One of the up-market 'features' of the V1000 and Vampire when they were first sold was the addition of self-cancelling indicators...
The Hesketh design team took advantage of a system already developed (and fitted to late 70's GS1000 Suzukis). This system was not quite 100% integrated with the other electrical assembles on the bikes - on the original Suzuki fit, there was a reed-switch installed in the speedometer head. The Hesketh uses instruments originally designed for Honda, so this reed switch was missing on the Heskeths. The Design Team 'improvised' with a rotary switch mounted between the speedometer-cable and the speedometer. On my V1000, the OE installation looks like this:
The system was well-received, at first... But, as the years went by, more and more Suzuki owners reported failure... The self-cancelling unit proved to be a real weakness, with failure being commonplace and replacement astronomically expensive... Heskeths are a much less populous breed and tend to cover less miles than the big Suzukis, but failures affect these too... Mine decided to 'Go West' shortly before I was heading South last year. Fortunately, I had access to a prototype replacement (designed and built by David Sharp) so all was not lost.
The prototype performed well last year, but it doesn't replicate the self-cancelling feature. I have this on other bikes, so I do miss it at times... So I decided to investigate possible replacements...
And I came up with this:
What we have here is a 'Badlands' ATS03 Indicator Control Unit. It's an American product, designed to replace similarly problematic units fitted to Harleys... It has 'built-in' self cancelling, will drive LED bulbs (without resistors) and has the added advantage of 'Hazard Warning Lights'.
Harleys use 'momentary action' switches for their indicators; one on each handlebar. The momentary action of the Hesketh indicator switch mimics this and the unit is practically a 'plug and play' fit on the Hesketh.
The 'Harzard Warning Lights' are not so easy... This requires that both indicators switches are pressed simultaneously on the Harleys - not possible on the Hesketh...
I surmised that this could be replicated through the use of relays and the 'off' switch on the Hesketh switchgear. I discussed this with Dave Hartell and 'Voila..!' Dave came up with the Lucas SRB521 relay - (also in the picture) perfect for the job
I decided to mount the new unit in the same place as the original and, after some careful measurements, found that the OE bracket would allow a mounting plate of no more than 3mm thick - I used 3mm acrylic sheet in a lovely gloss black. (It's 95 x 63 x 3 mm IIRC).
I use M4 csk machine screws and nylok nuts to mount the ATS03 and SRB521 on the acrylic sheet.
Then the hard part - removing the metal cover from the OE self-canceling unit, I 'harvested' the wiring harness. I used crimp type terminals to connect the required wires to the relay and together too. Those wires only connected to the ATS03 were jointed using crimp splices with a built in heatshrink cover - very useful..!
The new unit fits and works a treat... Total cost was (about) £70... It took me an afternoon to build and fit
.
The ATS03 units have to be ordered in from USA, but the relay and acrylic sheet are 'home grown'. In fact, I found a good source for both, so I have a coupel of sheets and four relays 'spare'. Let me know if you're interested - I can do wiring diagrams too...
Jeff
