, hch cn be

done th esstos.

wHaT vaLuE rESiSTOr?Fo ech blb yo e elcn

th LED cke, he look

t the blb wtte, then dde

200 by the blb wtte nd

tht s the essto eqed o

htee s the neest stock

le. Note –yo don’t need

to by essto th the sme

oe tn s the blb, becse

t s stchn on nd off, so

ee oe s bot hlf. So

f t s 10 wtt blb, by

5 wtt essto. Fo 10 wtt

blb yo need 200 dded by 10

eqls 20 Ohm essto.

Fo ths t, i ent to the locl

electoncs sho nd d 40 cents

fo ech essto. One fo ech LED

ndcto nd note – yo do ths

to ech sde of the bke.

wHErE DOES THErESiSTOr gO?it doesn’t mtte jst s lon

s t s n the ndcto n

beteen the oste nd

nete es. The essto

ll et m/hot, jst lke the

onl blb s hot, so lce t

somehee y fom lstcs,

othe cbles etc. nd ot of

the ethe. Yo cn solde

them n, se temnl block o

een those connectos tht ct

thoh the e’s nslton.

LED ndctosnd eletc sFitted LEDs and now they're flashing like mad?

bike tech 

Words & PiCs:  RIchARD cOLLINS 

tech tIpS 

RB  LEFT: If you have gone to

LEDs front and back, you

can do each indicator as

above or just do them in

one place.

 

NOTE: The exposed wire

of red (positive) cable

needs to be insulated, so

wrap some insulating tape

around to cover just those

exposed wires.

 ABOVE LEFT AND RIGHT: Connecting in the resistor, using a terminal or soldering.

 ABOVE: Cut the two wires going to the indicator and strip them back.