LED turn signals and flashers - Printable Version

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+--- Thread: LED turn signals and flashers (/showthread.php?tid=3845)

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LED turn signals and flashers - encantotom - 11-01-2017

hi all,

thought i would share what i did to rewire my hot rod for led turn signals.  

my front and rear turn signals worked, but the 4 way flashers did not.  

there was a large load resistor in the circuit that was getting very hot and in fact had a wire with insulation melted stuck to it under the dash.  

in the old school flashing circuits it is a mechanical flasher.  it takes quite a bit of resistance or load to make it flash.  when we put led's in, they have very little load since they are such low current draw.  so you have to trick the old flashers and some new flashers to work right.  

load resistors are a common cause of hot rod fires.  

so, i took out the load resistor.  it was hooked in parallel in the 4 way flasher circuit.  

i put new electronic flashers in both the turn signal and 4 way.  they have a dedicated ground unlike regular 2 pin flashers.  nothing worked.  

the old flashers are not polarity dependent.  electronic ones are.  so the pins were reversed on the flasher sockets.  i reversed the pins.  it worked right away but the lights were flashing strangely.  

it needed even more of a load.  so rather than a load resistor, i put in a common 12v relay in parallel in each turn signal circuit.  now it had enough load, and the lights flashed normally.  you say, huh?  a relay?  well, you just wire in the coil and dont use the rest of the relay wires.  when the turn signal comes on, it turns the relay coil on, and with that much load on the flasher, it worked normally.  

the relay coil does what the load resistor does only with zero heat and fire danger.  

the nice side effect is that the relays now tick when it flashes as the coil turns on and off, making the sound that the old flashers used to have and that the new electronic flashers dont.  

now all is well.  

a couple of lessons from this.  

1.  know how things work and check voltages.  that is how i found that the flasher power wires were not in the right place
2.  be willing to experiment.  everything worked properly with the new electronic flashers, but they flashed funny.  so that is when i experimented with putting the relay on the circuit.  


many of us have put led lights on our newells.  turn signals.  mine worked with the old flashers.  probably some of you have had to put load resistors on.  if i was you, i would try replacing that load resistor with a relay to see if that works for you.  those load resistors are nasty things that get really hot.  

later

tom

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RE: LED turn signals and flashers - Fulltiming - 11-01-2017

Great idea Tom.

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RE: LED turn signals and flashers - encantotom - 11-01-2017

I just did what I saw online and was told about

Tom

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RE: LED turn signals and flashers - pairodice - 01-21-2019

In searching for ‘headlight relays’ I came across this! I like it and will try this trick on my Jeep lights! They flash fast and I don’t like the load resistors due to the heat!... Thanks Tom!

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RE: LED turn signals and flashers - bikestuff - 01-22-2019

The LED rear turn signal lights that we were getting on eBay (no longer available)...have an internal flasher. At least, I am pretty sure they do. My turn signals flash properly, but the lights that I added to the motorcycle lift (hooked to same wires) do not flash. I suspect that you may have the same thing Tom. Did you try to put 12V on the turn signal wires and see if they blink by themselves? Just a thought.

Bill

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RE: LED turn signals and flashers - Richard - 01-22-2019

Hmmmmm, I don't think mine have internal flashers in the lights themselves.

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RE: LED turn signals and flashers - encantotom - 01-22-2019

the dialights do not have internal flashers

tom

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