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Are you one of those old geezers that often drives along with your turn signal blinking for block after block or even mile after mile because you can’t hear the clicking sound of your flasher? I often was when I had a TR turn signal switch that would not cancel on one side and came up with a solution. I was talking with John Lille in Niagara Falls during Spring Fling and we were talking about this solution and he suggested I write it up for Ragtop (Toronto Triumph Club magazine). While I was very pleased with my solution, I had never considered writing an article because it was just a simple purchase and install, as simple as replacing a dash bulb. But, encouraged by John, here it is in the hope that it might help someone else.

The problem is two-fold. First, the dash light is often too dim to notice when it is flashing, especially during the bright sunny days when we usually drive our cars. Second, the clicking sound is barely audible and is down in the footwell where it can barely be heard. The solution, a piezoelectric trafficator from Marc Goldblatt at Classic Technologies (https://www.classic-technologies.com). What is piezoelectricity? It is what keeps your quartz watch so accurate. If you squeeze certain materials such as quartz, they cause electricity to flow. The reverse is also true. If you flow electricity through certain materials, they squeeze themselves by vibrating back and forth. In the case of the trafficator, a piezoelectric transducer takes the current from the turn signal system in your TR and converts it into a loud beep.

The Classic Technologies unit (Photo 1) also incorporates a bright LED that provides plenty of visibility on the dash. The unit is soldered to a bulb base from a Lucas LLB 987 bulb which has an MES E10 type base. So, installation is as simple as:

1. Remove the bulb holder from the turn signal indicator lamp.

2. Unscrew the current Lucas bulb.

3. Screw in the new trafficator bulb base.

4. Press the rubber tubing of the new trafficator into the socket from which the original bulb holder was removed.

That’s it, you’re done. Fire up the car and check the new light and sound. You might find the sound too loud. You can wrap the piezoelectric unit in tape to try to quieten it down. Now, in order to be one of those old geezers, you are going to have to really focus in order to ignore the bright flashing light and the loud beep.

One adjustment I did make was to fill the bulb base with silicone caulking (Photo 2). If you look at Photo 1, you will notice the two wires are soldered to the base. This gives little support or rigidity when screwing the bulb base into the bulb holder. Filling the bulb base stabilizes the wires and adds some rigidity to the unit.

If you are accomplished in the area of electrics, you can build one of these units from readily available parts using the plans available on the internet. However, by the time you track down the components and factor in the time to build, it is probably cheaper to spend the $31 (US) and get one ready to install.

John, your problem is solved.