RT Running Lights

[winkwm]

Just wondering if the front and rear blinkers on a 96 1100 act also as running lights, mine are on all the time and I don't know if the previous owner modified them for this purpose.

[ALIENHITCHHIKER]

Kissan makes a programmable turn signal relay (Signal Minder) which auto cancels and offers a running light option. Sounds like you may have one. A peek in the fuse box will let you know for sure.

I've had one on my bike for almost six years. Still works great.

[winkwm]

That's the problem, I'm installing a Kissan Signal Minder and it functions for one or two times and then I have no turn signals at all. I think the previous owner wired the turn signal lights to be on all the time and believe that the voltage on the circuit (always present) is causing the malfunction of the Kissan. But I need to know if the turn signals from the factory are set up as running lights or not. If not I need to find the modification and undo it.

[Manfred]

Are the bulbs in your blinkers single or dual element? Running lights should be dual element with the weak (4 watt) element being used, leaving the 24 watt element for the blinker. If your have single element bulbs and they are always on, that's not good.

[ALIENHITCHHIKER]

My '00 R1100RT came stock with single filament turn singnal bulbs (as described by Manfred). I am pretty certain that this applies to all R1100 and R1150 series bikes.

If you have dual filament bulbs then your wiring was modified with power for the 'always on' running light filaments tapped from another source (like the tail light, etc). It seems like the Kissan would still work just fine with that set-up - except that the running lights would be redundant.

I'm smellling the same fishy wiring modification that you are. If you have single filament bulbs that cinches it. I bet the modification will stand out like a sore thumb when you start nosing around.

[jurgen]

Check the Kisan instructions. There are 3 settings for running lights, off, dim and bright. Bright is about 2/3 full so you can still tell when the blinkers are on.
I use the dim setting on the running lights, nicely visible at night but not distracting during the day when you want your blinkers stand out and be visible.
I doubt that someone re-wired the blinkers - unless they used a dual filament that would be near impossible to do while still maintaining the turn signal function.
Kisan is plug-n-play, it replaces the turn signal relay. All you need to do is run a wire from the stop light so the blinker stays on at intersections while you're on the brake.
Good luck!