Turn signal warning alarm for old people---ME

[Trailite]

2005 Model 281 class A with Gm 8.1 and Gm tranny.
Is the alarm on aney fuse either under dash or hood?
Mine has quit.

[Wayne M]

Mine never quits.

She's sitting in the co-pilot seat.

[Good man]

Trailite,
Do the turn signals STILL operate normally and it is just the audible "chime" that has quit? (Yeah... I NEED it too... Don't want to be a silver-hair with the ubiquitous turn-signal-to-nowhere keeping time to my Lawerence Welk tunes on the 8-track tape player.)

Generally, the chime is wired as a part of the turn signal circuit and it is protected by the common fuse or circuit interrupter which protects the turn signals. The wiring can come loose and the alarm will not work. OR;

Assuming you still have working turn signals, look for the chime itself... usually somewhere up under the dash... Activate the turn signals and feel around for something which seems to be vibrating in sync with the tempo of the blinking lights...

Drag your grandson/daughter in there and have them listen with those laser-sharp ears... with SELECTIVE hearing... They can actually hear the electrons flailing themselves against the un-moving, un-yielding circuitry of a faulty component... But they can't seem to hear the bombastic entreaty, "Turn OFF all those d--- lights... We are not attempting an Emergency Landing for a passenger jet on a foggy night here!" But I digress...

The chime can be a small cylindrical device about the size of a shot glass... or it can be a cube about the size of a pack of smokes... it usually has a little speaker-looking grill on it, behind which rests a tin disc which is "excited" by the pusle of the "blinking" circuit...

Sometimes, dirt and debris can get into that little grill and interfere with the free movement of the disc. Sometimes corrosion will inhibit it. If you find it and it vibrates in your hand when the turn signal is activated, but you are not getting the full "enjoyment" of it... Try tapping it smartly to see if you can free it up.

Failing that, try BANGING it SHARPLY (got nothing to lose at this point) to see if it can be be awakened from the dead. Failing that...

Radio Shack can sell you a variety of 12-volt chimes, bells, whistles, a-oooo-ga-hoot horns, whatever floats your boat...

Even a computerized voice chip in the genre of Darth Vader stating "TURN SIGNAL ACTIVATED... and may the 'FORCE' be with you."

...But I strongly advise against that... the novelty of the matter will fade rapidly in proportion to the well-deserved and entirely justified noise from the passenger seat ...whether in lilting soprano or booming bass, just to be PC.

And finally,
Thank You, kind sir, for actually caring enough to effectively USE the TURN SIGNALS ...in a world full of people who seem more and more every day to purposefully hold fellow drivers in suspense of what their navigational intent may be... if indeed there is any rational intent or meaningful direction at play whatsoever.

May the FORCE be with you...
Jim

[frankdamp]

Radio Shack has a very cheap solution to your problem. They sell a fairly cheap (about $7) piezo-electric beeper that can be wired into the flasher output to each side (two units needed, one for the right flasher and one for the left).

On 12V, they generate enough noise to fry your socks, so you need to put resistors in the circuit. I had an S-10 pick-up where the auto-cancel on the right turn signal had failed. Fixing it needed three special tools to take the steering wheel off and to keep all the parts of the ignition lock from flying off to Outer Mongolia.

I put one of the Shack's beepers in, just spliced to the wires under the dash, with (I think) about a 5K-ohm resistor in series to keep the noise down. Get a few different resistors to solder in to get the sound level where you want it to be.

[Me n Slowpoke]

I keep the tips of my fingers on the turn signal arm and when I get into the lane I want, I turn it off.

[Good man]

OR... you could put ONE piezo-electric buzzer, or bell, or chime, in the circuit, right next to the ONE flasher-stat relay which operates either side independently, ...AHEAD of the turn-signal lever switch.

You ARE right about the un-holy "NOIZE" from that sucker fer shure, frankdamp, ...fry yer socks AND curl yer toes!

Alternative RedNeck Low-Tech solution to adjusting the noise is to simply wrap the buzzer in a shop cloth to dampen the noise down to an acceptable level... it can be instantly attenuated to the complete satisfaction of even the most discerning ear, by more or less wrapping of said shop cloth...

...with the final adjustment being "permanently" fixed by a wrap of ...wait for it.... wait... DUCT TAPE!
No RedNeck Repair is ever complete without applying duct tape as the coup de gras. The buzzer will be out of sight and out of mind... so no purists will be offended by the "cheap fix" RedNeck trick.
Decidedly Low-tech ...but deadly effective and the price is right. What's not to love???
All the best,
JimBoBillyBob

[ron55]

My wife says, "my signal light is on and my pants are always unziped"
I told her "Semper Paratus"

[mfire1339]

Hey Boats, what's that mean? I may want to use it.

Mike

[hamguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trailite 2005 Model 281 class A with Gm 8.1 and Gm tranny. Is the alarm on aney fuse either under dash or hood? Mine has quit.

I got a solid state beeper from Radio Shack and wired it directly across the flasher connector.

[JCM]

Get one of these TURN SIGNAL ALARM - HEAR YOUR TURN SIGNAL IN RVs, AUTOS, TRUCKS, HOT RODS, GOLF CARTS, AND MOTORCYCLES it is a simple plug in replacement. It is annoying when it is working but thats what it is for. You won't leave it on when you are driving.

[frankdamp]

I tried a single alarm, but on the truck, I found that the other pin on the flasher unit had 12V on it when the turn signals weren't flashing. As a result the alarm beeped along with the turn signals but then went 100% on if the turn signals weren't being used.

I just figured all flasher units were the same.

BTW, as an engineer, I just found it easier to wire a resistor in series than mess about with rags and duct tape!

[JCM]

Go to their site. They have various models. Mine on the W22 used the 2 pins.

[ron55]

mifire, It is the Coast Guard motto. "Always ready"

[texans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne M Mine never quits. She's sitting in the co-pilot seat.

My DW has bionic ears too, thats OK except in the middle of the night when she hears burgulars.

Richard