Electrical Connection LED Turn Signal Modification

By Dave Ritsema

After waiting several months I finally received my kit from http://www.electricalconnection.com

I had seen these kits advertised months earlier but they apparently were still in the developmental phase. The premise of the kit was to turn the stalk mounted turn signal lights on a standard or tourer into red running and brake lights while still maintaining their legality as amber turn signals. In a nutshell, the way this is accomplished is by mounting a circuit board with super bright red LED’s on top of your incandescent bulb. When you’re in the running lamp mode, the lens appears red, when braking, an even brighter red and when you turn, the LED’s shut off and you have amber turn lights.

Step 1 involved removing the LED’s from the shipping packaging. You see the two LED packs, two circuits, and a package of electrical connectors, many of which most purists won’t use, i.e. wiretaps.

The included instructions were quite clear, with the possible exception of how to tap into the bikes wiring. Remember that this is a universal kit, not made special for the Valkyrie. The only part of the kit I wasn’t real keen on was the wiretaps, or as some call them "scotch locks". I chose not to use them, favoring a more permanent method instead (soldering).

Step 2 begins with the removal of the license plate and its bracket. This step may be unnecessary, but I found the pod easier to deal with and less prone to scratching the rear fender when these items were removed. Next the chrome pod is removed, by removing the two M10 bolts inside the rear fender. After these bolts are removed pull the top away from the fender and lift up; as a small notch in the fender with it’s corresponding small bracket also help hold the assembly together. The wiring connections must then be unplugged. They are all color-coded, but if you are anal like me you mark them anyway.

  

Step 3. Involves the mounting and routing of the LED’s to the housing. First remove the two Phillips head screws holding the top and bottom halves of the housing together. This will aid in the routing of the wires. Also remove the screws holding the turn signal heads in place, In order that they may be manipulated at will. Remove the bulbs, and carefully rotate the inner reflector slightly, this will allow it to become released from the assembly. We must drill a hole in this reflector for the LED wires to run back into the bikes wiring harness. Using a drill, carefully drill an appropriately sized hole in the bottom of the reflector so that the wires may pass through.

  

After mounting the LED’s to the bulb as per the instructions, I un-taped the factory harness and carefully slid my wires along with the factory ones. I also slit a small hole in the grommet and slid the wires through, ensuring a weather tight seal. After retaping the harness ends, it looked like it came that way from the factory. I then carefully inserted the bulb, pulled up the slack wires and careful reinstalled them in the turn signal housing. Pull all your wires through the same channels as the factory wiring and have them come out in the large open area on the backside of the housing.

Step 4, OK let’s wire this sucker! The directions provided were quite clear in this regard. However, being the anal type I was not into using wiretaps. Instead I opted to strip away a bit of insulation, solder in my connection and reinsulated the wire. All the Honda connectors are the bullet types, and if I had it to do all over again I would use "bullet Y’s" that would allow you to simply plug in to the factory wiring. (The Electrical Connection is ordering them as we speak) Simply wire as per the instructions, what you need to know however is what the bikes wiring color codes are:

Left signal – ORANGE
Right signal - BLUE
Running - COFFEE BROWN
Ground – GREEN
Brake - STD GREEN/YELLOW

There is a wiring harness included, which I assume includes a diode pack. I simply cut them to length and spliced them into the harness as per the directions. Keep your wires as short as possible, as you will have to stuff them all back inside the housing when you re mount it to the bike. After you are done, you will have mounted and attached all the wires but one. The brake light must be accessed from the tail light assembly. Below is a picture of the assembly after stuffing all the wires back inside the housing.

Step 5 involves running a wire down from your brake light down to the turn signal pod. First you have to remove the red lens and gasket. Then you must unbolt the tail light assembly from inside the rear fender. They are small-headed sleeve type bolts. Not entirely sure, but I believe they were M6. After removing the bolts, pull out the tail light assembly and disconnect the bullet connectors. On the brake light wire (GREEN/YELLOW), I tapped in a 16-gage wire and ran it back through the tail light grommet, and followed the harness down, bringing it out the lower turn signal cut out. I attached this wire into the LED harness, making my final connection.

 

Step 6 reassemble the taillight assembly to the fender. Then reassemble the turn signal assembly to the rear fender, taking care to insure your connectors have "snapped" into place. These wires are short, in a perfect world someone holds on to the assembly as you push the connectors back on. After carefully tucking the wires inside the housing push assembly into the lower notch on the fender and raise it up into place. Re install bolts and tighten bolts finger tight.

Step 7 turn on the ignition. If all went as planned, your turn signal lenses should glow red. Now pull the brake lever, they should get brighter. Finally, try the turn signals, the lens should glow amber. Pretty cool huh? You have now effectively tripled your rear lighting. Now that you know everything works, tighten all your tail light and turn signal pod bolts. Below are a few examples of how they look in use. One small disclaimer in regards to appearance. I am running a halogen brake light bulb that is already MUCH brighter than stock. So if the LED’s appear dim, it is for that reason. They actually are quite bright at night.

Day Braking

  

Night Braking

 

Night Running

Night Turn Signal