Right side turn signals static at low/no speed

[misternovice]

I went in for a road test today, and about 5 minutes in, the instructor radioed to tell me to pull over because apparently my turn signals were not flashing when I was at a stand still. This was news to me, but it's something I need to fix before taking the test apparently...

I'm in BC, and it's been cold here the last two weeks, which has resulted in me push starting my bike almost every morning. Definitely not good for the battery, but I picked up a battery tender last night. I let it run overnight (7 hours) and the battery seemed okay, but it died again pretty quickly while I was trying to get the light business sorted out.

I've had it hooked up to the tender since getting home, and will do so until leaving tomorrow morning (5pm-9am), hopefully this should fully re-charge my battery, and put me in a better spot. I say all this because I'm hoping the low battery is causing all of this.

When I'm riding the bike, at anything over about 3k rpm, the turn signal works properly. Indicating a power output problem to me

Things I'm going to check if the battery doesn't work out: signal switch, and wiring.

A friend said it sounded like there might be a loose ground involved with the right side turn signals. Would the wiring be able to allow this? Or is that something that would be wrong with the signal switch.

Any help or advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[lemonhead]

I've noticed my bike will not light the left side unless I hit the right signal first. Don't know if it has something to do with a relay or what, but I just push the switch right, then left all quick-like before I depart, and they light up when they should for the rest of the ride.

It could very well be a bad connection somewhere, acting like a resistor, that won't allow the lights to kick on until you have the bike at those higher rpms (where your bike's charging system kicks in) and you have a stronger current.

 

[misternovice]

The lights actually click on, that's not the problem.

The left turn signals flash on and off normally, at the normal rate. The right hand side on the other hand lights up, but stays on steadily. It does not flash on and off, until the higher RPM's (higher power output) which leads me to suspect the battery, and then the signal switch.

 

[lemonhead]

Oh. Weird. Could still be a blinker relay issue.

 

[BBS360]

Same relay does both sides. I'd lean towards your first bad connection thought, lemonhead. A poor connection, or light short to ground, on the right side half of the circuit could drop the voltage enough to do that.

Could be in the wiring harness but I think you're onto something misternovice. Open up the handlebar controls and give all the contacts a good cleaning.