Kisan Signal Minder

[moondog]

Well we have all complained about this dealer or vendor who gave out poor customer service. I just received a call from Kisan. They had reprogrammed my Signal Minder and then shipped it to an old address. I had failed to tell them of the new address. Well they got it back from Maine, called me and now are going to ship it to me in Connecticut. Now that is customer service. And there has been no charge for all of this. Maybe there is hope after all.

[Ken Krumm]

Well we have all complained about this dealer or vendor who gave out poor customer service. I just received a call from Kisan. They had reprogrammed my Signal Minder and then shipped it to an old address. I had failed to tell them of the new address. Well they got it back from Maine, called me and now are going to ship it to me in Connecticut. Now that is customer service. And there has been no charge for all of this. Maybe there is hope after all.

I am not impressed with Kisan. On their website, they market signal minders for motorcycle that it cannot work on. Example: my Ducati ST3 with CANBUS. The Kisan Signal Minder replaces the turn signal relay in the fuse box. However, on a CANBUS system, there is no relay to replace. After several calls, the Kisan Techs finally admitted they had never attempted to mount a signal minder on this type of Ducati electrical system and had no idea on how to integrate into the CANBUS. However, the Kisan website still markets a signal minder for an ST3 and other Ducati models it cannot work on.

Adding to my angst, Kisan would not return my emails or phone calls. Finally, they provided me with return information. After about two months, my credit card finally credited with the return. I would do business with this company.

[MarkF]

My Ducati has CANBUS? I did not know that.

[moondog]

I am not impressed with Kisan. On their website, they market signal minders for motorcycle that it cannot work on. Example: my Ducati ST3 with CANBUS. The Kisan Signal Minder replaces the turn signal relay in the fuse box. However, on a CANBUS system, there is no replay to replace. After several calls, the Kisan Techs finally admitted they had never attempted to mount a signal minder on this type of Ducati electrical system and had no idea on how to integrate into the CANBUS. However, the Kisan website still markets a signal minder for an ST3 and other Ducati models it cannot work on.

Adding to my angst, Kisan would not return my emails or phone calls. Finally, they provided me with return information. After about two months, my credit card finally credited with the return. I would do business with this company.

Would not or would?

[AntonLargiader]

IMO the SignalMinder is a great product. It overcomes BMW's great omission in the R11xx series; lack of self canceling turn signals. That technology had been in use on the K bikes for a decade at that point; maybe the boxer design team thought it wasn't proven yet?

I haven't had to deal with them as a company. However you can buy from resellers who actually know the product, often for the same price.

[Ken Krumm]

Would not or would?

Oops...would not do business with Kisan. My R1150GS has a Kisan that works so-so. I DO Like how it turns the turn signals into riding lights. However, it cancels the turn signal erratically and only has a one year warranty.

During a ride to Colorado last weekend, one of other riders had his Kisan burn out on his R1100R leaving him with no turn signals. I've had one burn out on one of my other bikes. For $100 a pop, they should have a lifetime guarantee. I have never had a turn signal relay fail. I'm sure they do. But its very uncommon. MY EXPERIENCE has been they have a quality assurance problem. My recommendation is if you buy one, keep your turn signal relay on the bike just in case.

Anton makes a good point. My K1100LT has a canceling device built into the system. My R1100RT does not. The K1100LT also has large turn signal lights to ensure you don't forget. IMHO, BMW has gone backwards in this area of safety.

[Ken Krumm]

My Ducati has CANBUS? I did not know that.

The Ducati ST3 CAN Bus is very sophisticated. Even the throttle body synchronization and idle is control by the system. From the redline website:

"A CAN bus to simplify the electric system: Using a CAN (Controller Area Network) avoids bike sensor duplication and thus simplifies the electric system dramatically and considerably reduces the bike’s overall weight. The two nodal points connected to the Controller Area Network are the Magneti Marelli engine control unit and the instrument panel. The signals generated by the sensors are therefore shared between the two electronic processing units connected to the network. The CAN line is a network consisting of only two cables, conveying trains of digital signals, each one delivering clear, perfectly identifiable information. The nodal points connected to this line (the engine control unit and the instrument panel) have special hardware able to tell whether a certain train of pulses contains relevant information, which then has to be processed by the computing unit. This special electronic technology has helped to considerably simplify the bike’s electric system, which in certain sections only includes one pair of cables for the CAN line."

[Shep Brown]

Don't know about "the" dealer in question...but can tell you "a" dealer in Alabama screwed me when my Modulator FAILED after 40 days. Kisan was VERY good to the dealer...gave them a free replacement; said dealer made me pay for it. I never heard of a Kisan modulator failing....I thouhgt it was my high beam wiring,etc.

My Signal Minder failed after 20 minutes of use. I bought it from Morton's in Virginia......Stu in service had a replacement in my hands in 2 days!!!!! Maybe they are having quality problems......but that RA friends is service supreme!!!!

[AntonLargiader]

Kisan makes a bunch of pretty neat stuff, from the electronics viewpoint. Unfortunately the way they have you wire it in can be a real mess. I have to do a LOT of rework to get what I consider to be nice, reliable connections. Scotchlock-type connectors? Yuk. Many of the newer items use telephone handset connectors (Kisan calls them RJ-11 but they aren't). I have to wonder how they'll hold up in the long run. The Valentine1 used that for a power cord and while it works fine inside a car, the terminals would corrode when used on my bike.

[rbertalotto]

I had an 05 ST3 and I installed a signal minder. It did not have CanBus as far as I could tell. I also installed a Speed-o-Healer and a bunch other electronic stuff. Very conventional electrical system. Did they change it in later years?