Wunderlich LED Side light/Brake light insert?

Has anyone installed these Wunderlich LED Side Light Inserts with Brake light on their 1150? This unit from Wunderlich. They're supposed to replace "the standard BMW indicator." I'm a bit stumped for how to wire it correctly. The instructions don't mention the side light connection and Wunderlich America didn't seem particularly sure, either.
Looking at the back of the unit...

...there are three pins: one for the turn signal, one for earth/ground, and one for the brake light function.

What I can't quite figure out for certain -- at least not without doing some test wiring -- is where to connect my side light power. It seems I need to splice that into either the turn signal pin or brake light pin. My suspicion is it should go to the turn signal pin. (As an aside, they make a similar unit without the brake light function and that has only two pins, one for the turn signal, one for earth/ground. Sadly that one doesn't have any instructions that I'm able to find so no help on the sidelight connection, either.)

My bike is put up for the winter here in Minnesota and my garage is not heated so any full-on installation will have to wait. I may try some testing with a 9 volt battery. In the meantime I appreciate any help anyone can offer.

Thanks everyone!

Bohdan

Hi there Bohdan,

First we need to clear some cross-Atlantic terminology up. In the UK, a sidelight refers to the 'parking' light which - in the 1150GS - is located in the main beam headlamp. It comes on with the normal tail light. Is that what you are expecting?

I have very similar inserts (though not made by Wunderlich) in my 1150. They function as normal indicators and as auxiliary brake lights. Without a fourth connection, I cannot see how you are going to get anything more from them.

If, by sidelights, you mean the illumination - either at half or full intensity - of you indicators (or turn signals), then I would point you in the direction of the Kisan Signal Minder, which will provide you with this facility as a simple unplug and replace for your flasher unit.



It will also allow you to select and deselect an indicator (or turn signal) by pressing the same button again - and give you a choice of timings before it will auto-cancel. I also have this bit of kit on my bike and can thoroughly recommend it.

Hope this is of some help.

Mike

Hi, Mike,

Thanks for pointing that out. By side light, I mean what's sometimes referred to as a "running light" or "parking light"...the bits powered through fuse 2 with the tail light. Put another way, it's the turn signal bulbs operating (at lower intensity?) at all times. The wiring/bulb panels in my 2002 1150 turn signals have three wires going to them and match what's in the Haynes and Clymer wiring diagrams, so I assume what I have is a stock configuration. (My previous '01 1150 was the same. Granted, I'm fourth owner of this '02 so nothing is for certain in that regard! )

I think you may be right about the unit not quite doing what I expect. Strikes me as a bit odd since the stock wiring on my 1150 provides a running light and turn signal and the Wunderlich bit is supposed to maintain all the same functionality.

gonzomup said:

Hi, Mike,

Thanks for pointing that out. By side light, I mean what's sometimes referred to as a "running light" or "parking light"...the bits powered through fuse 2 with the tail light. Put another way, it's the turn signal bulbs operating (at lower intensity?) at all times. The panels in my 1150 turn signals have three wires going to them and match what's in the Haynes and Clymer wiring diagrams, so I assume what I have is a stock configuration. (Granted, I'm fourth owner of this bike so nothing is for certain in that regard! )

I think you may be right about the unit not quite doing what I expect. Strikes me as a bit odd since the stock wiring on my 1150 provides a running light and turn signal and the Wunderlich bit is supposed to maintain all the same functionality.

Click to expand...

It may be that the USA configuration of the bike has a different flasher unit from the UK one, and that the 'half intensity' turn signal power is provided by that to produce the result you have.

But (and it's a big but!) - I've ridden stock 1150s in the USA and none of them have what you describe as Running Lights. Open your fusebox and see if a previous owner has fitted a Kisan unit in place of the flasher unit.

Cheers,

Mike

Mike O said:

Open your fusebox and see if a previous owner has fitted a Kisan unit in place of the flasher unit.

Click to expand...

Well, even though I've been in that fuse box plenty of times, I'll check again. And won't I feel like a twat if I find a modification in there!

And only to pile on a bit more...one of the reasons I decided to add the Wunderlich inserts is I started having this problem. That's what really drew my attention to the side lights needing any kind of attention in the first place. Granted, an unrelated problem but it gave me pause on ways to improve my visibility.

gonzomup said:

Well, even though I've been in that fuse box plenty of times, I'll check again. And won't I feel like a twat if I find a modification in there!

Click to expand...

Well, the BMW unit is all black. If it looks anything like the pic in post two, you'll be able to identify it...

EDIT - another way to check is to turn the ignition on, select a turn signal, then press the same button again and see if it cancels...

Well I think I've figured it out. I don't have a Kisan signal-minder. I found this in my fusebox.


I also figured out that one of the previous owners swapped out the stock turn signal internals for something else.


I don't know what bike these came out of, but they're clearly designed for a very similar turn signal housing as they fit perfectly and the through-hole for the lens screw boss is in the right spot. And as you can see, this insert has two wires feeding the bulb and uses a two-filament bulb where the stock bulb is a single filament. This is what gives me the functionality of a running light/side marker light...and explains why I was getting confused about seeing a "side light" in the wiring diagram when that, in fact, refers to the small bulb in the high-beam housing only.

I thought long and hard about what I had on my previous 1150 and I want to say it was configured with running lights but now I'm not so sure.

In the main, mystery solved and the LED insert panel I have won't give me the running light/side marker light function I'd like to have. But tell me, do all of you really ride around at night with just a tail light indicating your presence at the rear?

We do indeed

gonzomup said:

But tell me, do all of you really ride around at night with just a tail light indicating your presence at the rear?

Click to expand...

Not only us - but all your compatriots who ride a stock 1150 too...

oblertone said:

We do indeed

Click to expand...

Mike O said:

Not only us - but all your compatriots who ride a stock 1150 too...

Click to expand...

And it seems I did so as well on my previous 1150 and didn't realise it.