What is the weird pipe on 2014 LED turn lights for?

[Juan Valderrama]

Can someone tell me what are this "pipes" or tubes attached to the 2017 ST LED turn signals? They look like glass pipes.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

It is a resistor. It's glass or ceramic, it dissipates better the heat and it's needed to make the turn signals work ok.

 

[Karson]

It is a resistor. It's glass or ceramic, it dissipates better the heat and it's needed to make the turn signals work ok.

I can see the first part. Makes sense.

I'm curious about the heat part. LED's are one of, if the not the most cool and tough type of lighting out there.

 

[Maxified]

Do LED's require more resistance in the circuit? Sometimes an LED replacement kits come with a component to help them work with the OEM circuitry so you do not get the rapid blinking.

 

[Karson]

Do LED's require more resistance in the circuit? Sometimes an LED replacement kits come with a component to help them work with the OEM circuitry so you do not get the rapid blinking.

In short, yes. For example, if you decide to keep the OEM flasher relay in on the 2012's, then you need to fiddle with inline resistors to delay the rate at which the 12v pulse hits the LEDs. The inline resistors simply act as the amount of resistance the incandescent bulb would have so it achieves the same flash rate

Or, you can simply swap it out for a Custom LED ELFR-1 no-load flasher relay instead, which has a slower flash rate programmed for LED's (nearly non) resistance

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Correct!

 

[Curt]

It's the drain line to the blinker fluid overflow reservoir.

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Jajajaja

 

[booner223]

Hahaha

 

[sparkyduc]

Has anyone installed the 2014 signals on a 2013? Any problems other than swapping ends?

 

[Juan Valderrama]

Hola, one friend did the install, but Yamaha's technician cut the resistors and ruined the system. The biking rate was fast.

We found a set of resistors and reinstall them but the blinking rate did not become normal. We will need to USA a 50 ohms 20 watts resistor per side, or change the flasher.

Saludos from Bogotá, Colombia.

XT1200Z/2014
WR250F/2014
BMW 9T/2015

 

[EricV]

I can see the first part. Makes sense.

I'm curious about the heat part. LED's are one of, if the not the most cool and tough type of lighting out there.

I didn't see anyone answer your question, so I will. You are correct that the LED does not make much heat. It's the resister that makes the heat. Even with electricity, resistance is like choking down the flow, and just like the resistance of your tires to the pavement, the higher the value, the greater heat generated as waste result. Everything has an opposite and equal reaction. The resister is mimicking the electrical demand of a element type bulb in order to allow the flasher to respond with the correct pulse. A common farkle when adding LED signals is to replace the flasher with one designed for LEDs too. Here is one version: CLICK ME Doing that allows you to skip the resister use, in most cases.