Multi purpose rear indicators- wiring diagram

Bob Jeffries

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Does anyone know the function of each of the 4 wires going to the latest multifunctional rear indicators?

I want to disconnect the brake light function, and possibly the rear running lights as I have an Ezycan with a pair of B6 additional rear lights fitted.
 
Denali manual for rear pods state:

BMW
• Ground - Brown
• Left Turn Signal - Blue w/ Red Stripe
• Right Turn Signal - Blue w/ Black Stripe
• Brake Light - Yellow w/ Gray Stripe OR Gray w/ Black Stripe & Yellow Dots

The missing one is the running light, but since there are 4 wires and the above gives you three it should be the one left over
 
Aftermarket ones also show this in their instructions.

3b989334cb3a3f399134c0dd4f55c75e.jpg
 
That would be interesting project.
When I got my 2021 GS I made sure it was still available with standard LED indicators and rear light so was fortunate to get it like that. So, got my bike in January 2021 with standard LED rear lights. Few months later I was coming quickly behind slow moving GSA. That GSA was behind other slow moving car and, by my understanding, had no intention to overtake. As I was still at speed and there was no oncoming traffic, I decided to keep pressing on and simply overtake those two vehicles. In that very moment GSA started to brake. I could clearly see its 3 brake lights as he had that new system with brake lights incorporated into indicators. I kept on overtaking and just when I was almost beside the GSA, he started to turn onto a side road to the left (almost invisible to me). Attention, in the country where I live we drive/ride at the right side of the road, oposite of the UK.
Well, if I knew it was a junction, I would brake and not even think about overtaking.
The vehicle at the front of the GSA kept on going forward.
Even today I don't know how we didn't colide. It was so close and so sudden that none of us couldn't even react. We both stopped and I came back to talk to GSA rider and try to understand what happened. He also wanted to know why I wanted to overtake while he was turning left. I said I had no idea that he was going to turn and he said he had his indicator on.
Well, neither I was able to see his indicator with the brake lights on nor he thought I would start to overtake while he was indicating to turn. He did see me coming in his mirrors.
At least all ended well in the moment when so many unfortunate elements have joined. At the end of the conversation, the GSA rider said he loved the rear indicators with riding and brake lights and front indicatrs with yellow riding lights, since the day he purchased the bike. But, he said, few months into the ownership, he started to get worried about the brake light and indicator on in the same time because he was aware that they were hard to be distinguished. At the moment of our "almost crash" he didn't have that fact on his mind... We exchanged Facebook contacts and said goodbye to each other. Few months later he's sent me Facebook message with a lot of photos. He decided to change the rear lights so went to the dealer and asked about it. The only way, they said, was to purchase new rear indicators (without brake and driving lights) and after that the bike had to be reprogrammed. That was what he did. On the photos, I could see his rear lights are now the same as mines. Indicators are only indicators and the rest is in the main rear light (there was no need for new center rear light).

Now, if it can be achieved just by cutting the grey wire, I guess it's great discovery and many riders would do it on their bikes. I just don't know if it would throw fault code on the dash.
 
Having followed friends with the multifunction indicators I’m not happy that my bike will have then when it arrives in March.

I asked the local dealer and they said the bike can’t be reprogrammed. I watched a video about them and the guy also got told by various dealers that it can’t be done. One even showed him the official response from BMW Germany saying no.

In anticipation of that I’ve bought some cheap replacements from China that I can sabotage the connectors on. My plan is to see if disconnecting the brake wire solves then problem, whilst not damaging the original indicators.

There are 3rd party indicators to fix the issue, but they’re very expensive.

https://youtu.be/GylcSoos714

https://youtu.be/3zN7DgycEwY
 
Just been to the web site. Very impressed.
Ordered the rear ones and just plain indicators for the front. Expensive but it’s only the kids inheritance!!!!


Product Quantity Price
EXTREME EVO Single Function Indicator - Medium-Stem (117 mm)
Turn Signal Housing Options:
Medium-Stem (117 mm)
Please select your lens colour option:
Clear
1 £99.00
EXTREME EVO Triple Function Rear Kit - Short-Stem (107 mm)
Rear Turn Signal Housing Options:
Short-Stem (107 mm)
Please select your lens colour option:
Clear
1 £249.00
Subtotal: £348.00
Discount: -£34.80
Shipping: £7.99 (incl. VAT) via Shipping
Payment method: Debit or Credit Card
Total: £321.19 (includes £53.53 VAT)
Bike Details R1200GS 2014
 
That would be interesting project.
When I got my 2021 GS I made sure it was still available with standard LED indicators and rear light so was fortunate to get it like that. So, got my bike in January 2021 with standard LED rear lights. Few months later I was coming quickly behind slow moving GSA. That GSA was behind other slow moving car and, by my understanding, had no intention to overtake. As I was still at speed and there was no oncoming traffic, I decided to keep pressing on and simply overtake those two vehicles. In that very moment GSA started to brake. I could clearly see its 3 brake lights as he had that new system with brake lights incorporated into indicators. I kept on overtaking and just when I was almost beside the GSA, he started to turn onto a side road to the left (almost invisible to me). Attention, in the country where I live we drive/ride at the right side of the road, oposite of the UK.
Well, if I knew it was a junction, I would brake and not even think about overtaking.
The vehicle at the front of the GSA kept on going forward.
Even today I don't know how we didn't colide. It was so close and so sudden that none of us couldn't even react. We both stopped and I came back to talk to GSA rider and try to understand what happened. He also wanted to know why I wanted to overtake while he was turning left. I said I had no idea that he was going to turn and he said he had his indicator on.
Well, neither I was able to see his indicator with the brake lights on nor he thought I would start to overtake while he was indicating to turn. He did see me coming in his mirrors.
At least all ended well in the moment when so many unfortunate elements have joined. At the end of the conversation, the GSA rider said he loved the rear indicators with riding and brake lights and front indicatrs with yellow riding lights, since the day he purchased the bike. But, he said, few months into the ownership, he started to get worried about the brake light and indicator on in the same time because he was aware that they were hard to be distinguished. At the moment of our "almost crash" he didn't have that fact on his mind... We exchanged Facebook contacts and said goodbye to each other. Few months later he's sent me Facebook message with a lot of photos. He decided to change the rear lights so went to the dealer and asked about it. The only way, they said, was to purchase new rear indicators (without brake and driving lights) and after that the bike had to be reprogrammed. That was what he did. On the photos, I could see his rear lights are now the same as mines. Indicators are only indicators and the rest is in the main rear light (there was no need for new center rear light).

Now, if it can be achieved just by cutting the grey wire, I guess it's great discovery and many riders would do it on their bikes. I just don't know if it would throw fault code on the dash.

So you mean he didn't indicate before he hit the brakes? Or were you driving so fast you didn't see his indicators before he braked?

But I guess either way, standard indicators may have made up by the poor riding by you or the other rider.
 
As your main intention is to insult, I don't know why you ask a question and expect the answer.

Nope, no insult intended, though I can understand that it was felt. My intention was/is to point out the fact that had the rider used his indicators in good time, ahead of breaking, as you expect any decent rider to do, or alternatively, if you hadn't been bombing it and so in advance had seen his indication ahead of the braking, it would have been a non-issue.

I've no idea which of those scenarios applies so wasn't looking to be accusatory, especially as we all push our bikes a bit from time to time. But at if you were right behind the rider for any length of time the clusters aren't so confusing as not to be able to see the indicators (rather than had you been at distance).

Either way, the situation does provide an example of how standard indicators may have prevented the situation, which is in fact the first time somebody has provided a decent example on this forum.
 
Denali tend to have good wiring connectors. They produce wiring bundles and cabling connectors.

I got a set of Denali T3 rear pods, and got all the connectors included to wire them directly in to my Hex EZcan.

Some good resources - Youtube - A Bike Thing.
 
UPDATE

I decided to get a cheap pair of Chinese multifunctional rear lights from Aliexpress to experiment on.

They arrived today. I connected one to try things out.

Firstly, the cheap Chinese units worked perfectly. I then cut the GREY wire of the 4 wires going to the multifunctional light unit. That resulted in both the red running light AND the brake light being disabled and NO fault messages on the TFT (so far). More experiments tomorrow.
 
UPDATE

I decided to get a cheap pair of Chinese multifunctional rear lights from Aliexpress to experiment on.

They arrived today. I connected one to try things out.

Firstly, the cheap Chinese units worked perfectly. I then cut the GREY wire of the 4 wires going to the multifunctional light unit. That resulted in both the red running light AND the brake light being disabled and NO fault messages on the TFT (so far). More experiments tomorrow.

That’s great news. I’ve had the cheap indicators for a couple of weeks, but won’t get the bike until March. I was planning on doing exactly the same thing.

Does that mean there’s no rear DRL at all?
 
I bought the Weiser Technik full kit for my 2021 GS after getting increasingly concerned about the rear indicators being out shone by the brake lights, plus the front indicators being on all the time confusing drivers.
I now have brilliant white, very bright front running lights that flash brilliant orange when indicating. No need for additional spots to be seen. The rear indicators cancel the brake/running light function when the indicator is flashing. Very bright.
Weiser Technic are great to deal with. A little pricey but I now feel safer and am quite disappointed that BMW doesn’t fit something like Weiser kit in the first place.

https://youtu.be/GylcSoos714
 
UPDATE

I decided to get a cheap pair of Chinese multifunctional rear lights from Aliexpress to experiment on.

They arrived today. I connected one to try things out.

Firstly, the cheap Chinese units worked perfectly. I then cut the GREY wire of the 4 wires going to the multifunctional light unit. That resulted in both the red running light AND the brake light being disabled and NO fault messages on the TFT (so far). More experiments tomorrow.
Hold on... You disabled both brake light and running light in indicator. But your bike doesn't have the running light in center cluster if it came from factory with running lights in rear indicators. Or it has standard running light in the main rear cluster?
I'm just a bit confused...
 
At the moment just cutting the grey wire disables both the rear red DRL and the brake light. I'm personally not bothered about that as I have a pair of Denali B6 rear DRL/brake lights but I'm still going to see if I can keep the red DRL and just lose the brake lights.

I've fitted a set of Denali T3s at the front with the white running lights powered from the Ezcan and the Indictators in parallel with the existing ones.

I looked at the Weiser units but beside being expensive all the electronics are in the indicator unit. A minor drop could mean a very expensive replacement unit.
 
I'm using the Denali T3's on the front with the white DRL's connected to a switched live and the amber indicators connected to the CANsmart.

At the back I've temporarily just cut the grey wires going to the indicators which disables both the red DRL's and the brake lights in the indicator units BUT does give an error on the TFT. Cutting one side grey wire doesn't give an error, you only get an error if you cut both grey wires.

Im OK without DRL's and brake lights in the indicator units as i have a pair of Denali B6 rear DRL's and brake lights. I'm experimenting with a simple solution to stop the error message, I'll report back next week.
 

My guess is to add a resistor to the cut wire (power side) and attach the other end to the brown wire from the indicator. This will keep the current to the DLR LEDs the same as when connected. Thus should then fool the CanBus system. Indicator end just seal.

Resistor size in Ohms = 12/(current in amps to DRL LED when on at its brightest - brake mode)
 


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