How the Drifter Turn Signal Works.

[chief]

Good history lesson Troll, thanks for the info.  You have a much better memory than me!

For Kawasaki the thing to remember is 8 seconds after the push, and 65 meters for the self-cancelling. That is usually a bit long for me, so I nearly always end up hitting the button to cancel after the turn.

[Troll]

  As I remember, all the motorcycle turn signals that self cancel work this way. H-D had a button switch on each side you used to have to hold in ( I believe that design started in '73) and later they changed to a larger paddle switch that was easier to hit (1982), and then they went to an optional push on/push off switch in '86. When they started the self canceling stuff, they kept the original '82 switch design, and turned the canceling over to a controller. The controller sensed the distance and speed via a simple reed switch located in the speedo head. The first thing people noticed when they put on custom turn signals was that the system stopped self canceling. There was a specific load required to trigger the controller, so the "black hills load balancer" was born to address the problem. I have 2 Kawasakis now, and one has the self canceling signals (the drifter) and the other doesn't (W 650). I am glad the starter doesn't  work with the engine running, because as I transitioned from H-D to Kaw, I would have killed the starter MANY times, attempting to cancel the right signal.

[chief]

Coming from older harleys I was used to manually control turn signals. Here is some info I found when trying to figure the self-cancel stuff on the drifter.

Signals on a bike do not depend upon turns as the do on a car... we bank the bike rather than turning a steering wheel...

The self-cancelling signals on the Drifter works on a time/distance control. When you depress the turn signal the system starts counting up to 8 seconds. At the 8 second mark it starts measuring distance. At 65 meters, the control unit cuts off the current, turns off the turn light and resets.

The bike doesn't care if you actually turned or not.

I usually manually cancel my signal instead of waiting... but the system does work if you let it. If you end up with a constantly blinking signal, you need to check the self-cancelling system... ie the connections, distance sensor, handlebar switch or control unit.