1150 with fast flashers

[Benson]

Hey up

My 1150 single spark on a 2000.

Has decided to start flashing its indicators at double the speed.

It has progressivly got worse ie it would start at normal speed then after 4-5 flashes speed up until it basically just went straight to double speed all the time. Hazards work fine at normal speed.

I have changed all the bulbs and made sure they are the correct ones. I have checked all the earths and cleaned all connections. I have checked the rellay for water but have not changed it.

But I have managed to get it to go back to being intermitant again.

Basically I noticed when in the fuse box how noisey the ABS rellay was so actually pulled this out to see if it made any difference to the indicators. With that Rellay out it basically made no difference, so i cleaned it and put it back in and checked again. The lights worked fine engine running or just ignition on they would not flash any faster.

So last night thought i would double check to see if they were still ok and yes they were to start with, then doing further checks i can actually make them flash faster.

If I have indicators on and increase the usage by putting heated grips on or lights on full or blowing the horn this causes the lights to flash fast. the heated grips and lights being switched off makes the lights go to normal speed but after pushing the horn I have to turn off indicators and put back on to get them to stop flashing at twice the speed. I do not know much about the electrics as you can tell but it just seems that if I demand more power out of the system it pulls too much.

If any one has any ideas i would be very grateful it has been in to the BMW Garage for a couple of days and they are asking for it to be a week to source the problem and although I reported this fault with in the BMW warranty and they could not fix it the bike is now out of warranty and the will not do the work for free (i bought it last year 2nd hand with the full BMW warranty)

Thanx in advance

 

[Bronco Billy]

I had a similar problem with my Electricity meter. I just slapped a massive electro magnet on it and now the electric doesnt flow so fast ..

 

[sproggy]

Indicator flashing speed is generally determined by the load on the flasher relay which is related to the wattage of the bulbs. I know you said that you changed the bulbs but they sound like the most likely culprit - are you sure you fitted the right ones? They should be 21W. If you fit indicator bulbs with too low a wattage (for example 5W or 10W sidelight bulbs - same size and shape but different power) you will often get the symptoms you describe - normal flashing a few times then, as the filament heats up and its resistance changes, faster flashing.

This problem also aflicts bikes fitted with aftermarket LED indicators (which put much less load on the system than normal bulbs so cause fast flashing) and to solve that people use balast resistors like these:

http://www.getgeared.co.uk/s.nl/category./sc.1/.f?search=resistor

It's not fixing the problem but it will correct for it.

Incidentally it is my understanding of warranties that a problem reported while the warranty is valid should still be fixed under warranty even once it's expired. If you reported a problem today and your warranty expired tomorrow, the dealer could otherwise just keep the bike a couple of days and then say "Sorry, your warranty has expired - you have to pay for it". I'd suggest checking the Ts & Cs.

 

[Benson]

Thank you for that.

Yes I have the 21w bulbs fitted and the ones i took out were also 21w. I also checked all the wiring at each bulb as I have read a thread in here that seemed to point to the rear offside causing a problem. When I changed each bulb I also checked to see if the problem was fixed this included running the indicators with 1 bulb out this actually fixed the problem but obviously meant one indicator was not working.

As for the warranty side of things yes I thought the same but tbh the way I was made to feel for expecting a 2nd hand bike to be sorted by the BMW Garage i really dont want to return to them. May be just me but 2nd hand bike and you are a 2nd class citizen and not as important as a guy that is buying a new shinny Bike or if you want the full red carpet treatment buy a new BMW Car.

 

[Stewart H]

I seem to recall that normal behaviour for flashers is to go at double speed when a bulb fails, if removing a bulb is making yours run at normal speed then I would like to try a different flasher unit.
Stewart

 

[hitmanh]

Bah, electrical gremlins...

I've went though problems with double speed indicators and eventually tracked it down to dirty contacts in one of the flasher housings. I guess a bulb would shift slightly when going over a speed bump and lose connecton. Cleaned all 4 sets of contacts and never had it since.

I currently have a short in the heated grip wiring somewhere, so I've pulled the fuse for that, which solves my issues for now, though I'll need to get it sorted for the cold weather.

Cheers

Matt