[mpj220]

Aftermarket LED turn signal strips often put too much of a load on the stock flasher.
I added a 220 ohm resistor in-line with the turn signal input on my combo DRL / Sequential turn signal led strip.

Has worked perfect for almost 4 years now.

 

[mpj220]

Could you walk me through the details on how to do this? I'm having the same problem...bought SLINGMODS plug and play harness with the DRL conversion kit on my 2019, but still having the same issue as Chrismac. I have a technology back ground, but in computers and networks, unfortunately not electricity.

I'll make a drawing and post it up later.

 

[mpj220]

See drawing attached. I use a 220ohm, 2 watt resistor and it doesn't get hot. You can go higher in wattage if you want.

Many people also have an issue with 4-way flashers not working after adding DRL/turn strips. With Slingshot off and no key in ignition, 4-way flashers don't work with some DRL strips. This fixes that.

 

[mpj220]

I tried some 100 ohm 2 watt resistors I had on hand... oddly, it worked with the battery only on... but as soon as I started the engine, it blinked once then off as it had done with battery only... what about putting two 100 resistors in series? will that suffice for the 220? if not, I'll order some 220's....

You can put two 100's in series and it will be close enough to the 220 I am using.

I bought a combo pack of resistors from Amazon and tried a number of values. 220 seemed to be the sweet spot.

 

[mpj220]

I tried some 100 ohm 2 watt resistors I had on hand... oddly, it worked with the battery only on... but as soon as I started the engine, it blinked once then off as it had done with battery only... what about putting two 100 resistors in series? will that suffice for the 220? if not, I'll order some 220's....

I noticed on another thread that the added lights are a bit more than the typical trickled strips.

It looks like a 2020 aftermarket conversion light kit with lower gap filler lights.



No question, that will be way too much of a load on the factory flasher. You can try increasing resistor values as indicated above to see if you can find a spot that does not overload the factor flasher. This would be a crap shoot. Maybe 330 ohm or 400 plus would work. It all depends upon how the aftermarket lights operate for the flasher function. At some point, if the resistor finally satisfies the factory flasher but, it may drop voltage enough that the new flasher light doesn’t get enough voltage to make it work.



But, you can definitely get them to work by going with relays. I would suggest small relay such as these on each left and right circuit.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RVCFNCK/

They are cheap and you end up with extras. I also suggest lubing the plug and relay pins with dilectric grease to prevent corrosion.

I can make another drawing for the relay setup.

 

[mpj220]

This should work.

 

[mpj220]

Is there a way to change the blinker to get them brighter? They can't really be seen during the day..

Not that I know of. The factory flasher is an electronic flasher that has common power in and controls all flashing individually. It is very sensitive to adding additional load. This is the pin-outs for it:

The lights you have clearly draw too much for the flasher module so relays are the only option to isolate and re-direct where power comes from.



The 2020 and above no longer have the flasher module. It appears they changed to two computers. One is an ECM (engine control module) and the other is a VCM (vehicle control module). I believe all flasher activity is now within the VCM.

 

[mpj220]

Can you give me some direction on installing and wiring the relay? I've zero experience with relays other than replacing a blown one. Much appreciated, this forum is teaching an old dog new tricks....

The “easiest” way is to install the relays up front and wire as per post #12.

Personally, I solder and waterproof shrink wrap all my connectors so I am not chasing problems later down the road. I believe the relays I suggested are fairly small and should hide easily behind the aftermarket 2020 light, maybe even on one of the lugs on the back.

 

[mpj220]

now I'm felling like a complete twit. Looking at #12 and trying to understand how this redirects the power source as it looks like the relay and all wires are between the factor turn signal and the DRL which would make it draw from the same source as it does now though I see 4 wires now instead of 3, I'm assuming (bad idea I'm sure) the black oval/square is the relay? I thought the relay had to have another power source connection to a fuse box or battery to make it a separate power source? As you can see, I'm clueless when it comes to wiring.... can you some how unconfuse me? Thanks...

Think of the marker and blinker as 2 separate lights. The blinker gets it’s 12v from the flasher that cannot handle the draw. The marker light gets it power from the fuse block. Same fuse as the horn, secondary lights, and a few other things.

The relay re-directs power from the flasher circuit and supplies it from the marker lights (dark green with pink trace). The marker circuit comes directly from the fuse box via 20 amp fuse and relay (Sec lights/Horn).

A relay is basically an electric switch that draws VERY little current. In this case, the relay input is black and white. The switch is red and yellow. You ground the black wire and put 12v on white, the switch engages. So, the relay will engage with each 12v pulse from the flasher module. You have 12v constant on red. That goes to the yellow each time the relay engages.

 

[mpj220]

ok, I'm feeling dumber and dumber the more you explain this.... ... So I'm still lost how these wires are to be connected with the relay.... This is the relay I purchased... has 4 wires...red, white, blue and black,

The upper and lower DRL I'm working with each have 3 wires, white, yellow and black. that makes a total of 10 wires that need to work with the 3 on the turn signal. I'm still lost how all of these pair up i.e, where each wire end goes...? Can you bring this down to my apparent elementary (or potential lower) level of understanding? I'm feeling like the mask about now.... "somebody shoot me!" LOL... ...

Did your aftermarket lights come with any instructions?
If so, I can make up another drawing showing both the colors from the relay to the colors on the aftermarket light.

Also, since you are removing the factory outer headlights, my new drawing will get power from there. It only makes sense to do that as the wires will be sitting there connected to nothing. And, they are supplied by a 30amp circuit. I would have gone in this direction from the beginning but, I thought you were adding LED turn signal strips only.

 

[mpj220]

The instructions were clearly written by someone who has zero experience with technical writing but basically mimicked the video on Amazon's product listing:
This link is the upper panel The info and video for the lower panel lights are the same - https://www.amazon.com/LDETXY-Sling...fb-93e4-bcf503ce6bd5&pd_rd_i=B09H6JVQBJ&psc=1 you'll notice at the end the blinking lights are fairly bright... mine are about half that bright.

I watched their install video, along with the video that shows the operation. It’s difficult at my end to determine what colors as the video shows a red wire clipped to the center pin. I know that the factory center pin shows as ground on the schematics.



For purposes of the drawing, I am going to use two generic colors - Orange for headlight, Yellow for turn signal.

 

[mpj220]

Update, After wiring the above, the DRL's blinker would not engage with or without the ignition on. That said, what I found was if I switched the Blue and White connections on the relay, the blinkers would work but only with the ignition turned on meaning the emergency light switch would only engage the DRL blinkers with the ignition on. The only concern there is draining the battery quicker if in that situation. Seems the relay isn't getting enough power to engage the switchback without the ignition on. Any thoughts?

It's definitely not the relay being overloaded as the drawing above is supplying power to the blinker circuit from a 30 amp source.



When connected as above, do you hear the relay you installed clicking to the beat of the blinker?

 

[mpj220]

See other update. I thought I did... using the white wire to the yellow turn signal wire.. .but it doesn't seem there is enough voltage coming from it to trigger the relay.... the resistor is cutting the voltage in half....

Definitely not making sense.
If the black wire on the relay is on ground, and the white wire is tapped to the Slingshot factory blinker (blue on SS, yellow on tric adapater), the relay should click with the blinker.
Relay blue is the relay source input, Relay red is the output.

My drawing had the relay blue to the original headlight power. This means turn signal and hazard flashing on the aftermarket lights happens only with key on. With key off, only the original blinkers work on hazard.

Running blue to a constant 12v source will allow aftermarkets to flash on hazard as well. But, it must be a 12v source on the Slingshot. Using a separate power supply is not at the same potential and ground as everything else. If you do run the blue to a constant 12v on Slingshot, I highly recommend fusing it.

 

[mpj220]

When I configured first using your drawing, blinkers didn't work, Ignition on or off. I use a on slingshot source, but franky I'm not expecting that will change anything given the voltage loss from the resistor.

I assume you mean by the trigger wire, the relay white to the turn signal yellow? and the output wire (relay red) to both the DRL white and yellow?

Definitely lose the resistor, all it is going to do is drop voltage supplying the relay coil. Since it's a 12v coil, the voltage drop will just not let the relay activate.

Looking at what Slingin posted, try this.
Lose the resistor and keep wired the same. Unplug the factor connector from the factory blinker. Now see if the relay will click with blinker.

 

[mpj220]

With this wiring, the turn signals and hazard lights will work as original.

Judging from your posts, I am assuming yours is wired like this:

 

[mpj220]

I cleaned up the drawing. This is the same connections as in post #45 but, much easier to follow.
Wire colors for relay and conversion light are based on colors posted in post #25 and post #34

 

[mpj220]

I'm using a direct battery connection (fused with 20amp) with a 20amp relay from the fuse box (using accessory relay out of the fuse box). Also removed resistors. if I'm reading this correctly, 86, 87, yellow wire (on the slingmod harness which an extension of the 049 DB all connect to the yellow wire on the light harness (I'm using a 4 port level lock connector for test purposes). The result: driving light (white) works fine with ignition on. Turn signal with ignition on DRL amber turn signal and factor turn signal turn on but neither blink. Hazard lights (ignition on or off) same, DRL amber turn signal and factor turn signal turn and stay on - do not blink. Note: same result using the previous relay and extern 12V source mentioned earlier. Relay is still not triggering, though clearly 12v from battery running through the relay as the aftermarket amber is 3x brighter

The factory Polaris harness uses blue as the driver blinker (blue with red trace on passenger).
The tricLED adapter is nothing more than an extension with all 3 wires tapped. Yellow is actually T-tapped to the blue.

Did you cut (aka interrupt) the factory blinker as shown? You don't want to T-tap the relay pin 86. That should be a direct connection to the blinker supply. All blinker lights (including factory) should get power from pin 87 on relay.
If you are just connecting the tricLED yellow to relay 86, that is T-tapped and likely putting too much load on the factory flasher module.

From your description, it sounds like the relay activates once with blinker and latches. Per the drawing above, the only way the light can turn amber is if relay is active and passing voltage from pin 30 to pin 87.

 

[mpj220]

Yes.
This makes the blinker source is operating the relay only.

 

[mpj220]

That's also why I suggested unplugging the factory blinker. That would leave only the relay connected to the factory Blinker source. (for testing only).

 

[mpj220]

One supply wire, fused of course, will be good to attach to both pin 30.

You need a relay on both drivers and passengers side.