Lights get brighter as revs increase

[GREENI3]

Riding back home from work tonight, I noticed all the lights get brighter with higher revs.
They get brighter up to 3/4k and then just stay constant.
I've heard this is normal?

And the left hand side indicators blink faster with higher revs.
Whats up with that?

[Quornholio]

[GREENI3]

Lights are fine at idle.
They're not dim or anything like that.

But there is obviously something wrong with the (left) indi's.

[Quornholio]

Perhaps the bulbs are not correct? Different wattage etc.? I'm not really well up on electric faults, my knowledge extended as far as changing a tail light bulb, a flasher relay, and trying to short an immobiliser

[Polarbear]

Are you talking about a lot faster? Have you checked both bulbs are flashing on the side that is flashing fast? Each side uses the same relay so that can't be the fault. I'd go along the blown bulb/bad earth first.
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Victory Cross Country American tractor.

[GREENI3]

Ye they flash a lot faster and it's both front and rear left side indicators.

[dan_flash]

Battery problem maybe*? Could be that it's blasting out too much to the other components.

Had similar(ish) symptoms when my reg/rec blew last month, so maybe give it a test at different revs and see what the voltage is...

*I am by no means an expert...!
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Yamaha XJ600S, Volvo v40.

[jayhanson]

Defo low Batt voltage, when was it replaced?

the charge alternator increases the output on higher revs, which recharges the battery, when the Battery goes duff it cannot hold enough charge to output to the lights etc etc

Things you can do are.... fully charge the battery then see if it does it still, have the specific Gravity of the battery checked, or swap for a known good battery and check.

Personally I think you'll find its the battery not keeping it's charge properly and stealing it straight from the charge alternator as it's spinning up...

[shereen]

[Johnser]

worth investing in a multimeter, they arent expensive and are mandatory when it comes to diagnosing electrical faults.

test the resting voltage of the battery - should be over 12.5v (up to about 13.5)

test the battery with the engine off and lights on - should maintain 12v but will drop a bit from the last reading.

start the engine and idle, voltage should be slightly increased from the resting state. as you rev the bike, voltage should increase to a max of about 14v. the maximum should be reached a long time before redline.

I would avoid riding until you've sorted it. if the regulator is putting out too much voltage, you're likely to start popping bulbs.

knowing what bike would help, some old bikes ran direct lighting (not through the battery), some even ran un-rectified (straight AC from the alternator) with these dimming/brightning with revs expected.

In fact your symptoms sound identical to an early honda cub50 I had, the indicators would not flash properly with the wrong sized bulbs in them.

[GREENI3]

It's a 2001 honda cb500.

I have a multimeter.

Don't know when the battery was last replaced, but I've been riding it for 30 miles a day since Saturday and it's started every time without fail, so the charging system must be working otherwise the battery would be duff by now.

I checked the lights again, and they get slightly brighter up to about 2k then stay constant.
They're not dim or anything like that at idle.
I'm probably just being a bit paranoid about that.

The left hand side indi's are pissing me off though.
They seem to be changing their flash rate at random intervals; ok one minute, then all over the place the next?

I'll check the battery at some point.
I've got an optimate if required.

[Pie-Roe]

Pretty sure the lights getting brighter is just the reg/rec working properly.

I had the indicators problem on a bike once. the pin connectors had broken and it was bare wire next to bare wire on another light.
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[Pete.]

[GREENI3]

Quick update.

Bought some stock indicators to replace the crappy aftermarket ones that were on there, and they work perfectly!

I think what might have been causing the original issue, was the right hand rear indi had been completely bodged by the previous owner; they'd basically tried to hold it in place with some sort of cement type filler and had stripped some of it down to bare wire, which I can only assume was making contact with the frame.

Plus I don't think they were meant for the relay.

I removed them promptly and put the new ones on.

Much prefer stock indicators on the cb.

[Fairies attack]

If they are flashing quicker, then it either means that the resistance is smaller or one of the back ones has blown.

Back indies are a bugger since you can't see them when riding but know something is wrong.
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