LED Front marker & Turn Signal Mod

Hey guys, tried searching and hopefully there isn't another thread about this.

But so I did the turn signal mod to make the front marker blink as well, from the how-to section awhile back, loved it, wish it came like that originally.

Today I installed some LED's I got from auto illumination, and all was going well, of course I was too cheap to buy the load balancers so for now they blink really fast, but the thing that makes me sadder is they no longer blink with the turn signals.

They do when the lights are on, and thus the front markers are on anyway, so they do the turnsignal then marker blink, but when the lights are off they no longer do the turn signal and marker blink at the same time.

Any suggestions/comments?

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Originally Posted by Tookie

Hey guys, tried searching and hopefully there isn't another thread about this.

But so I did the turn signal mod to make the front marker blink as well, from the how-to section awhile back, loved it, wish it came like that originally.

Today I installed some LED's I got from auto illumination, and all was going well, of course I was too cheap to buy the load balancers so for now they blink really fast, but the thing that makes me sadder is they no longer blink with the turn signals.

They do when the lights are on, and thus the front markers are on anyway, so they do the turnsignal then marker blink, but when the lights are off they no longer do the turn signal and marker blink at the same time.

Any suggestions/comments?

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You might have a polarity issue. IIRC the switching (flashing) part of the circuit is actually on the ground side. For a light bulb, polarity does not matter since its essentially a skinny piece of wire that glow as it gets hot from the current flowing through it. LEDs on the other hand are polarity specific. I can't think of any other reason.

Ooh dangit, I was kinda thinking the same thing, Can't think of a way to make it work though, don't remember enough electronic stuffs haha. At least it works at night.

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Originally Posted by Tookie

Ooh dangit, I was kinda thinking the same thing, Can't think of a way to make it work though, don't remember enough electronic stuffs haha. At least it works at night.

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If my bulbs go out, I will replace with LEDs and let you know:) I teach electrical theory for a living.

I remember 2 things about electrical theory from my physics classes:

1) Power doesn't kill; potential difference does.
2) Microwaving a light bulb in a cup of water makes it light up.

What can I say, it was to fill a general science requirement. :D

That's how that mod always works.. They flash in sync with the parking lights turned off and alternating with them turned on. That's how mine has worked since I first did the mod.. With reg bulbs and led bulbs alike

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Originally Posted by Tookie

load balancers

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pretty sure I have them, never used, would let them go pretty cheap. I used a new electronic flasher which is an absolute B@#$% to change

Um, potential doesn't kill, think of voltage (potential) as the same thing as water pressure. Water pressure does not kill! It takes the flow of water to drown you, current would be the electrical equivalent.

Not sure I understand... you take issue with the statement but it seems like your analogy is the same as what I wrote? :confused: I thought potential difference was what makes electricity (water) move from positive (higher pressure) to negative (lower pressure). Without the difference in charge/pressure, nothing would ever happen.

Lol, how come my LED's dont work then, junk! Emailed the guy and he said he might have other LED's that may work, so might return for those maybe

Was thinkin about the load balancers or changing that blinker thing, don't know if I was hot things floating around other wires.

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Originally Posted by vt_maverick

Not sure I understand... you take issue with the statement but it seems like your analogy is the same as what I wrote? :confused: I thought potential difference was what makes electricity (water) move from positive (higher pressure) to negative (lower pressure). Without the difference in charge/pressure, nothing would ever happen.

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Once again, water pressure doesn't kill anyone, neither does voltage. A tazer operates at thousands of volts, but does not cause death, the magnitude of current it is capable of supplying is VERY low. A 120 volt outlet in your house can provide a high enough sustainable current to cause death. Another analogy would be like saying a tall cliff kills people. No, its the fall and subsequent landing that kills people. Guns don't kill people, its the bullet that kills you and so on. So I apologize, its a semantics things, but at our school we are big on technicalities:)
Now in all fairness, you can't have a high enough current to kill without sufficient voltage, which can be as low as 30 volts. (for those that don't know, current is the movement of charged particles in a specific direction, be it electrons or ions depends on the medium involved, voltage or potential is the force that causes them to move)
But we have a hard time at work getting students to stop saying the "flow" of voltage, or "voltage flowing".

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Originally Posted by Marlin

So I apologize, its a semantics things, but at our school we are big on technicalities:)

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Must be, the more you respond the less I understand how we disagree. ;)

Perhaps someday I will also learn the way of The Force. :yesy:

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Originally Posted by vt_maverick

Must be, the more you respond the less I understand how we disagree. ;)

Perhaps someday I will also learn the way of The Force. :yesy:

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LOL. I am not sure what is confusing here, potential does not kill. Hence the fact you can touch a powerline with 35KV of potential difference and not get hurt, complete the path, so that current flows, and you will be a crispy critter. Even the coolness of your VX wouldn't help you:bgwb:

:whiteflag: :D

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Originally Posted by vt_maverick

:whiteflag: :D

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:_iamwiths


J/K :yes:

:hj:complete

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Originally Posted by Tookie

Any suggestions/comments?

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Hmmm, my suggestion is to simply remove the problem causing LED light bulbs and revert back to the normal incandesent light bulbs as they worked previously.

P.S.-- MARLIN, thanks for the electrical theory lesson. Good stuff and very informative as always.

:bgwb: