KFunk Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I've noticed on other bikes the turn signals stay on all the time solid during just normal riding, kinda like 'running lights.' I figure its a good safety feature. Is my xs400 supposed to do that? Right now they only blink when I flip the switch. By the way, I just got a new left control assembly on ebay and hooked it up, and its the first time I've used the signals. Is pushing in on the switch supposed to turn the blinker off? Mine doesn't seem to want to do that. I just have to lightly push it the opposite direction to get it to turn off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up.yours Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 I've noticed on other bikes the turn signals stay on all the time solid during just normal riding, kinda like 'running lights.' I figure its a good safety feature. Is my xs400 supposed to do that? Right now they only blink when I flip the switch. By the way, I just got a new left control assembly on ebay and hooked it up, and its the first time I've used the signals. Is pushing in on the switch supposed to turn the blinker off? Mine doesn't seem to want to do that. I just have to lightly push it the opposite direction to get it to turn off. yup they are supposed to blink, they tend only to stay on when one indicator has blown or the battries flat, on my 81 rd the switch if pressed canceles the indictor ,a very good idea that yamaha doent seem to apply to their modern bikes any more,but thought yours should support this feature,{but not 100% sure} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttaskmaster Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Depends.... A lot of American bikes DO have the indicators on continuously as running lights. But then it seems to be variable. So long as it works how you want and flashes when it has to, I'd not be too worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFunk Posted August 11, 2009 Author Share Posted August 11, 2009 Depends.... A lot of American bikes DO have the indicators on continuously as running lights. But then it seems to be variable. So long as it works how you want and flashes when it has to, I'd not be too worried. Well, I'd kinda like to have the running lights if its not too hard to get them working. As it is with just the headlight, at night my bike could be confused with a car with one headlight out (a common sight here in Appalachia...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Welch Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 I've noticed on other bikes the turn signals stay on all the time solid during just normal riding, kinda like 'running lights.' I figure its a good safety feature. Is my xs400 supposed to do that? Right now they only blink when I flip the switch. By the way, I just got a new left control assembly on ebay and hooked it up, and its the first time I've used the signals. Is pushing in on the switch supposed to turn the blinker off? Mine doesn't seem to want to do that. I just have to lightly push it the opposite direction to get it to turn off. No they are not running lights, they only blink when used as turn signals, the rest of the time they are off. As for the turn switch, it should turn off by pressing it in. If it's not working it may need to be opened up and cleaned and lubed (mine did) to get it to work, as the original lube is pretty much hardened and such now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Welch Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Well, I'd kinda like to have the running lights if its not too hard to get them working. As it is with just the headlight, at night my bike could be confused with a car with one headlight out (a common sight here in Appalachia...) This would take considerable work, and will very likely result in the battery running down all the time as the charging system can just barely handle the stock electrics. That said, to make them work as marker and turns both you will either have to find a module that will run them at 1/2 bright when not blinking (I saw one once somewhere but can't remember where, but they are usually sold for the rear signals), or you will need to find 1157 sockets to fit into the front turn signals and run an extra wire for each as well (which can be difficult as the fit is pretty tight even for the single wire used stock) and hook that into the line for the low beam on the headlight (the 400 has no line to power marker lights like some of the larger models do), especially since you really don't want to have them running on high beam anyways). Also you should consider changing at least the brake light to LED bulbs, I picked up a set of direct replacements for mine at Autozone (but all the major auto parts stores seem to have them) for about $14 for a pair, and it actually makes a big difference. When I put the tail trunk on my XS1100 I changed out all the lights on it (4 of them) to LED as well since they work as both marker and brake lights. What I like about that is the area behind me lights up brightly when I apply the brakes at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttaskmaster Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 No they are not running lights, they only blink when used as turn signals, the rest of the time they are off. Mate of mine has a Honda Nighthawk 550. His indicators are always on. This is what confused the heck outta me when I first saw it. Apparently it's particular to US bikes and standards may have changed since '83 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFunk Posted August 12, 2009 Author Share Posted August 12, 2009 My friends' '79 KZ650 has the indicators on all the time, so apparently other companies have done it for a while. If it requires a full rewiring, then I'm not gonna worry about it. As for the push-button turn signal off, I dunno what the problem is. The switch is greased up inside and it slides around fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up.yours Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 My friends' '79 KZ650 has the indicators on all the time, so apparently other companies have done it for a while. If it requires a full rewiring, then I'm not gonna worry about it. As for the push-button turn signal off, I dunno what the problem is. The switch is greased up inside and it slides around fine. it shouldnt matter about the push thingy,they should still self cancel any way, its a combinaition of speed + time laps mi-thinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KFunk Posted August 12, 2009 Author Share Posted August 12, 2009 it shouldnt matter about the push thingy,they should still self cancel any way, its a combinaition of speed + time laps mi-thinks. Yeah, that doesn't work so well either..... occasionally it'll kick off, but not that often. At least its better than hand signals, which I've been using since I bought it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttaskmaster Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 I thought only Beemers had self-cancelling indicators... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jryan88 Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 yeah my switch on my 81-xs400 doesn't shut off all the time when you push it in....some times it does. but mostly i push it to the opposite direction. and some times left takes two pushes to stay on. I just figure, Its a old switch, i'll deal with it. yeah and that self canceling directional are pretty sweet, i was surprised. i know know how they work, black magic? tip censor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up.yours Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Yeah, that doesn't work so well either..... occasionally it'll kick off, but not that often. At least its better than hand signals, which I've been using since I bought it.at least with arm signals you dont forget to cancle them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up.yours Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 I thought only Beemers had self-cancelling indicators...were you been all your life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttaskmaster Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 were you been all your life Well, I know some bikes auto-cancel after 15 seconds or so, but I consider self-cancelling to be more like the mechanism on a car. Goldwings probably do it too, don't they? They do everything. But no bike I've ever ridden myself has had SC indicators.. including some '08 models. But anyway - What's the deal with this Running Light concept? On, Off or depends on your bike/state laws etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Welch Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 Mate of mine has a Honda Nighthawk 550. His indicators are always on. This is what confused the heck outta me when I first saw it. Apparently it's particular to US bikes and standards may have changed since '83 Yeah, my 75 honda had running lights too. As does my 80 XS1100, but the XS400 doesn't. A lot of the XS line didn't have them, particularly the specials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy Welch Posted August 26, 2009 Share Posted August 26, 2009 yeah my switch on my 81-xs400 doesn't shut off all the time when you push it in....some times it does. but mostly i push it to the opposite direction. and some times left takes two pushes to stay on. I just figure, Its a old switch, i'll deal with it. yeah and that self canceling directional are pretty sweet, i was surprised. i know know how they work, black magic? tip censor? There is a unit under the tank that handles that. With the stock blinker unit the third pin is an enabler and when you push the signal switch to the right or left a signal is sent to the tunr canceler and it enables the flasher, it also has a magnetic reed switch in the speedo that sends it signals so it knows if your moving and approx how fast/far. I'm working on figuring out how to retain auto cancel with an aftermarket flasher so I can use LED bulbs without load equalizers (which defeats the purpose of the LED bulbs which is to lower current draw on a stretched as tight as a drum charging system). But as I was saying, those auto cancel units can go bad, as mine has partially done. When the temps get hot, it stops cancelling, (this is on my 400) and the auto cancel unit seems to be made of unobtainium. So next would be to reverse engineer that unit as well, but I'm not sure it's worth it (the flasher adapter might be as I suspect it's going to be simple to make, but I haven't gotten far enought on it to be sure yet.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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