Electrical question, license plate light is flashing, don't know why

[gbergma1]

I came home from a ride yesterday night and noticed my license plate light was flashing. I changed it to an LED instead of the regular incandescent bulb a few months ago. I haven't had any issue until yesterday. I tore into today, when I insert the key and fire up the power (not the engine) the light flashes. My brake and turn signals are functioning fine. I can hear a clicking, it sounds like a flasher relay with the rest of the electrical parts. I checked on my wires and the connections were good, I checked the light with an alternate power source, the light is ok.

Has this happened to anyone else? Everything else works great, no issues. Can anyone diagnose what the next step should be? I didn't put a resister on the LED taillight because as I understand it, the resistors were only used to correct the flash rate, the license plate stays on. I am baffled. Thanks in advance.

-geoff

 

[GrahamD]

I came home from a ride yesterday night and noticed my license plate light was flashing. I changed it to an LED instead of the regular incandescent bulb a few months ago. I haven't had any issue until yesterday. I tore into today, when I insert the key and fire up the power (not the engine) the light flashes. My brake and turn signals are functioning fine. I can hear a clicking, it sounds like a flasher relay with the rest of the electrical parts. I checked on my wires and the connections were good, I checked the light with an alternate power source, the light is ok.

Did it continue to flash after you plugged it back into the bike?

Is the brake pedal switch OK? I've never looked for it, I ASSUME there is a switch. Got to be careful with that ASSUME stuff.

 

[mcbrien]

Clicking flasher relay ? I wouldn't think it should be drawing power through there ? Does it flash in unison with turn signals turned on ?

 

[mingo]

Put the incandescent bulb back in and see if operates normally. If it does, maybe your LED bulb is failing.

 

[gbergma1]

thanks for the feedback...

-the light just flashes, nothing changes with the blinkers (turn signals) on or off
-i disconnected the light entirely and put in on an external power source, no flashing at all, the light is ok.
-hooked up a different light to the stock light power wires...flashing
-brake lights and turn signals function normally

next step, i suppose trace the wire back and find the relay that the light is hooked up to? replace that?

 

[Koinz]

Bmw's had an issue with led's and their abs messing up. LEDs don't draw enough power, so they had load resistor to simulate a regular bulb, but this was only a problem with the brake light.

Thought I would offer that up. Doubt that this the issue with yours though.

 

[stevepsd]

thanks for the feedback...

-the light just flashes, nothing changes with the blinkers (turn signals) on or off
-i disconnected the light entirely and put in on an external power source, no flashing at all, the light is ok.
-hooked up a different light to the stock light power wires...flashing
-brake lights and turn signals function normally

next step, i suppose trace the wire back and find the relay that the light is hooked up to? replace that?

No relay in the license-plate light circuit.

This is powered by the taillight fuse circuit which includes the running lights in the headlight assembly (not the headlights themselves), the turn signal running lights (not the turn signals themselves) and the tail light.

Does it flash when just turned on and the bike not running or only when the bike is running? Is it a constant flash rate or variable? Do the turn signal running lights blink as well? How about the headlight running lights?

Did you change anything else in this circuit...bulbs, spliced into, etc?

 

[gbergma1]

Got it licked...just went to the autostore and bought a new one, this time made in Mexico instead of China. Seemed to do the trick. What blows my mind is when I put the flickering light on 12 volts directly it didn't flicker. Steve the thing would flash all the time, before I started the engine and after. Nothing was spliced into it, I just cut off the old one and directly connected a brighter, smaller LED license plate light. I sealed this one up with a ton of silicone, so hopefully I won't have to futz with it again. My wife keeps wondering why I am spending so much time working on a "new" bike....

*case closed, for now*

Thanks guys, I really enjoy this forum.