LED Taillight

Status
Not open for further replies.

92HD

New Member
Installed a led taillight on my motorcycle,When i use the turn signals i get a voltage drop of about 2 volts at the taillight and brake light if brakes are on.With the regular bulb tailight i never noticed the taillight dimming.Looks like a voltage drop through the wiring.Any suggestions on some kind of voltage regulator for my led light?
I was thinking about using 2 relays,going from a fuse on the battery through the contact to the led,but have limited space.
 
Are you using a load resistor to make the turn signal flash. Leds draw soo little current that you need to install a load resistor to make the flasher work. That load may be more than the original bulb, causing the drop.The led tail light should only draw about 150ma , as opposed to the incandescant at 3a..If the problem was in the wiring it would show up more with the incandescant than with the led..Was it a direct replacement bulb ,same number of pins on the socket etc..
 
gert

Installed a badlands turn signal load equalizer a couple of years ago to make the non stock turnsignals flash,not sure what the resistance is.The new led taillight is a lot brighter than the old taillight,it has a board with a bunch of led's on it.

Ed
 
Here's some of the possibilities that I can think of:
If you are checking with motor off ,you might have a weak battery.

There might be a bad(loose) connection in wiring or bad(high resistance)contacts on switch.

The tail light is wired backwards, bright for tail light and dim for brake..wouldn't account for voltage though...

With lights on:
I would check voltage at battery.
voltage going into headlight switch.
voltage leaving switch.
voltage at tail light, in that order. As soon as you see a drop it should let you know what to look for. A bad ground will give you a dim light, but again it doesn't account for the 2 volt drop..
Let us know what you find ,and what the voltage readings are.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…