LED Turn Signal and Fast Flash/No Flash Solution

[Brian-Mc]

I purchased my R6S and immediately purchased a sequential Rear Integrated tail light since the previous owner installed a high mount exhaust and removed the rear fender and turn signal assembly. They did not worry about reinstalling the rear turn signals but I felt it was too important.

I still had the factory front turn signals and simply replaced the "trick" flasher that was installed in the bike when I got it with a standard 552 mechanical flasher from Advance Auto ( or other local parts supply house ). This worked fine for me and did so without any problems with the rear sequential setup. I think if it were a standard LED integrated setup, it may have give me some problems, but with the sequential circuitry, the over all applied load to the turn signal wiring was sufficient for the flasher given that the factory bulbs were still installed in the front.

I have recently purchased a set of Hotbodies Flush LED Turns for the front. They look great installed. They do not have any "running" light option and are only for turn signals. Once installed the 552 did allow the rear to keep working but the front would only "dim" some when trying to flash. My dash indicators would come on and for all practial purposes stay on. They dimmed slightly too but you really had to be watching for it. I know adding in some load resistors would be a simple fix or as others have done, purchased the LED flashers from someplace online. I did not want to have to do so... I knew that with the automotive market these days and the recent increase of LED turn signals on the market for cars, a automotive flasher had to work. The R6S (and R6) has a two wire flasher circuit... X terminal is for 12 V power and L which is the load side of the circuit which actually applies the ground to the flasher module. After some research online, I found that some of the newer electronic flashers for some cars could work with some modification of cutting the burned out fast flash components out of the loop (all done inside of the black flasher module box.). After further reading, the Trico EP-36 (three wire) or EP-26 (four wire) module would work with LEDs as long as the case indicated LED on it. These have been updated to work with LEDs as the email I had seen from one of the Trico employees stated. I stopped by AAP this morning and picked up the EP-36.

The EP-36 has components that allow the use of low current LEDS compared to standard incedesent bulbs. They use the low current ground feed to the circuit to drive a transistor or similar switching component. This switching component then used the "third" terminal (marked "-" or ground on the case) to actually ground the flasher module and allow it to work. So by picking up this three wire module, hooking up the 12 V feed and load wires from the factory plug and the "-" terminal to the battery ground post, your LEDS will now work and flash at a "normal" rate. Not many people are interested in having to add an additional wire to the circuit but I felt this was much easier than having to add in the high heat resistors into my bike and possibly have something get hot, melt, and possibly catch fire.

After arriving at work, I looked up the Trico website and found that a EP-37 module is the two wire module and will work for LED's as well. This will allow the two factory wires to be used without having to add in the ground wire. The EP-37 is untested at this point by me but assume it should work give the specs listed on the website. Advance Auto does not have this module listed so it may not be as readily available as the EP-36.

I hope this post helps those who are looking for this solution as well as for those who have used load resistors and want to eliminate them from their bike.



good luck..

Brian