Turn Signal Conversion Kit Installation

by Michael Haworth

From	To

I wanted to make the rear of my Sabre as bright as possible so I purchased a turn signal conversion kit from The Electrical Connection which installs red LEDs around the signal bulb so that when your bike is running the turn signals glow red, brighter red with the use of the brakes. The LEDs are grounded to the signals positive lead so that when the turn signal bulb lights up the LEDs shut off, keeping the conversion legal for most states. It is also a neat effect, making the signal appear to change from red to yellow.
(Part Number 01314) wingthings-texas.com

The install was fairly easy enough. This is what came with the package from The Electrical Connection.

The most difficult part was deciding where to run the wires without too much fabricating. I started with removing the license plate holder and turn signal assembly from off of the fender. The bolts are under the fender (tire side). I then disassembled the turn signal assembly completely so I could route the wires. The LEDs slip onto the bulb so remove the signal bulb and slip the conversion kit LEDs onto the thickest part of the bulb. Make sure to moisten the bulb to ease this procedure and consider wearing gloves in case the bulb brakes.

The instructions say that you will need to drill a small hole in the assembly to route the wires. I was able to get them through the housing without any drilling. The metal backing plate that holds the bulb has two small brass screws holding it in place. Remove these screws and carefully pull the plate out of the signal housing. With this done you can pull some of the wire out of the “tunnel” and the patiently stuff the wires for the conversion kit along the other wires, through the housing. You can see the red and black wires in the photo below.

After pulling most of the wire thorough the housing, slide the original wires back into the housing and reinstall the backing plate and the bulb.

Repeat this procedure to the other side.

Now you can start connecting some wires. First separate the red from the black wire. Cut off any excess black wire and connect it to the positive lead of the turn signal that is on the same side as the unit. I cheated a little by removing about 1 inch of insulation from the black wire and then disconnecting the signal connector and sliding the wire up through the middle of the connector and bending it over the top and reinstalling the connectors. Not the nicest way to do it but it works. If you want to do it right, solder the connection and use heat shrink tubing.

Now reassembly the housing completely, run the red wires through the fender opening, and install signal housing back onto the fender.

Now comes the fun part, installing the wire connections to the brake light. Remove the brake light housing from the fender. You will note the there is only about one inch of extra wire coming though the fender which is not enough to work with so I removed my seat (easy enough with just 2 bolts and 1 nut to remove), disconnected the wire harness connectors under the seat and was able to feed another six or so inches through the fender so I could pull the brake light housing off further and actually work on it.

Now you get to connect the Run/Brake circuits. The company changed the wire colors in my kit so I had one of each color set up, but the company included a conversion so I could tell which wires went where. Essentially you connect the blue or black wires to the running light wire (brown wire) and the green or white wires to the brake light wire (green wire with white stripe). The kit includes some neat connectors that snap on the to existing wires and the have a butt connector for the Run/Brake circuits wires. It is a pretty clean installation. I still used some heat shrink tubing where I could. Then I ran the red wires from the LEDs up under the fender and through the brake light hole and connected the wires to the red wire of the Run/Brake circuits. I wasn’t sure which wire was which and I wasn’t sure why it would matter since both Run/Brake circuits were connected to the same wires on the brake or running light wire but apparently it does matter. I had them backwards and nothing happened. When I switched the wires it lit up nice and bright, so experiment before you get everything back together.

Once the wires are all connected, wire tie the extra wires into the brake housing and then reinstall the housing back onto the fender. Pull back some wire from where you pushed it through under the seat and reconnect the wire harness holder back onto the fender and reinstall you seat.

Now put back the lens covers if you haven’t already and marvel in the extra light coming from your back end.

Click on the images below to see video of before and after.

If you have any questions, you can e-mail me at: backdoc94@hotmail.com