L.E.D. Flashers Woes; Mystery disconnect harness

[workmeistr]

Hi, folks,
I got my electronic L.E.D. flasher today from superbrightleds.com in hopes of eliminating the “hyper flash” without having to run in-line resistors.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/tail-brake-turn.html (down on the page)
After contorting myself and wrestling the huge wire harness trunk that prevented removal of the stock flasher, I installed the L.E.D. flasher only to have my 15amp turn-signal fuse blow when I turned the ignition key to the “on” position. I replaced the fuse and reinserted the stock flasher to make sure all was fine. Then I tried again with the L.E.D. flasher in, blow a 20amp fuse.
Anyway, does anyone have a proven L.E.D. flasher and source that does work. Odds are that it is not just a bad unit, but improper for the job. The flasher specs on the side seems to be within limits, but blows the fuse. John (rowhard), I believe, is running this flasher just fine, but I’m willing to try an alternative if anyone has the information.

The superbright.com flasher:
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/superbright_com_L_E_D_flasher.jpg (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/11728)

The stock flasher:
http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/P1010036.JPG (http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/11726)

As a bonus question, can anyone identify this harness that I found tucked up in the left side kick panel? I assume it is for the front round driving lights, which I have never seen on, on my VX. It has a 5amp in-line fuse and 3 wires running to the 5-pronged plug: red, yellow and black. Where does this plug in? It’s long and looks like it could reach somewhere in the left-foot floor kick panel cover area. I wasn’t able to get the left kick panel cover off without plastic damage, as my metal, gold-colored, retaining clips had sprung wide open beneath. It’ll take more surgery to safely remove the cover. http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/medium/P1010042.JPG

[etlsport]

as far as ive seen (and ive seen pretty much my whole vx stripped) ive never seen an in line fuse anywhere in the vx. probably aftermarket... which could be why your front fogs/driving lights dont work.. mine turn on with the tail lights

as for the flasher... i would say just go with in line resistors.. you only need to put them in the front or rear, not both.. i was working on spike's VX and he has an aftermarket flasher for LED turn signals and it makes all his turn signals funky and makes things flash that shouldnt be flashing too

[workmeistr]

I got the kick panel off...nothing but dusty realys and a wadded-up rubber sticky cover, presumably to cut down on dust-ingress, which I couldn't separate from being stuck to itself. I fabbed a similarly-shaped piece out of black vinyl.

I do have in-line resistors and I've seen where people have used them and where they mount them for the front turn signals due to their heat build-up. I'm a little leary about splicing into the wire to install, and, I wouldn't mind converting the front amber side markers to flash in the future, as well. Either I do it all at once or just the front turns for now, and risk having to do in-line resistors for the future side marker-to-turn signals conversion. Decision, decisions.

I just thought that a proven, quality, L.E.D. flasher would eleviate splicing, hot resistors, and keep my side marker mod open...I didn't know that a flasher could make things go waywire. Heck, I didn't know flashers got power with the ignition keyed "on," even before using the turn signal stalk. I never would have thunk it.:uhohgray:

[workmeistr]

etlsport
"as for the flasher... i would say just go with in line resistors.. you only need to put them in the front or rear, not both.. i was working on spike's VX and he has an aftermarket flasher for LED turn signals and it makes all his turn signals funky and makes things flash that shouldnt be flashing too"

I think I missed a significant point here. If I went with rear turn signal L.E.D.s and I installed the resistor back there, as I have seen someone here has done, with pictures...I only need that one set of resistors in the rear and that would "load" the flasher to flash at a normal speed, without having to install resistors in the front? I could live with that.:)

[etlsport]

you got it.. if you get the correct size resistor.. you only need one per side (easiest to install in the tail lights probably).. after that you could add a bunch of LEDs later and it shouldnt affect your flashing speed significantly

[LittleBeast]

you got it.. if you get the correct size resistor.. you only need one per side (easiest to install in the tail lights probably).. after that you could add a bunch of LEDs later and it shouldnt affect your flashing speed significantly

That is exactly what I did, and still have working LED's throughout entire VX and one resistor per side attached to metal behind rear tail lights, works great.

[workmeistr]

I have a pair of 6 ohm resistors. Should that do the job in the back or do I need to go to the next up I have found, 25 ohm?

As for the mystery harness:
There are two holes below and to the right of the bonnet pull where some form of a switch was once mounted.

As for the unconnected plug, the red is constant hot, the yellow goes hot with key in "On" position.

I grounded the black and arched the red to the yellow (like a simple "on/off" switch might do), no front round fog lights as I had hoped, but the dash binnacle warning lights come on for a few seconds and then turn off. 'Just like when you turn the key to the "on" position, but no beeping, no TOD light, no radio, etc. accessory power, and the dash lights turn off after just few seconds. With an in-line 5 amp fuse, this couldn't have been some form of push-button power for a remote starter, or something?

I'll check the flow rate (for lack of a more knowledgeable term), but I guess, at the very least, I have two good powers, one constant and one switchable, to run a couple of Painless wiring fuse blocks to power future, and hopefully many, electrical upgrades.


I guess I'll pull the bulbs on the fogs in the off-chance that both are burnt out. I was hoping I was part way to Trooper-switch-switchable fogs, which is what I intended to do in the first place, to prepare for more powerful/proper driving (if I don't go H.I.D., or if I do...), fog lights.

[etlsport]

6 ohms should be fine.. 3 would probably even do it

my justification...

V=IR (voltage = current x resistance)

14V = (54W/14V) * R (54 watts came from 27 watt bulbs front and rear)

R= 3.63 ohms in the circuit stock..

of course i could be wrong.. anyone else whos done it already share what they used/ the results?

[Ascinder]

Originally Posted by etlsport
you got it.. if you get the correct size resistor.. you only need one per side (easiest to install in the tail lights probably).. after that you could add a bunch of LEDs later and it shouldnt affect your flashing speed significantly

That is exactly what I did, and still have working LED's throughout entire VX and one resistor per side attached to metal behind rear tail lights, works great.


X2 I'm LED all the way around and those resistors work fine.

[LittleBeast]

I have one 3 ohm on each side and it has been working perfect for years. I got them here:

http://autolumination.com/equalizers.htm

[LittleBeast]

I guess I'll pull the bulbs on the fogs in the off-chance that both are burnt out. I was hoping I was part way to Trooper-switch-switchable fogs, which is what I intended to do in the first place, to prepare for more powerful/proper driving (if I don't go H.I.D., or if I do...), fog lights.

Dude I just got done doing that with the Trooper fog light switch. It looks pretty sweet! I have the Hella Micro DE's and some 6k Xenon HID bulbs (H3 size) in them and man they are sweet looking!

[workmeistr]

O.K., old thread, but,
I mounted two 6 ohm load resistors, one on each side in the back.
On one lead, I tapped into the power of the turn signal wire at the base of the light cluster wire loom, to the other resistor lead, I tapped into the ground wire, further up before the ground wire attaches to the turn signal bulb base. I thought that the load only needed to be on the flashing turn signal, so that is why I walked up a wire to put the load on the common negative wire past the splices for the other two lights. This may have been flawed reasoning, though, as:

I still have hyper-flash on normal turn signal mode, however, I have a normal flash speed on Hazard mode (I guess the 2 x 6 ohms is enough resistance to have the blinker module flash normally).

So, what did I do wrong? Others had suggested that 2 x 6 ohm in the back only would provide enough resistance for normal turn signal flash speed. I guess I'll have to run resistors in the fronts, unless someone thinks that I should have tapped the ground down at the base of the common ground wire before all three lights. Though, I can't fathom why that would make any difference, but I am a novice wirer..er..er. Thanks for any suggestions.

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/medium/P1010184.JPG

[etlsport]

i've never installed the resistors before... but I would think that your resistor should be just an interruption of the power wire, not even touching the ground. the current will choose the path of least resistance, so it will just go around the resistor and through the LED as it would have if the resistor wasnt there at all... :_confused

[etlsport]

did some more research.. looking at moncha's review of the flashers and the website. it seems that a 6ohm resistor will only make up for one of our turn signals going to LED.. a 3 ohm resistor will account for 2 turn signals (front and rear).. so if you put a 3 ohm resistor in the place of the 6 you have there... should take care of your problems

the capacitor that controls the rate of flash of the turn signals is based on the current through the circuit. the current through leds is much lower than through the regular bulb. a lower current with the same voltage gives a higher resistance. to lower that resistance you add a new resistor in parallel with the lights.. resistors in parallel effectively lower resistance.. so by decreasing your resistance you increase the current through the circuit.. causing the capacitor to discharge less frequently... i think

[LittleBeast]

I have one 3 ohm on each side and it has been working perfect for years. I got them here:

http://autolumination.com/equalizers.htm

I guess I should've made my reply above in BOLD letters..... Let me try again:

I HAVE ONE 3 (THREE) OHM ON EACH SIDE AND IT HAS BEEN WORKING PERFECT FOR YEARS.

Yeah the 6 ohms are only good for one bulb, so you will need 4 of them total.

[Moncha]

LittleBeast and etl are correct. Like in my review a 3ohm on each side (circuit) will suffice for the front and rear lamps. I've tried "electronic" flashers and have had no luck with them. I didn't like the idea of the load balancers but they perform the best out of all the solutions I tried. that's why I included them in the review (http://www.vehicross.info/modules.php?name=Reviews&file=viewarticle&id=4).

The only drawback that I can forsee, is that you will not know if a lamp burns out. Normally, if a stock lamp burns out, the flasher will have less load on it and will flash rapidly on the side of the burn out, giving you the tell tale sign of the burn out. With the load balancer installed, the flasher will not do that. Fortunately, I've not had a burn out since the original install in 2005

[workmeistr]

OK, so I was incorrect along in my reasoning that 6 ohm x 2 provides more “resistance” than 3 ohm x 2. My mistake. I don’t play golf, so I assumed the smaller nomenclature indicated a smaller resistance, and the larger number provided a greater resistance.

Thanks for the aggressive, if somewhat confrontationally-demeaning, assistance:

LittleBeast:
“I guess I should've made my reply above in BOLD letters..... Let me try again:

I HAVE ONE 3 (THREE) OHM ON EACH SIDE AND IT HAS BEEN WORKING PERFECT FOR YEARS.

Yeah the 6 ohms are only good for one bulb, so you will need 4 of them total.”:bwgy:

[twistedsymphony]

the higher the ohms the more resistance

whether the resistance is additive or not depends on the configuration.

if the resistors are sequential then they are additive
3ohm + 3ohm = 6ohm
6ohm + 6ohm = 12ohm

if the resistors are parallel then you need to take the inverse of the additive inverse to determine the resistance
1/((1/3ohm)+(1/3ohm)) = 1.5ohm
1/((1/6ohm)+(1/6ohm)) = 3ohm

use this calculator if you're not a "math person" :rolleyes:
http://www.1728.com/resistrs.htm


As for what's happening in this circuit... I can't say without knowing how the circuit is designed. unless you can get a wiring diagram you'll have to settle with "3 ohms per light works, 6 ohms doesn't" trying to understand WHY is quite difficult without knowing how the system is designed. ... for all I know the blinker circuit has a load sensor and if it's above OR below range it will go into hyper mode... maybe 3ohms is just what keeps it happy.

[LittleBeast]

Thanks for the aggressive, if somewhat confrontationally-demeaning, assistance:

Haha, sorry man I was just trying to be funny. Glad you are figuring it out though. I am still having problems putting ANY led's in my RX-8, the car does an ABS check through the brake light circuit and if there are any differences from stock it will completely shut off ABS and traction control, and no amount or combination of load equalizers help that situation, electrical problems are so frustrating I feel your pain.

[LittleBeast]

Oh and:

100 OHM adds about 1-2 watts of load
15-25 OHM adds about 6-10 watts of load
6 OHM adds about 25 watts of load
3 OHM adds about 50 watts of load

3 OHM resistors on each side (2 total) or 6 OHM resistors at each bulb location (4 total) should work fine for us.

[etlsport]

the reason that the 6ohm resistor doesnt work properly is that the LEDs dont draw enough current to discharge the capacitor that is responsible for flashing the turn signals. by adding a resistor in parallel, the resistance is lowered.. increasing the current draw. getting the resistance lower with a 3ohm draws more current through, making the capacitor take longer to fully charge

[workmeistr]

Who would of thunk it. I come from the Infantry mindset that if 3 ohm is good, 6 ohm should suffice; mo' better. Thanks for all of the insight and I'll secure some 3 ohm resistors of the same brand so hopefully I can still use one of the pre-drilled mounting holes from the 6 ohms.:cool:

[twistedsymphony]

the reason that the 6ohm resistor doesnt work properly is that the LEDs dont draw enough current to discharge the capacitor that is responsible for flashing the turn signals. by adding a resistor in parallel, the resistance is lowered.. increasing the current draw. getting the resistance lower with a 3ohm draws more current through, making the capacitor take longer to fully charge

I never knew they used a cap to manage the pluses... of course now that you say it, it makes perfect sense as to why they'd do it that way and why they blink faster with less of a load...

I guess I figured modern cars would control it digitally.. :rolleyes:

... at least we're no longer using blinker cams. :p