Universal turn signals

Hi, I'm new here and it looks like I've got lots of reading/lurking ahead of me.

Anyways, I'm having a problem on my project truck turn signals. I bought a universal turn signal kit from Speedway motors (I think). It is made by United Pacific. It has all the expected wires to hook up, but there is one extra blue wire for the internal indicator lights. I don't need them because I have indicator lights on my dash. So I left that wire unhooked. 

The turn signals don't work and it appears I have everything right. Is there any possibility that the internal indicator lights must be hooked up? I can't hook it up for testing because that would require a different blinking relay. Of course, the instructions are of no help. 

Just hoping someone on here might know about these. (I think they are the most popular aftermarket turn signals)

Edit, is there no search on this forum? 

Search is a little magnifying glass on the upper right corner. 

As far as the switch,  im not certain. Can you find a link to it, ir the directions,  ir something? More than happy to help, and i have some experience with the aftermarket stuff. 

In a lot of turn signal systems the dash indicator light is also the ground for the flasher. Without that bulb in place the flasher won't do its job

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:

Search is a little magnifying glass on the upper right corner. 

As far as the switch,  im not certain. Can you find a link to it, ir the directions,  ir something? More than happy to help, and i have some experience with the aftermarket stuff. 

When I push the magnifying glass, it searched the web. I want to search this site.

Trent said:

In a lot of turn signal systems the dash indicator light is also the ground for the flasher. Without that bulb in place the flasher won't do its job

This has a external flasher unit, but I will do some testing and update.

In reply to Helirich :

The search here is a little...off. You'll never get a SEARCH, NEWB! reply so I consider it an even trade.  

Helirich said:

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) said:

Search is a little magnifying glass on the upper right corner. 

As far as the switch,  im not certain. Can you find a link to it, ir the directions,  ir something? More than happy to help, and i have some experience with the aftermarket stuff. 

When I push the magnifying glass, it searched the web. I want to search this site.

 

 

It uses a custom Google search for just this site, near as i have experienced.  But im one step above a luddite....

Are you using regular light bulbs or LEDs?

Appleseed said:

In reply to Helirich :

The search here is a little...off. You'll never get a SEARCH, NEWB! reply so I consider it an even trade.  

Exactly how I feel! I'd even say better than even.

stuart in mn said:

Are you using regular light bulbs or LEDs?

I'm planing to use LED's, but I only have my dash indicator lights hooked right now. They are very little incandescent bulbs. I know that there is some issues if you run a regular flash unit with LED's because of the low current draw. I have a LED flash unit. These little incandescent bulbs are probably about the same as LED's. They are aviation "press to test" bulbs. If you know what I'm talking about, you know they are small. 

In any case, I tried running the power straight to the turn signal pod without the flasher unit. It still won't turn on either side. I have to leave town, so I won't get to mess with it for a couple days

About the search, I don't quite understand the replys. Newbys don't get to search? I've never seen that before on other forums. Seems like you would want me to search before posting a question. And what is the deal with "even trade"? Is that some kind of flaming? You can just come out a say you think I'm stupid for not knowing about the search. (If that's what your saying) I have thick skin.

I just did a search and I figured it out. The search has a bunch of ads (from the web) before the normal results. I never scrolled down to see the normal results. 

Helirich said:

About the search, I don't quite understand the replys. Newbys don't get to search? I've never seen that before on other forums. Seems like you would want me to search before posting a question. And what is the deal with "even trade"? Is that some kind of flaming? You can just come out a say you think I'm stupid for not knowing about the search. (If that's what your saying) I have thick skin.

He means a lot of forums with castrate you if you bring up a subject we've discussed before and take the time to respond with "go search, ya newb!" instead of taking the same time to just answer you or engage you in conversation.

Also, I think the even trade comment is based on that willingness to respond. You usually won't get called a newb or yelled. You'll just get answered so searching is less critical around here. It's a nice tradeoff.

I thought the universal turn signal was an arm out the window....

Yeah, our search function isn't the greatest. Just ask a question and someone is sure to help. 

iansane said:

Helirich said:

About the search, I don't quite understand the replys. Newbys don't get to search? I've never seen that before on other forums. Seems like you would want me to search before posting a question. And what is the deal with "even trade"? Is that some kind of flaming? You can just come out a say you think I'm stupid for not knowing about the search. (If that's what your saying) I have thick skin.

 

He means a lot of forums with castrate you if you bring up a subject we've discussed before and take the time to respond with "go search, ya newb!" instead of taking the same time to just answer you or engage you in conversation.

Also, I think the even trade comment is based on that willingness to respond. You usually won't get called a newb or yelled. You'll just get answered so searching is less critical around here. It's a nice tradeoff.

Fair enough

I've occasionally seen where the indicator dash bulbs are responsible for adding enough resistance to the circuit for the flasher to work. I may not be explaining it correctly. I know in my old 80s zook, changing the dash flash indicator bulb to led makes the flasher stop working. 

fatallightning said:

I've occasionally seen where the indicator dash bulbs are responsible for adding enough resistance to the circuit for the flasher to work. I may not be explaining it correctly. I know in my old 80s zook, changing the dash flash indicator bulb to led makes the flasher stop working. 

I think I've seen something similar.  Installing an indicator bulb in the system is the first thing I'd recommend doing once you get a chance to work on it again.

eastsideTim said:

fatallightning said:

I've occasionally seen where the indicator dash bulbs are responsible for adding enough resistance to the circuit for the flasher to work. I may not be explaining it correctly. I know in my old 80s zook, changing the dash flash indicator bulb to led makes the flasher stop working. 

I think I've seen something similar.  Installing an indicator bulb in the system is the first thing I'd recommend doing once you get a chance to work on it again.

I guess I'm not explaining correctly. I am testing with the dash indicators and they are not LED's. The issue with LED's vs incandescent is about the flash unit. I'm testing it without the flasher, so it shouldn't really make a differnce.

Flashers require XXX resistance to flash.  LED bulbs won't flash if you don't have an LED specific flasher unit; maybe using just the dash bulbs isn't enough.  Plug in some tail lights?

Its really hard to tell without a product link or information.  If I had a wiring diagram, I'd be set.

You are correct that it SHOULD work via the simple resistance of the bulb, but without knowing what that extra wire does (or is supposed to do) I can't guess.

Product link would be very helpful since you know what it looks like or have the email with the part number.

Welcome to the world's best forum.

If it is a 3 pin flasher the 3rd wire needs to be grounded. Either through the indicator bulb on the dash or just to ground

If it is a 2 pin flasher the current flowing through it is what heats the bimetallic strip and makes it function. The fact that he has a 3rd, blue wire for the indicator means he has a 3 pin flasher

I think that the same company makes the basic and the heavy duty turn signal that Speedway sells. The lightweight one is junk. I hope that the other one is a lot more robust.

I have this.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/~uMAAOSw5Bde9HbL/s-l640.jpg

And here is the diagram.

https://static-resources.imageservice.cloud/988512/1950-ford-turn-signal-wiring-diagram-basic-electronics-wiring-diagram.jpg

You can see the flasher is before the switch. So to remove all doubt, I just bypassed it and the lights still don't work. (I know they wouldn't flash, but they should get power.)

What happens if you bypass the switch as well?  If the lights don't work when connected directly, you either don't have power coming into the switch or something between the switch and the lights is berkeleyed.

CJ (FS) said:

What happens if you bypass the switch as well?  If the lights don't work when connected directly, you either don't have power coming into the switch or something between the switch and the lights is berkeleyed.

Yes, I have done that and they work. 

Trent said:

If it is a 3 pin flasher the 3rd wire needs to be grounded. Either through the indicator bulb on the dash or jus

If it is a 2 pin flasher the current flowing through it is what heats the bimetallic strip and makes it function. The fact that he has a 3rd, blue wire for the indicator means he has a 3 pin flasher

I have a two pin flasher. The wire is on the switch, not the flasher.

Did you see this part of the wiring diagram?