Hello.

I need some help.....

Long story short, I rebuilt a bike that was trashed. It is a carbed bike. I do NOT have a computer, CANbus, EFI, or any of that fancy crap. I bought a bunch of take off parts and have converted everything back to old school 12 volt switches, etc.

I decided to use one of those fancy Dakota Digital speedometers that does everything but wipe your butt. I purchased a 2011 heritage dash to put it in. However, all the CANbus indicators that came with the 2011 dash did not work so I was just running all my dash indicators thru my Dakota speedometer.

The problem is, Dakota speedo indicators (left turn, right turn, bright, neutral, and oil) are small and not easy to see.

So...I decided to make my own indicators, using the original 2011 dash indicator housing. I purchase some colored LED lights, made a bracket to fit into the dash indicator housing, installed the lights, and hooked them up to the indicator wiring.

Everything works great EXCEPT the Neutral indicator. It appears there is not enough juice running from the Neutral switch to light up the 12volt LED light I purchased.

I know enough about electrical work to be dangerous, however, I took a multimeter to see how much juice I had on that neutral wire. I measured 228 mVolts = 0.228 Volts.

If this number is correct, I guess trying to get 0.228 volts to light up a 12volt LED light is the reason why it didn't work??

So is the answer: Find a lower volt LED light?

Thanks for the help!
D

 

transistors act as either a voltage amplifier or current amplifier or both and will light your LED. I've been out of the "deep dive electronics" for sometime so you're on your own but it can be accomplished fairly easily with a NPN transistor and a resistor or 2.

 

Thanks for the response!

I have a dumb question....how does the neutral switch normally work? I guess what I mean is...if you look at the left turn/right turn indicators, they are powered by my thunderheart wiring harness and the battery. However, the neutral switch is not powered. One wire goes to ground. The other signal wire goes to my speedo.

So I guess power is supplied by the speedo? Keep in mind I don't have an ECM computer and everything has been converted to 12v switches.

Thx.

 

according to HD diagrams, the neutral light is tied into the same +12v wire on the speedo (should be Pin #1) that the instruments fuse takes care of.

 

Sounds like you are describing a bike that has an ECM computer?

What if you don't have a computer? My bike is carbed. No computer. And I have a thunderheart wiring harness that did not include wiring for the neutral indicator...which means it's not connected to the battery.

 

well the neutral switch is a basic normally open switch.

one side is grounded, the other side goes to the device it's going to complete the circuit with when it's in the closed position.

so if you can get to the 2 legs of the LED itself, I wouldn't fool with the transistor method above. Simply ground one end of the neutral switch. Apply 12v to the LED. Apply the other end of the neutral switch to the 2nd leg of the LED. done.

 

Cool. Yeah I can get to the LED. I have a 2011 heritage dash that I'm using. I tore the guts out of the canbus indicator housing and made an aluminum bracket to hold my LED lights...so yeah they are available.

What you say makes sense...just disappointed that I wasn't seeing it! It's a wonder that I was able to get my bike wired and running at all!

I'll give it a try! I *really* appreciate the help!!

D

 

I guess the reason why I wasn't seeing that (what you suggest) is because i was thinking the power needed to be between the switch and the LED or between the ground and the switch, and the neutral signal traveled to the LED. I was incorrectly thinking this way because I work with dirt and water, not electricity. Learning more every day. This stuff is fun. Can't wait to get home to wire it up. Thanks again!

 

I would put something like a 1a fuse on the 12v in side just to be safe for testing. Not knowing the specs of the LED, I couldn't say how it will react.

 

I was thinking about just tapping into the Run power line running to my ignition switch. It runs back to my thunderheart microharness that has built in fuses....I think they are call thermal fuses or something...that reset themselves. What do you think?