blinkers on steroids

[Vamos]

Hi guys,

When fitting a new front bar on my DC2 i had to change the indicators as the stock ones wouldn't fit and couldnt mould them into the bar either. I had to fit custom ones onto the bar and now i have the problem of whenever i signal, the indicator blinks really fast! Anyone know how i can fix this or why this happening as its pissing me off ?!?!

Sorry not sure if the question has been asked before.

Thanks

[IRI]

Globe is blown or wiring not done properly. Blinkers usually flash fast when a globe is out.

[XXpl0Sive]

What IRI said :)

[Dominik]

I actually think there is nothing wrong with the wiring. He mentioned he has custom blinkers in there. I bet they are a different wattage to the original indicators - probably LED or low wattage right??

The flasher module is designed for a certain wattage circuit. This includes all of your indicators on one side: Rear indicator, front indicator, side indicator, and also the little bulb in your dash (though that doesnt contribute much). When you change that wattage (different lights/blown bulbs), the flasher has a fit and does the hyper-blinker thing.

Assuming that your bulbs arent blown, and they are all lighting up, then you need to add resistors to the circuit to make the total wattage the same. Should be easy to calculate what indicators you need.

First, find out what the correct wattage is by looking at your original blinker bulb. Probably a 21watt bulb...

Then subtract the current bulb wattage (for LED, its negligable - say 2watts).

So you need to make up 19watts with resistors, Thats a fair bit, so you need chunky resistors - best to use a few in parallel (divide the current). I'm gonna recommend 3 x 5W resistors (comes to less than 19watts, but will suffice).

To figure out what values for the resistors, you need to know what current you need to make up; then you can use Ohms law
Current = 19watts/12volts
= ~1.5Amps

Then you can use Ohms law as follows:
R=V/I
R=12v / 1.5Amps
R=8 Ohms

Then there is one last calculation to figure out what each resistor needs to be (remember, you are doing 3 in parallel):

1/(Total Resistance) = 1/R + 1/R + 1/R
1/8 Ohm = 3/R
R = 24Ohm

So you need 3, 5W 24 ohm resistors in parallel on each side to keep the flasher happy... (If you have different wattage bulbs in your new indicators you can substitute the numbers)

[Javed]

Good ol Ohm's Law ;)

[Vamos]

I actually think there is nothing wrong with the wiring. He mentioned he has custom blinkers in there. I bet they are a different wattage to the original indicators - probably LED or low wattage right??

The flasher module is designed for a certain wattage circuit. This includes all of your indicators on one side: Rear indicator, front indicator, side indicator, and also the little bulb in your dash (though that doesnt contribute much). When you change that wattage (different lights/blown bulbs), the flasher has a fit and does the hyper-blinker thing.

Assuming that your bulbs arent blown, and they are all lighting up, then you need to add resistors to the circuit to make the total wattage the same. Should be easy to calculate what indicators you need.

First, find out what the correct wattage is by looking at your original blinker bulb. Probably a 21watt bulb...

Then subtract the current bulb wattage (for LED, its negligable - say 2watts).

So you need to make up 19watts with resistors, Thats a fair bit, so you need chunky resistors - best to use a few in parallel (divide the current). I'm gonna recommend 3 x 5W resistors (comes to less than 19watts, but will suffice).

To figure out what values for the resistors, you need to know what current you need to make up; then you can use Ohms law
Current = 19watts/12volts
= ~1.5Amps

Then you can use Ohms law as follows:
R=V/I
R=12v / 1.5Amps
R=8 Ohms

Then there is one last calculation to figure out what each resistor needs to be (remember, you are doing 3 in parallel):

1/(Total Resistance) = 1/R + 1/R + 1/R
1/8 Ohm = 3/R
R = 24Ohm

So you need 3, 5W 24 ohm resistors in parallel on each side to keep the flasher happy... (If you have different wattage bulbs in your new indicators you can substitute the numbers)

Thanks Dominik. yeh thats correct, none of the bulbs are blown. I have replaced my parker lights with LEDs and my new indicators are the side indicators from an accord i think. I understand what you've advised me to do, although im pretty stupid when it comes to electronics.. best bet would be to go to an auto electrician huh? Any suggestions on where to go in Sydney?

Thanks again