How to replace the turn signals to led turn signals

ardmunna · Jan 22, 2022

Hi I bought a set of led turn signals To install on the rear side of my monster 821 - 2019. I can’t find a diy guide anywhere online. Can anyone help me on how I can replace it, I’m a noob when it comes to all of this.

thanks I’m advance

jamestcurran · Jan 26, 2022

I've done this a few times, most recently on a 2014 796, so I am not sure how similar the experience will be, but if it's of any help, here were the main issues I ran into:

Dealing with the different style connectors on aftermarket indicators. Ducati have an unusual connector style, so you may want to cut the connectors off the stock indicators and splice/solder/crimp them to the new indicators, or buy adaptors, or (be careful!) cut the bike wiring harness and add bullet connectors. I went for cutting the connectors off the stock indicators and soldering/crimping them to the new indicators so I could plug them in as direct replacement.
Depending on the bike, the LED lights may not play nice with the indicator controller. There are two common issues: either the bike will just blink the lights very fast (most older bikes) or it will throw an error/warning to tell you a bulb is blown. I'd recommend testing this first though - as not all bikes will show this problem. If you simply unplug one of the rear indicators and see if the corresponding front-indicator flashes faster. Mine runs at about 90 flashes per minute stock - with the rear one unplugged, or an LED light installed, it ran about 150 flashes per minute, maybe a bit faster. The most common solution for this is to add in "load" resistors to the system, to make the bike think a traditional bulb is installed. Basically the LED won't draw enough current and so you may need to add a resistor in parallel to draw some extra, to make up the difference - so that the bike "sees" the same as it would if a regular bulb were installed. Something like 10 Ohm is enough, just make sure it can handle the heat. I bought these, but anything similar will do. Here is an example of how to wire the resistor.
Make sure you have room for the extra cable and load resistors. I put a tail tidy on mine, and so I lost a lot space back there. Since it's also where the exhaust-flapper servo lives, it's pretty cramped, and it took quite a bit of trial and error to get everything tucked away neatly. You will want to think of this when preparing the new cables: leave enough cable length to give you room to manoeuvre and pack/tuck - but not so much that you run out of space. The stock length + 50% is probably a good guide. Be careful if you opt to solder over crimping, as it can make the cable difficult to bend without doing damage. Some of the racing guys (mostly cars) advise against solder, and recommend crimping (can't remember the reasoning). IMHO either are fine, if done well/carefully, and both are a problem if done badly. If you opt to crimp, make sure you have the right crimping tool for the connectors, and if you opt to solder, make sure you have an appropriately sized iron/tip. In either case I'd recommend heat-shrink tubing, for example, something like this.
Don't wire them backwards! The cables are labelled in Italian on mine, and it's not immediately obvious. But the one marked "SX" is the "Sinestra" or left one, and the one marked "DX" is the "Destra" or Right one. You can guess how learnt that....

Hope this helps - post a pic of the mod when you're done!

How to replace the turn signals to led turn signals

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