ST1100 Blinking VVME 35 watt lights

HIDs can sometimes blink / flicker when system voltage is too low. Does the voltage at your battery increase or decrease when the engine is running? If it decreases you may have a charging issue. Also, what happens when you rev up the engine slightly?

The other thought is a loose connection somewhere that is sensitive to engine vibration.
 
Thanks for the input Jeff but all connections are new and tight. The battery is new and in good shape. They do not flicker but rapidly go on and off. They didn't go out all the way but rather looked like they were on a modulator.
I just talked to Rich and the fact that they will work fine with the TDR out of the equation may mean that the TDR is bad.
I hope I had mentioned that if I switch to the always on position on the switch all was good. It is just when the timer is in the mix and the bike is running that the freak out.
Thanks guys,
Mark
 
The electrical noise from the HID's or voltage fluctuations from the alternator may be interfering with the TDR.
 
bdalameda said:
The electrical noise from the HID's or voltage fluctuations from the alternator may be interfering with the TDR.
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I was wondering if maybe some electrical noise may the issue although I have not heard of anyone having trouble. I have it under the rubber mat at the front of the carbs where there ate three groups of wires coming to connectors. Lots of things to try. Better ground, move the TDR
 
I just saw this as I have been out with work issues. Like I mentioned if you want to try my TDR my bike isn't together and will be a while before I get it to that point. The problem is that I have no time to try an meet up with you. If you wanted to stop by my work or house I could leave it somewhere to pick it up as a test. Though I have never tried mine with the bike running. I don't have any coolant in it yet. Others have without issues. I doubt there would be interference where the wires are run. The ground is a very good possibility. Even with good wires they can be finicky. I would run a connection back to the (-) on the battery. The question about a common ground, sure you can do that. A 12 gauge wire would be all you need to run a single connection to the battery. You can run a 12 gauge wire that is 10' long running 12V will take a load of 50 Amps. The shorter the wire length the more it can take. If the wire from the common point to battery is 5' it will take 100 Amps. Either way it you are sending more than 50 Amps to ground for Farkles you are going to have other issues as I don't think it would take 10' of wire even if it was snaking all over the bike to get to the battery. This is why I use 14-16 gauge wire on a lot of my stuff on the bike when running back to the fuse block. Then I have 12 gauge running from that to the battery. It is a pretty short run though, 3' maybe so it will take 100 Amps. Way more than the fuse block and bike can take.

Give me a call if you need anything. I am swamped at work but can take a call.
 
Thanks Dave. I am going to run the wire to the battery and see if that will do it. Good to know it is not likely a noise issue.
I still have a hard time thinking it is a bad ground as I am on a bolt to the frame. But then I have a hard time with wiring in general so that should be no surprise ;>) Thanks again for your offer of your unit.
Mark
 
Thanks Mark, I appreciate it. I ran a ground wire from the battery to the front of the bike to ground several things including the VVMEs. I had hoped that would take care of my problem but it didn't. I guess that it points to a bad TDR. Will not know that till I try one that is known to be good. Maybe when Eric's gets in I can check with his. No big deal as far as being able to ride goes as I will just shut them off when I kill the bike. They work fine with the switch in the always on position. Hey, I just thought about trying a different switch. I would not think that it would be able to make the lights blink but till I try I can't rule it out.:shrug2:
 
Bigmak96 said:
Thanks Mark, I appreciate it. I ran a ground wire from the battery to the front of the bike to ground several things including the VVMEs. I had hoped that would take care of my problem but it didn't. I guess that it points to a bad TDR. Will not know that till I try one that is known to be good. Maybe when Eric's gets in I can check with his. No big deal as far as being able to ride goes as I will just shut them off when I kill the bike. They work fine with the switch in the always on position. Hey, I just thought about trying a different switch. I would not think that it would be able to make the lights blink but till I try I can't rule it out.:shrug2:
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I highly doubt it is the switch but you could reverse the wires on the switch to test. Leave the center wire there and swap the two outside wires. That will flip position I and II on the switch and what position deals with the TDR and which on the bypass.
 
The switch is not the issue as it is the same in either position. I will have to get ahold for the maker and see if he will send a replacement. I think i just got a bad one.
 
I know that I have emailed him in the past and he was good at getting back to me. In case he asks, you are not running any load through this as this is only being used to trigger the relay which is part of the HID kit that actually operates the lights and carries the load. Basically this shows that it isn't a case where the load was too much for the TDR. I think it is just a defective component. He has seen the article as I sent him a link to it shortly after it was originally posted.

Let me know if I can be of help.

Dave
 
I would think, it has to be a voltage issue. I would also try to run with out the TDR switch if at all possible. I feel your pain buddy. Do you want me to help out at all??? Just give me a call!
 
Thanks for the offer Guy. I love this community! Mark in Bloomington has offered as has Dave.
I am just going to use the switch and not bother with the TRD for now. I will contact the maker after Moonshine. The bypass switch, by the way was a stoke of genius Dave! It is allowing me to not worry about it now. Without it I would be stuck with a set of blinking HIDs or putting the H4s back in.
 
Bigmak96 said:
Thanks for the offer Guy. I love this community! Mark in Bloomington has offered as has Dave.
I am just going to use the switch and not bother with the TRD for now. I will contact the maker after Moonshine. The bypass switch, by the way was a stoke of genius Dave! It is allowing me to not worry about it now. Without it I would be stuck with a set of blinking HIDs or putting the H4s back in.
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Careful now, I don't want any of this talk going to my head.. ;)

Like I said early on in this project. I didn't want to get stranded by this so whatever I did I wanted a manual override. The TDR is nice but it adds complexity which is more prone to failure.

I really don't think it is a voltage draw issue. The TDR doesn't draw much of anything and if you were that close to the edge you would have other issues. Something as simple as applying your brake lights would cause them to blink or cut out in the bypass mode. They (the brake lights) would put more of a load on the system than the TDR. This means that the input to the TDR is bad, the ground or the TDR itself. Because it works with the bike off that makes me think the ground is fine. I don't think the TDR is prone to interference but do you have it mounted on the coils? About the only thing it could be then is a bad TDR which is what I suspect.

It is the only thing that makes sense electrically.

If you wanted to come grab mine that offer still stands. I am not going to be riding any time soon. I just found out I have to pull my Throttle Bodies again. The wire that goes up to the sensor on the air cover is pinched somewhere and isn't long enough to reach. Grrr. I discovered that when I went to hook it up to fire the bike so I could put it up on my lift. Oh well. They should come off easier this time.
 
Am I understanding that you too think it is the TDR then Dave? I have it mounted just under the rubber mat at the neck. There are many wires there in several connectors but sadly, I am ignorant as to where my coils are so I cant speak to that proximity question. I will look at it again after Moonshine.
 
Yeah, I really think it is the TDR.

After you asked where the coils were, I had to think. I just happened to have my shop manuals for the 1100 sitting next to me so I looked it up. I couldn't think of where they are either. Guess what. They are behind the steering head. That puts it right next to where it sounds like you mounted the TDR. Can this cause interference? I will say that it may be possible. I can't confirm because I really don't know how these are designed. I would say it would be ideal to avoid getting too close to the coils. They can produce a strong electrical field and if a traditional relay is used in the TDR (it is possible) then it is possible that the electrical field is messing with the operation of the relay. It is hard to say for sure but it is entirely possible. You said it works fine with the bike not running but it flickers when the engine is running. Does it change rate of blinking based off of RPM? If it is interference I would suspect that the blinking would match RPM. Maybe not exactly but roughly follow speeding up the rate as the RPM climbs and vice versa.

I know you have things buttoned up but when you return I would start by relocating the TDR. Even if just for a quick test. If that doesn't resolve it then it will likely be the TDR.

So that will give you something to try.

Have fun in Moonshine.
 
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