Does my pre-gen need the diode mod?

[mayonaise_invasion]

Meant to post this a long time ago. anyways, quite a ways back I bought flush mounts and i moved the rear blinkers into the pods. both the flush mounts and the pods are clear smoked lens, so with the stock bulbs they flash white instead of amber, which isnt a huge deal but i bought amber leds for both the front and back. when i put the leds in, they wont come on at all. no flashing no nothing. no matter what combination i put them in (just one, all 4, whatever) i cant get any of them to light up or flash. will the diode mod solve my little problem? keep in mind that my brake light is a red led and it works like a champ. go fiure

[Alex]

[fast1075]

Some LED bulbs are polarity sensitive. That is, if the ground and power leads are backwards, they won't work.

[choneofakind]

The diodes are only to correct for 4-way flash due to back flow through the indicator bulb.

You need to check that all your LED bubs are inserted into their sockets in the correct orientation.

[M42]

Sorry, I can't help you with your issue, but I'd like to know where you got the leds. I've been looking to replace the crappy bulbs on the ninja for a while. The vibrations from this bike kill filaments like crazy.

[flitecontrol]

I don't know if the Ninja comes with an OEM thermo-mechanical flasher or an electronic one. If it's thermo-mechanical, you need to swap it out for an electronic one when using LED turn signals. The LEDs don't draw enough power to activate a thermo-mechanical flasher. Most auto parts stores carry replacement electronic flashers. Take the old one with you to match the pins on the flasher.

[Kruse08]

This what I just bought and I am waiting to receive it. Buy this as it should fix the issue. I have LED turn signals and they just turn on and stay on but do not flash and this should correct the issue.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/morei...asher/193/841/

[fast1075]

When I installed LED's I had the same problem. The polarity was wrong, swap the wires around.

After that, if all four flash at once, you need the "Diode Mod", that will make them work left to right, but they will flash very fast. The electronic flasher will cure that problem.

Summary: polarity matters, diode mod stops the "all four at once problem", electronic flasher cures the "too fast" problem. Three distinct, but interrelated issues.

[baxtc1]

Originally Posted by M42

Sorry, I can't help you with your issue, but I'd like to know where you got the leds. I've been looking to replace the crappy bulbs on the ninja for a while. The vibrations from this bike kill filaments like crazy.

My tail light went out a few months ago, while replacing that I went through the rear indicators as well. The bulbs must have been originals as they were 23 watt (21 watt used in Aus.).
These are not available in Australia as far as I can find.
1992 model, not bad for lights.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by fast1075

Some LED bulbs are polarity sensitive. That is, if the ground and power leads are backwards, they won't work.

LED = Light Emitting Diode
Diode = Only allows electricity to flow one direction

No LED should allow a reverse connection, though I can see an assembly that includes two LEDs allowing it. Heck, they've got some component-sized LEDs with built-in flashers!

[LittleRedNinjette]

Originally Posted by flitecontrol

I don't know if the Ninja comes with an OEM thermo-mechanical flasher or an electronic one. If it's thermo-mechanical, you need to swap it out for an electronic one when using LED turn signals. The LEDs don't draw enough power to activate a thermo-mechanical flasher. Most auto parts stores carry replacement electronic flashers. Take the old one with you to match the pins on the flasher.

^^ This. Get a LED flasher relay.

We've done that on all the bikes. A "heavy duty" flasher would probably work to.

[choneofakind]

Originally Posted by CZroe

No LED should allow a reverse connection, though I can see an assembly that includes two LEDs allowing it. Heck, they've got some component-sized LEDs with built-in flashers!

You're arguing semantics. LED bulbs that plug into standard bulb bases also have some simple circuitry in them that means the whole bulb system, not just the physical LED itself, can be described as polar or non-polar.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

You're arguing semantics. LED bulbs that plug into standard bulb bases also have some simple circuitry in them that means the whole bulb system, not just the physical LED itself, can be described as polar or non-polar.

Until recent years, LED always referred to the components. It wasn't until we had mass-market LED backlight HDTVs, OLEDs, and headlights that people started ignoring what it meant. I stand against such use, as it promotes misinformation. For example, the reason LED was important to HDTVs originally was because they used an array behind the panel for even backlighting and could turn off the backlight in areas that were supposed to show black, improving black levels and lowering power consumption. It was impressive and earned a bullet point on the box, so then everyone wanted their TVs to have that same bullet point. TVs with LEDs doing nothing more than replacing traditional CCFL started getting "LED!" printed on the box even though there was almost no advantage. They were side-lit and so black levels and consistency remained every bit as poor, but that didn't stop customera from thinking it was something new and desireable! Almost immediately, salesmen started equating it with the display type ("Plasma, LCD, or LED?") and consumers followed suit, especially once there was a display type with "LED" in the name (OLED, which is COMPLETELY different). There is NO SUCH THING as an "LED TV" no matter how many boxes you see with that label! It is the backlight technology, which marketers almost never distinguished before they realized how easily duped people are.

Anyway, the simplest way to make a dual-polarity LED is to use two LEDs. I mentiomed that they do sell blinking LED components because it is interesting and makes me wonder if they will ever sell a dual LED component.

[choneofakind]

Yes, I'm aware. But you correcting wordage online has no effect on the general public.

Like I said, the bulbs that use a standard base and have a cluster of large LED's on them also have some basic circuitry so that the same physical LED's light up, regardless of which base terminal is hooked up to which power lead. Or, if they're simpler and don't have the circuitry required to be 'non-polarized', they're just labelled as polar and require some thought/labeling to make sure they're hooked up correctly.

General public = stupid. No use wasting energy.

Marketing department =/= engineering department.

[flitecontrol]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

General public = stupid. No use wasting energy.

Aren't members here part of the general public?

There's a difference between stupid and ignorant. Most folks are ignorant about some things, some are ignorant about many things. At one time, everyone was ignorant about everything. But those who learned/gained knowledge were no longer ignorant about the things they learned. No one knows everything.

Stupid means foolish, slow, simpleminded, idiotic, etc. You can't fix stupid, but you can ignorance.

[choneofakind]

Point taken, I should have written ignorant instead of stupid. I tend to use the two interchangeably when I shouldn't.

We could still make a strong argument for using stupid to describe the majority of the population of the world, but that's very OT and not necessary.

[InvisiBill]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

You're arguing semantics. LED bulbs that plug into standard bulb bases also have some simple circuitry in them that means the whole bulb system, not just the physical LED itself, can be described as polar or non-polar.

I think CZroe was just trying to point out that an LED is inherently a polar device, so unless the LED bulb was wired up specifically to work around that, all LED bulbs should be polar, and therefore would require proper installation, as you already mentoined. I don't think he was trying to be pedantic, but rather point out that with most LED bulbs (all of them that I've dealt with) you'll need to pay attention to their polarity, not just on a handful of cheap knockoff items (as might be inferred from the "some" in fast1075's statement).

Originally Posted by fast1075

Summary: polarity matters, diode mod stops the "all four at once problem", electronic flasher cures the "too fast" problem. Three distinct, but interrelated issues.

This is a good summary of the issues. They often pop up together, but they're separate issues caused by separate things, with separate fixes. The diode mod won't fix hyperflashing, a new flasher won't fix reversed signal wires, etc.