Emergency Flashers 1

This is a pretty easy modification to do, and it will increase the visibility of your bike if you’re parked along a road or riding in foggy or very rainy conditions.

This mod takes advantage of the fact that hooking together the left and right turn signal wires coming out of the turn signal switch (the green and grey wires in the photo below) causes all four signals to flash. So, all you have to do is put a switch in that does that for you.

Note: The picture above was taken specifically for this article, but the ones from here on were not, so don't let them confuse you.

Find a good place on the bike to put your switch. Just find an out-of-the-way place to secure it with zip ties. If this place is near metal, make sure your connections are well-insulated.

• You need a simple two-position switch; one way is on, the other off.
• Try to use a marine-grade switch for their general quality and, more importantly, for their water resistance. This is not strictly necessary, though.
• Don't use a lighted switch, or you'll blow fuses. Since you're not truly switching power, but rather providing continuity (aka ‘juice’) between two hot wires, you don't want a ground wire (which is needed to make the light work).
• The stock flasher works fine for this application. Increasing the load doesn't affect the flash rate.

Find the green and grey wires coming out of the turn signal switch. The connector shown in the picture is on the left side of the bike, under the fuel tank. You’re going to need to put extension wires on them so they are long enough to reach your switch position. Always use stranded wire in auto/moto applications. Pictures show stranded (left) and solid (right) wire.

Connect your extensions to the stock wires using crimp connectors and heat shrink wrap.

Connectors that are sold with heat shrink already on them are very convenient.

You could consider wire taps, like the ones shown here, although they sometimes are subject to intermittent failure.

Don’t cut the wires as close to the connector as is shown in the picture, so you have some wiggle room if you have to cut or strip them more than once. After you have the extensions in place, connect them to your switch with the appropriate crimp connectors. Make sure to use dielectric grease on the contacts and connectors to keep moisture out. Also make sure that there is no way the metal parts of the switch can contact any metal on the bike.

Hook it all up, make sure it works, then mount the switch permanently. To use your new flashers, flip your switch on, then activate either the right or the left turn signal. The idiot light in the gauge cluster will not flash. It flashes just fine under normal (turn signal) operation, just not with the flashers active.