Chime for turn signals

[Shandley]

I would like a door chimer to come on when I turn my turn signals on as a reminder to turn them off. It's a temporary thing. I have a door chimer... more of a buzzer but if I can get it to come on intermittent, that would be most preferable.

I am somewhat electrically inclined so I am more than happy to do the work myself and I have a basic understanding of DC systems. I guess what I am looking for is a good place to run the wires from. The buzzer is 12V and ready to rock.

I drive a 2004 Honda Shadow VT750CA and I have a service manual which has the wiring diagram.

Has anyone attempted something like this before?

[rickbb]

I'm thinking more of a buzzer to put under the seat. Make the seat vibrate would get my attention better than a loud noise.

[Shandley]

That would be good too.

Ultimately I want something for my road test that will remind me to turn off the signals without one of those over-priced timers you can get.

[hlaltimus]

That dinky little yellow turn signal indicator bothered me. I thought that it was buried too much between my risers, (but they're over-sized pedestal risers,) and also in the shadow of the speedometer to be noticed well. So, I modded them into a new chrome extension pipe that both lifts the indicator lense up 1 3/4" above the top bridge, and also tilts it towards the rider to be more noticeable. The circuit had to be lengthened to do this, but it is about twice as noticeable as prior, (still,) a chime would be better yet. (Notice where I put the accessory light bar switch and the chrome dress pieces over the upper gas tank mounting bolt too. Upper aluminum fork tube caps are covered with chrome ends from a shower towel bar!)

[Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Shandley

I would like a door chimer to come on when I turn my turn signals on as a reminder to turn them off. It's a temporary thing. I have a door chimer... more of a buzzer but if I can get it to come on intermittent, that would be most preferable.

I am somewhat electrically inclined so I am more than happy to do the work myself and I have a basic understanding of DC systems. I guess what I am looking for is a good place to run the wires from. The buzzer is 12V and ready to rock.

I drive a 2004 Honda Shadow VT750CA and I have a service manual which has the wiring diagram.

Has anyone attempted something like this before?

All you have to do is connect the 2 wires of your buzzer across the turn signal indicator light.
Whenever the indicator is on your buzzer will speak

[Easy Rider 2]

Originally Posted by Sasquatch

All you have to do is connect the 2 wires of your buzzer across the turn signal indicator light.
Whenever the indicator is on your buzzer will speak

It may not be that simple.
The buzzers are usually polarity sensitive.
Believe it or not, on many bikes with only ONE dashboard indicator, the polarity sent to it is different depending on which side signal is activated.
Thus, a buzzer connected there may beep only turning one direction.

Discovered this on my previous Suzuki after "testing" so long that the battery went dead. DOH!

I ended up using one for each side and connecting them under the seat......where the connectors are for the rear lights.

[Shandley]

Originally Posted by hlaltimus

That dinky little yellow turn signal indicator bothered me. I thought that it was buried too much between my risers, (but they're over-sized pedestal risers,) and also in the shadow of the speedometer to be noticed well. So, I modded them into a new chrome extension pipe that both lifts the indicator lense up 1 3/4" above the top bridge, and also tilts it towards the rider to be more noticeable. The circuit had to be lengthened to do this, but it is about twice as noticeable as prior, (still,) a chime would be better yet. (Notice where I put the accessory light bar switch and the chrome dress pieces over the upper gas tank mounting bolt too. Upper aluminum fork tube caps are covered with chrome ends from a shower towel bar!)

Brilliance! I must ask, did you use the existing light in the speedo or did you use a different kind of light. If it was different, did you use an LED (which is polarity sensitive)? Also, did you have to drill a new hole in thetriple tree (I think its called that)?

Very nice mods by the way. Good thinking with the shower towel rack ends.

[TorontoBoy]

I don't know about a doorbell chime on your bike. It might be pretty loud. I guess you'll not use Big Ben as the chime. It might distract drivers and pedestrians.

Try this mod using diodes instead. Maybe you can replace the buzzer for your doorbell chime.

I was thinking about doing this, then decided I had better simplify and simply remember to turn off my turn signals. I did mod it up, and tested it. It works quite well, but in the end didn't add it to my bike.

[Jan Janowski]

Done it 11 years ago... !!!

Get a Piezoelectric Buzzer from Radio Shack, and 2 diodes 1N4001 or 1 AMP 50V or greater...

Buzzer will have two wires... Black and Red

Diode will have a banded end (cathode) and non-banded end (anode)

Hook the black wire from Buzzer to any convienent ground.

Find the connection point under seat for turn signals... Left and Right.

On each turn signal connector, attach the NON-Banded end of each diode.
Connect each diode banded end togeter.

Connect red wire from buzzer to the banded end of both diodes.

Insulate the red wire and both diodes with heat shrink tubing or electrician's tape.

DONE!

Theory: Diodes pass current in only one direction.
Let's say right turn signal light is "On". The Diode will pass this curent through it's anode to cathode and to buzzer, which now buzzes because the current goes through it to ground, completing the circuit. However, because the Left turn diode will only conduct from anode to cathode, voltage from right turn circuit cannot feed back through left turn diode to the turn lamps.... beause it will not pass current in this direction (Cathode to Anode)...
Same applies to right turn diode when left turn signal is 'On'.

So the diode's 'steers' current to buzzer whenever left or right turn signal is ON... Of course it flashes, and this causes buzzer to beep on and off with the turn signals, reminding you to turn off turn signals!!!

Jan

[hlaltimus]

Originally Posted by Shandley

Brilliance! I must ask, did you use the existing light in the speedo or did you use a different kind of light. If it was different, did you use an LED (which is polarity sensitive)? Also, did you have to drill a new hole in thetriple tree (I think its called that)?

Very nice mods by the way. Good thinking with the shower towel rack ends.

Thanks! I did use the existing bulb, but I don't know why another bulb of even brighter intensity couldn't be used, given it didn't produce too much heat. I found that the OEM bulb though was set down some into a rubber holding socket, so that it was actually somewhat beneath or below the yellow plastic lense that Honda uses. I bypassed this pre-shaped rubber socket, lengthened the wires a little, but placed the same bulb right up against the underside of the yellow lense, (except that the lens is now 1 3/4" higher,) so that the illumination is improved as though it were a brighter bulb.

I didn't mess with the socket hole that Honda made in the triple tree, (3 holes total for bulbs.) You just pry off the chrome/plastic bezel with lens and pull the rubber socket out from the underside with the bulb still inside of it. The chromed pipe that I used happen to coincidentally fit so nicely into the original hole affair, that it just slid down snugly into the rubber socket within the upper bridge and seems to stay put no matter what. My new mounting pipe was deflected as you see at the base because it happened to be made that way by the manufacturer! It was part of an old, microphone holding set-up from some antiquated radio equipment that my dad gave me from who knows where. I didn't have to angle the chromed pipe at all, but used it's manufactured deflection to my advantage. I still say that a buzzer would be better though as you don't have to look for what you can audibly hear, but this helped some. Maybe this current thread should be under "What I would do if I owned Honda" as it is a weakness in their design, as anyone knows who has rolled for miles not knowing that their directionals were confusing everybody!