Seat Hinge

I order a Fabricator Kevin stainless steel seat hinge for the solo seat. It arrived today. This is the finest, most precise, stable seat hinge available on the market and is hand made in the USA by Kevin. Once the cold snap breaks here in FL, I'll start mounting it and measuring for a solo seat. I'm thinking of going bigger than smaller to match the fat tank look. More on the seat later after I mount the hinge.

Turns as Stop Lights Magic

Did some research on the web last year to find out how to turn turn signals into stop lights. I found this page How to Make a 2-wire Bulb Display Brake and Turn Signals. His page sometimes doesn't come up readily so I will replicate his info here, but give him all the credit.

The idea is to use 3 single pole double throw relays to feed power to the turns at the appropriate times. Normally they are off, but if the brake switch (light) is on, then power is fed to both the turns. Then if a signal is on at the same time as the brake, the signal feed alternates the appropriate turn relay causing the flash. And if the brake switch is off, then the signal feed alternates the appropriate turn relay providing power. Smoke and mirrors.

First the schematic.

Then, the pictorial of the relays.

The schematic shows diodes, but apparently with the brand of relay shown, it's not required.

Note, you WILL need to replace your turn signal flasher with one for LED lamps since the relays draw so little power.

New turns, tail and stop

Moving into the next phase of the project, I removed the rear fender and installed the new combo turns, tail and stop lights. I reused the electronic mod I had created with the previous setup that had used red turns with integrated tail light functionality and eliminated the single stop lamp. The mod uses the turns for stop lights, but retains the flashing of the turn signal. This is similar to the old 3-way car lights.

Now some pics.

I ordered the same turns as used in the first iteration. They include red lenses to provide stop and tail functionality. I extended the lamp wiring to snake them through the frame. They mount through a M8x1.25 threaded hole. And as it turns out, the passenger pegs mounted with that same bolt size so that's where they will go.

Jacked up and ready to go!

And of course my pit crew was there to help.

Just lucked out with the mounting location and already threaded hole.

The secret to the proper stop/turn functioning with two lamps is the series of three solenoids to flash the turns appropriately, left and right, and also switch the turns on for stop light. If stop and turn flashing at the same time, the flashing side works appropriately and the non-flashing side is still a stop light. I'll post the plans in the next blog post.

Light up and the right hand was flashing. Caught it while bright.

Very clean. Next step will be to replace the monster seat with a proper bobber spring seat. The fender will be next after that.