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Tech Question
mark franklin, bowie, MD, 1970 Dodge Challenger 340
Based on your 12-05 article I decided to install LEDtronics plug in units for all the 1157 bulbs (F&R) in my car. Also installed an EL12 flasher. Now the turn signals take a couple seconds to activate, almost like they have to warm up. However, the four ways work like a charm. Any ideas why this is happening? Turn signal switch? Appreciate any thoughts you have on the matter. Thank You.
Mark, because you have LEDs front AND rear, there's now almost zero load on the flasher. Although we didn't have room to mention it in the article, that's a reason that we didn't recommend doing the fronts also.
The stock 32cp "bright" filaments drew about 2.1 amps each, so a stocker with one lamp at each end of the car placed a 4.2 A. load on the flasher, and a three-lamp car, 6.3 amps. The LEDs cut this down to a few hundred milliamps, which is, as you've proven, insufficent to activate even the electronic flaser. Either swap back to incandescent up front, or add dummy-load resistors in the circuit to place a load on the flasher. I'll guess that one ampere or so would be enough. If that's true, at 13.5 volts, a 13.5 ohm resistor would be needed, and it would dissapate 13.5 watts. Since a 13.5 ohm resistor is non-standard, I'd go with a 15 ohm, 20 watt wirewound resistor (Digi-Key, Radio Shack, etc.). If you want to try something more compact, a 20 ohm 10 watt might also do the job - as would hanging a bulb somewhere where it can't be seen.
Rick
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