HOWTO: LED Turn Signals (Rizoma)

[mckinlk]

I browse the board several times a month for help on resolving problems and just seeing what people do to their bikes, and figured I provide my own assistance.  I just recently moved to AZ and the moving company that took my bike strapped it down too tight breaking off both right turn signals.  With the reimbursement money, I decided to splurge for the Rizoma Zero 11 LED turn signals (I got them from www.pjsparts.com).  It was $159 for all 4 indicators, 2 extenders, and shipping.  PJs is the best, very personal and professional, not to mention quick.  I order them on a Saturday and had them by Tuesday.

The indicators come stylishly packaged.


Here are the extenders I'll use for the front indicators.  They shouldn't cost $7, but help with making the indicator standout next to the headlight.


My rear indicators are a mod the previous owner did.  They were not a bad solution to clean up the rear but also were not very bright and noticeable.


The old turn aftermarket signals and the new Rizoma one use the same connector as the stock ones, making connections easy without needing to splice or use some other quick connects.  Although the connectors are very tight and my finger tips took a beating.


According to PJs product page for the Rizomas, if you are using the LEDs to replace a 21W incadecent bulb, then you need to use both resistors, connected in parallel.


Luckily for the price you pay for these indicators, Rizoma includes all load resistors.


Note, Rizoma has updated their design and it no longer includes the black box with the magic circuitry.  Reports on the net claim this reduced the voltage to 6V (being an EE, it annoys me when people interchange voltage and current if you noticed the mistake on PJs page).  I am not sure if the circuitry has been moved to within the LED housing but I'm not about to tear it apart to find out.

Putting four identical resistors in parallel (two in the front, two in the rear for each side) reduces the overall load to 1/4 of the value.  I didn't play around with the loading and just followed the instructions, and the end result was a standard blink rate.  I plan to get an electronic relay in the future to clean everything up and actually benefit from the LED change over on the reduced power side of things.

Unfortunately having just moved, I did not have access to my DMM to report the resistance of the loads.  I can dig around for it and measure them if people are interested.

Mounting is quite simple.  After removing the old rear indicators, I am left with what I believe is the OEM hole where the indicator stalks connected to.


I was not prepared for this large hole, and the supplied washers are not large enough to cover them.  To get by, I sliced up the rubber backing from the old indicators and used them as a large washer.  I'll be correcting this with some larger painted washers when I go back and remove the load resistors.


For the Rizoma indicator and loads, the connections are straight forward, red to red and black to black.  Connecting back to the bike, you just need to remember that the black/white wire is the ground and that is what the Rizoma black wire connects to.


After installing each indicator, I would turn on the ignition and test out the illumination (verify wiring is correct) and watch the blink rate.  After completing the rear, the blink rate was still standard.  I had some concerns on what the front would do to the circuit as I read several reviews on PJs site that people just gave up on the front as they could not obtain a standard blink rate.

Here's the damaged front indicator.  The rubber stalk was torn off of the metal bolt that holds it to the frame.  I am sure I could have repaired this with some epoxy, but it wasn't my fault so I wanted it fixed right.




I started by removing the headlight lens.


Followed by removing the pivot bolts to gain access as the nut holding on the indicator.


Then it is as easy as removing the bolt, and pulling out the wire.  Install the Rizoma indicator in reverse but first remember to thread on the extender.  It is a bit tricky feeding the leads through the washer and nut but you just have to do one lead at a time.


Tidy up the wires (I used the cable clips to hold onto the load resistors) to get ready to install the headlight lens.


And here is the final product.  I really like the look of them, very compact and clean.  The look I feel goes well with the GS even though its not Italian blood 


Some shots of the rear


Here is the light on (best I could do, but this is at 3PM in AZ).  It is much more visible than the aftermarket bulbs and even better than the stock ones.


Finished it up just before the "rain" came...