Terrible Tom <silvereightynine@aol.com> wrote:
[...]
> Stopping: Center brake light on - two turn signals (red) on steady
> as additional brake lights.
> Wen turning left, apply brake, center brake light on, right turn
> signal on steady - left turn signal flashes. Same kind of deal when
> turning right.
> See where I'm going with this? Its the same principal as the
> Dakotas stop lights/turn signals. What in the circuit causes them
> to flash when the turn signal switch is on with the brake applied?
> Somewhere something overrides or ignores the brake light signal -
> and allows the lamp to flash?
It depends on the vehicle - sometimes a separate bulb is used for
the brake and turn signal (or a separate filament in the same bulb),
this is referred to as an independent bulb system; with that setup the
brake light and turn signal can be on at the same time because they
are different circuits and no "override" is necessary. The other type
is a common bulb system where the brake light and turn signal share
the same bulb. With that system, there needs to be some sort of
override when the brake and turn signal are on at the same time. I
don't recall offhand which of these systems the Dakota uses.
[...]
> Any ideas as to how I can pull this off?
I went through a very similar thing when adding turn signals to my
'47 Willys. The brake lights on there are actually trailer lights,
and I wanted to add turn signals to this vehicle which had none
previously. Trailers use a common bulb system and the bulbs in these
lights were monofilament, which means I'd have to use some sort of
override in order to have a turn signal and brake light on at the same
time. I actually did design a system to do that using a couple of
relays, but then I stumbled across a converter box in a hardware store
which did the same thing, and best of all it was only $7 which was
cheaper than buying a couple of relays!
These converter boxes are designed to allow a vehicle with an
independent bulb system to run trailer lights which are common bulb.
That's basically the system you've got in your bike - the turn signals
are separate from the brake light. I would get one of those boxes and
then basically pretend that your turn signals are trailer lights, and
wire it up accordingly. Disconnect the wires from your bike to the
current turn signals and feed them into the converter box as inputs.
You'll also tap into the brake light circuit to provide that signal to
the box. The box will then control your turn signals, using them as
brake lights and flashing them as turn signals as well; the override
to allow the a signal to flash when the brake is on is built into that
box.
I notice that there are converter boxes out there designed for
motorcycles to do exactly what you are looking to do (search for a
Signal Dynamics turn signal converter), however they appear to be
about $60 which is a lot more than $7. :-)
Anyhoo, I'd take a look at using one of those trailer light
converter boxes; can't beat 'em for the price! (Heck, you might even
have one sitting on a shelf at work!) :-) The only catch in your
particular case is these are designed for cars so the physical size of
the box is going to be bigger than the ones designed specifically for
motorcycles, but as long as you have a good mounting location on the
bike, a $50 savings is nothing to sneeze at. :-) (If you aren't able
to find one with a small enough footprint, as I mentioned above, I did
design a system that would do this using a couple of relays, and there
shouldn't be a problem finding room for a couple of standard
automotive sized relays somewhere on a bike. I didn't save the
design, but if I came up with it once I can probably do it again, so
if you need it, let me know and I'll see what I can come up with.)
Good luck with it! Let me know if I can be of any assistance.
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
`-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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