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

[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.

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.”

[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"
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.

[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..

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