Help with Triple Play-- Problems?

[daveinva]

Just installed ESI's Triple Play and the center taillight. Have a couple of questions/problems:

1. What does the item with the lone plug (in the far left of the image) included in the Triple Play kit do? I didn't see it on the instructions, and have no idea what to do with it.



2. Without installing that part, the Triple Play works fine as a steady-on device... but switching the unifier switch back and forth doesn't appear to change anything, EXCEPT one time, I *did* get the flashing turn signals with braking action. Once I had it running, I was happy, I stowed all the wires away and put the bolts back in. Turned on the Spyder again, and no flashing lights-- just the steady-state brake lights again.

Is it because I'm missing that piece from #1? Is it because I have a lose wire? Is it because I have a bad unifier? Is it because my Spyder's haunted???

3. For the life of me there was no way that size heat tubing was getting on the turn signal LED wires. Is it essential for that tubing to be on there? How much heat do those wires get exposed to anyway? Or is that my problem in #2-- without more insulation, the signals don't flash?

Appreciate the help... love the product, even if it's just steady-on (those signals are BRIGHT, and love the center taillight, too). But it'd be nice to have it fully-functional.

[NancysToy]

Call Evan at ESI tomorrow. He should be able to answer your questions. It always pays to go to the source.

[daveinva]

Yup, probably will do.

[bjt]

I forget what he called it but that black part with the one connector on it is part of the working unit and you need to plug it into the red module (in the corresponding plug that is right next to it in your picture). I think that black piece is the part that makes the LEDs work without causing errors on the Spyder's CanBus. It could be the cause of your problems.

As to the heat shrink tubing, it is a snug fit but it should slide over the LED puck wires. It is essential in that its purpose is to insulate and protect the connection from shorting out or getting water or dirt in the connections (or even pulling apart). Without the heat shrink tubing in place, you could be having intermittant shorts in the circuit if the two LED puck wires touch each other or touch something else thats grounded unless you have otherwise insulated the metal parts of the connections.

[Lamonster]

The black thing is a resistor so your lights don't blink too fast.

[daveinva]

I forget what he called it but that black part with the one connector on it is part of the working unit and you need to plug it into the red module (in the corresponding plug that is right next to it in your picture). I think that black piece is the part that makes the LEDs work without causing errors on the Spyder's CanBus. It could be the cause of your problems.

As to the heat shrink tubing, it is a snug fit but it should slide over the LED puck wires. It is essential in that its purpose is to insulate and protect the connection from shorting out or getting water or dirt in the connections (or even pulling apart). Without the heat shrink tubing in place, you could be having intermittant shorts in the circuit if the two LED puck wires touch each other or touch something else thats grounded unless you have otherwise insulated the metal parts of the connections.

Thanks, guess I'm yanking it all out tomorrow to try again .

RE: heat shrink tubing... would good ol' black electrical tape do the trick? I'm not kidding, the tubing I got just wouldn't get on those wires, I was worried I was going to yank the leads right apart trying to slip them on.

[bjt]

Thanks, guess I'm yanking it all out tomorrow to try again .

RE: heat shrink tubing... would good ol' black electrical tape do the trick? I'm not kidding, the tubing I got just wouldn't get on those wires, I was worried I was going to yank the leads right apart trying to slip them on.

Electrical tape would work but doesn't seal the joint like heat shrink tubing would. If you can't get the tubing on, by all means, use electrical tape instead. The main thing is to eliminate any possibilty of the connections shorting out.

[Atonic]

Just installed ESI's Triple Play and the center taillight. Have a couple of questions/problems:

3. For the life of me there was no way that size heat tubing was getting on the turn signal LED wires. Is it essential for that tubing to be on there?

Heat SHRINK tubing. Head on down to the local harbor freight or electrical supply store and spend a couple bucks on a tubing assortment kit.

[Magic Man]

To get a "change" to take place from flashing to steady or back again you MUST cycle the key off for the change to take place.

If you had gotten your lights into flash mode and hit the switch to the other position by mistake when your were stowing the box, it would stay in flash mode until the bike was turned off. However once the key was cycled off, the next time it would be back in steady mode.

Here is the bottom of the instruction page...

NOTE: The switch on the unit will change the directionals from “Steady ON” when braking, to “3 Flashes then Steady ON” when braking. You must cycle the key ON and OFF for the change to take effect.

So just turn your bike on and observe what the lights are doing now. Then move the switch to the other position and cycle the key off again to have the change take effect.

MM

[daveinva]

To get a "change" to take place from flashing to steady or back again you MUST cycle the key off for the change to take place.

If you had gotten your lights into flash mode and hit the switch to the other position by mistake when your were stowing the box, it would stay in flash mode until the bike was turned off. However once the key was cycled off, the next time it would be back in steady mode.

Here is the bottom of the instruction page...

NOTE: The switch on the unit will change the directionals from “Steady ON” when braking, to “3 Flashes then Steady ON” when braking. You must cycle the key ON and OFF for the change to take effect.

So just turn your bike on and observe what the lights are doing now. Then move the switch to the other position and cycle the key off again to have the change take effect.

MM

Thanks, I eventually saw that ... cycled the key and didn't do anything, but I'll try again after I put all the stuff back together right (here's hoping for no rain today!)

[Firefly]

Thanks, I eventually saw that ... cycled the key and didn't do anything, but I'll try again after I put all the stuff back together right (here's hoping for no rain today!)

Might have to wait 30 seconds or so for the power to totally shut down on the bike---- can't remember.

[daveinva]

Good news, bad news.

Good news: Got larger size heat shrink tubing and got it to fit nicely. Also got the unifier to work for the turn signals to flash as brakes (very cool). Also installed the resistor (more on that in a moment).

Bad news: when I use the turn signals as turn signals, my right turn signal works fine (slow flashing), but my left turn signal flashes fast.

Of course, dummy me tested the brake lights before I put the pan back on, but didn't test the turn signals until *after* I screwed it on (sigh).

Any ideas what's going on here? Interestingly enough, there are *two* plug ports out of the unifier that could fit the resistor... did I plug it into the wrong port? Or do I need *two* resistors to plug in? Again, there's no mention of the resistor in the ESI Triple Play instructions (hint-hint, NMN guys ).

Thanks again to everyone for the GREAT help...

[daveinva]

Just an update to close the thread: I went back in and plugged the resistor into the OTHER port, and voila, it all worked fine.

Wish that had been in the instructions, but oh well, it's no fun unless it's trial and error, right?