Anyone know about indicator relays

[Austin]

Not a TA or AT problem but on my son's Honda city fly. One of the rear indicators is broken so we replaced both with a pair of cheap Motrax one's (£9.99). What I didn't realise was that these have small 2.3watt bulbs and flashed too fast. So, he took 'em back and replaced them with some 21watt halogen units but these also flashed too fast. The original fitment bulbs are 10w and if I cobble up the bust indicators they work fine and flash at normal rate.

The TA has 21watt indicator bulbs but when I ran the 2.3watt replacments on my TA they wprked fine, as do the 21watt halogen jobbies, (which I have claimed for myself. ).

So, why will the TA flasher relay run both 21watt and 2.3watt bulbs, but the City fly relay is so sensitive it will only run a 10watt bulb at the rear.

This electrickery stuff baffles me. I suppose an answer is to upgrade his relay and fit 21watt bulbs all round.

[Lumiya]

Not a TA or AT problem but on my son's Honda city fly. One of the rear indicators is broken so we replaced both with a pair of cheap Motrax one's (£9.99). What I didn't realise was that these have small 2.3watt bulbs and flashed too fast. So, he took 'em back and replaced them with some 21watt halogen units but these also flashed too fast. The original fitment bulbs are 10w and if I cobble up the bust indicators they work fine and flash at normal rate.

The TA has 21watt indicator bulbs but when I ran the 2.3watt replacments on my TA they wprked fine, as do the 21watt halogen jobbies, (which I have claimed for myself. ).

So, why will the TA flasher relay run both 21watt and 2.3watt bulbs, but the City fly relay is so sensitive it will only run a 10watt bulb at the rear.

This electrickery stuff baffles me. I suppose an answer is to upgrade his relay and fit 21watt bulbs all round.

The indicator relays that flash normally no matter which bulbs you use are electronic relays, they have a little independant circuit that does the timing of the flash.

The relays that are bulb dependant are non-electronic, they use a simple capacitor/resistor and power through the bulb to determine the flash timing, change the bulb and the timing changes as well.

See if you can get an electronic replacement for the other relay, that way you won't have this problem again.

Kymmy

[Austin]

Thanks Kymmy. I have since been doing some research - well "googling" stuff. I now understand that there are 2 types of flasher units - electronic and mechanical. Mechancial one's are cheap and are rated against the wattage and number of bulbs to be run. I also have since discovered that the bulbs in the Motrax units are 23watts not 2.3 watts (eyesight... age.. oh dear ).

So cheap way to get the indicators working properly is an inexpensive mechanical flasher unit - £5, and upgrade the 2 bulbs in the front units to 21watt. Will be done this evening.

[Austin]

Done it a 23watt - flasher unit at a rip off £6.95 but it was a direct swap and didn't bother changing the front bulbs. Perfect - except caught the throttle cable on the tank replacing it. Still gives the lad some practice doing some home maintenance.