by koolchris on Thu Jun 26, 2008 1:00 am
You need specific relays for indicators, for sure.
Regular light bulbs take longer to ignite, light up, and become totally extinct again, than LEDs, which turn on/off almost instantly. That's fine for non-flashing lights such as tail/stop lights, but the originally set timing for indicator bulbs will be totally off, or not work altogether when LEDs are fitted. The relays then serve to change the timing so it matches the normal on/off lapses. The only case when you don't need relays for normal operation, is when your bike's wiring has been engineered to operate LED indicators as standard.
One thing though, is that relays get extremely hot, so they should not be confined, set against rubber/plastic/melting materials in general, or next to the gas tank or near any flammable fumes. The relays need to be paired up with each LED cluster, so you'll have to think out in advance where you'll be positioning these 4 extremely hot devices.
That being said, I followed a guy on a jap sportsbike once through Paris rush hour traffic, and found the clean, sharp blinking of the indicators was a very effective eye-catcher. Very useful when passing car drivers, who give a backseat to other road users while babbling on the cell phone, and/or watching the TV, ...er, GPS screen as they "drive".