Dodgy indicators Mk3 Commando

Hi John,

By the time the the volts have made their weary way from the battery,throughthe fuse with the corroded contact, along the loom via a connector and up to the ignition switch with the worn contacts, off via another connector to the handlebar switch with connectors sat in dry grease, back down again to the headlamp shell, through a loose bullet connector and up to the bulb in a holder with a corroded contact and a dodgy earth, it's amazing it lights the bulb at all.

All you can easily do is make sure everything is clean and tight.

I had a similar problem with the headlights so I ran a fused wire direct from the battery to the headlight shell where I fitted a couple of relays, the switch simply controls the relays and the volts then get to the bulb with very little loss.

I am sure something similar could be done for the indicators, I will have a think and report back.

Regards

Tony

Look at the earth path on the wiring diagram and you'll notice it goes via the switch and the indicator warning lamp in the headlamp shell, can't remember exactly the route of the top of my head but it seems to be a way of using less wires. So check the cct for the headlamp indicator warning lamp as well, as a dirty contact there will not help either.

Hi John,

Afraid not, failed dismally. The indicator flasher works by the load from the bulbs causing a bi-metallicstrip to warm up and bend it away from the contact, it then cools down and makes the contact again, you cannot simply use the flasher to drive a relay as the flasher will not flash.

You could put a dummy load in (pretending to be a couple of bulbs) to keep the flasher unit happy and then take the voltage to switch a relay for each real bulb but this all starts to take up space. If you only have the headlamp shell to hide things then it is probably going to be too tight.

You could use a solid state flasher unit but the clever ones detect a low current (it assumes a blown bulb) and doubles the flashing rate so you would still need a dummy bulb.

I think the only real solution is to make sure everything in the volts path is good and clean.

Regards

Tony

Poor indicators as above, if bypassing the main fuse, ignition switch, etc causes them to flash better then of course the by passed switch contacts/connectors need significant attention. Very easy for those with some electrical knowledge but perhaps not so easy for others. I can strip and service some switches, some switches won't allow dismantling while other switches are just as well replaced. If the flashers work well when the switches are bypassed then the earthing for the indicators (which are notoriously unreliable usually) must be in working order.

A little tip I found recently, if your indicators are a bit slow from time to time (again due to low battery voltage and tired electrics etc), Then a cheap trick to get a faster flash is to increase the power of the indicator lamp from say 2W to 5 W. You might find this burns out the flasher indicator lamp holder!! But you could try fitting a brighter lamp and holder on the head lamp any way. I have used a Ford Escort side repeater lamp for this in the past. The brighter lamp also negates the attempt to try and fit a warning buzzer that you indicator are on but you never hear it above the wind and your engine etc. A bright lamps must be seen.

There is also on the market a huge number of flasher/relay units that work much better than the Lucas one on the Commando. Treat yourself.

Al Oz