Dummy Bulb for LED Lights on Sidecar
 

Hi All. I have LED lights on my hack but my 2002 BMWk1200LT is complaining. I have removed the right incandescent bulbs on the bike and installe LED lights on the hack, but I get a fast flash on the bike as it is looking for a higher load on the circuit I think. If I soldered a resistor to a bulb socket and installed it back in the turn signal socket on the bike do you think that will fool the BMW electronics and give a normal flash duration? This bike does NOT have the CAN bus.

Thanks.

-Kevin

I don't use LEDs for flashers, as their increased illumination rate doesn't buy you much, but a resistor should work. I'm not sure what the resistance of a typical blinker bulb is, but you can measure it easily enough with a multimeter.

For better or for worse, I also left the bike right-hand blinker bulbs intact. I figure it's more visibility if nothing else. We'll see if I pass NJ inspection if I ever go to NJ inspection :lol3

Put a resistor between your + and - wires to the blinker, you are basically replacing the filament in the bulb.

You need a resistor for each blinker that has a LED in it.

I don't kow about a K12ooLT but on my Oldwing 1983 GL1100/Ural I installed LEDs in all my turns/stop/tail lights and found that I needed to use an electronic blinker unit instead of the mechanical type...depends on the flasher in your bikes system I guess...
Rathackman

quick and stoopid, 'til you figure it out-put the bulbs back in the bikes blinkers and paint them black, leaving them hooked up(don't ask me how I know this)

here is a thought
 

You need a variable load blinker. Locate the blinker unit on your bike, take it to your auto parts dealer and find the variable load equivelant (different blinker units have different configurations). All lights will work as normal. Cost is about $6.

Found Load Resistor
 

Oh. yeah, it all comes back to me now. I looked into this earlier in the year but have been severely sidetracked. The message about replacing the flasher got me looking in the K 1200LT service manual again about replacing the flasher, and the memory returned! I wanted to use a resistor because the flasher on the bike is about a, well for me, a 4 hour job to excavate and swap. Tupperware and the tank have to come off for starters. I'll save that for when I do my 12K and try to figure out why the gear indicator only shows 2, 6 or blank (and there is no 6!) after the wiring harness had to be replaced. Anyhoo, I found a 6 ohm load resistor for 5 bucks at superbrightleds.com that should do nicely for now. Thanks for all your replies and jogging my memory.

-Kevin