Before we get started, this is on my VROD, but there's nobody in this forum and the issue is simply electrical so I thought there may be someone here on this forum who might offer some help/advice.

Background - my V has all LED lighting other than the main headlamp. The mirrors also function as turn signals/ yellow driving lamps.

I replaced thos mirrors last week with some aftemarket ones. In addition to the factory mirror features (half bright driving/full bright turns) on the fronts of the mirrors, the mirror/glass side has hidden red LEDs that work in conjunction with the brake light. They are really cool as they're invisible when the brake light is not on but when you hit the brakes the red LED brake lamps appear. These brake lights also flash as turns when the brakes are applied concurrently with the turns, and therein lies what I believe to be the problem.

The mirrors and the rest of the bike's lights work fine, until the brake and turns are applied concurrently, then EVERYTHING goes screwy. From then on, the lighting functions are disabled on the mirrors, and the turns and brake on the rear fender no longer work either. If I reset the bike/power off/on everything works again until the brake/turn combo is engaged and then it repeats.

I had to tap into the brake lamp feed in order to power the mirror's brake lamps, and I think there is some sort of feedback to the brake circuit when the turns are on. Disconnecting this tap/line returns proper lamp function, but disables the mirror brake lamp LEDs.

I am wondering if perhaps a simple diode installed in the tap from the brake lamp to the mirrors might prevent this feedback similar to what I did in my GMC YUKON to keep the low beams on while the highs were powered. But even more important is whether my whole feeback idea has any merit.

Thoughts? Thanks.

 

You might need to add an LED load equalizer in there to get everything to work.

 

You need to contact Cosmo.

 

I am not familiar with this particular product, but from your description I think I know what's going on and I think you are right in your guess.

When you connected those hidden LED's in your mirror to your brake and turn signals, you essentially shorted the brake and signals together.... so when you hit the brakes with the blinkers on, power is flowing from your brake into your signals and tripping some sort of breaker.

Switching everything off resets it until you do it again.

I would contact the manufacturer to get a resolution, however I can make a pretty good guess what to do... I am guessing you have two wires connected to the rear-facing LED's on that mirror - one from your brake and one from your signal? If so, you would want to install two diodes ... one inline with the brake wire (before it connects to the wire in your mirror) and one inline with the signal wire.

A diode is like a check valve - lets power flow one way but not the other. So this will let power from either wire flow into your signal and make it work, but it will prevent power flowing back out and tripping whatever is causing everything to shut off.

Keep in mind that if the red LED's in the mirror are not designed to flash as a turn signal, then the fact that they are doing it is probably because each time your flasher turns off, it's shorting the brake light through your blinkers... so if the mirrors are not designed to work the way they are now, that adding the diodes might remove this effect.

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you much - you've confirmed my thoughts but added another good idea, also a diode running back to the turns. The hidden brake lamps are indeed also designed to run as turns, so there are three wires - one for marker lamps, one for turns, one for brakes. It's gotta be the turn and the brake lamp lines that need diodes. I have a couple left over from my SUV lighting mod that should work just fine. Thanks again.

 

Your welcome.

You probably already know this but the line on the diode is where power flows out of it, the other end is power in, so you want to be sure that the lines go towards the turn signal/mirror side of the wiring. Also, make sure the diodes are before the brake and turn signal wires meet... and finally, be sure your diodes have the proper current rating. Pretty much any 1N series diode (1N4001 1N4004) should be OK.

G'luck!

 

I don't mind a little reminder every now and then!

 

I would have thought that they were all supposed to be Run/Turn lights and not Brake lights. If you look at a dump truck that has lights on top of the front fenders, the red side facing the rear of the truck are not brake lights. but if you really wanted them to be brake lights, just run a wire from the rear light wire harness to the front light since they all run with seperate wiring.

This is kind of a rough basic wiring diagram of what you should have if you want to make the red part brake lights. (The wire colors don't match the bike wiring colors)

 

Thanks - that is exactly what I have done - run a line from the rear harness to the front. The hidden LEDs are intended to do both - brakes all the time, but when the turns are on they flash red as brake/turns.

There are three wires leading to the mirrors, ground, run/turn and one for the brake LEDs. If I'm half tempted to break tonight's booty call to work on my bike and settle this issue! Something's wrong with me.

 

So, then there would be no running light wire running to the Mirror side LEDs. That would make them just Turn signal/Brake light. If you have a running light wire running to the Mirror side along with the wire from the rear brake light, then that is your problem. Just disconnect the running light wire and you should be ok.

Updated Diagram.