Thread: Flasher fail
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Old 09-22-2020, 01:59 PM
Unique427 Unique427 is offline
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Here's some additional input regarding switch to LED.

1) Going to LED for position/brake lights will also require a SOLID STATE RELAY.
If your current mechanical relay is (3) prong its a simple direct swap.
If your current mechanical relay is (2) prong and after relay install it does not work
or you get a hyper-flash, car's plug-in socket polarity is inverted. Mechanical relays
are not polarity sensitive. Solid state relays are and require using a couple
pigtail wires that reverse polarity. The pigtail modification fixes almost all
problems of no flash or hyper-flash situations after installing a solid state relay.

If you use a solid state relay then use of load resistors are not needed.
Load resistors can get hot enough to melt plastic so I prefer updating relays.

Also, a solid state relay has no "tick-tock" turn signal sound indication like a
mechanical so flashing dash lights will be the only cue.

2) Use AMBER and RED LED 1157's for front and back NOT WHITE.
The colored lens allows only similar color light through. If the LED is
the same color as the lens then 100% of the light transmission goes
through and the result is a much brighter/richer light. If the LED is white then
only a portion of the light transmitted gets through and the rest is reflected.
So the short answer is color match LED with lens color.

If you also want to do those Stewart-Warner or Smith gauges the bulb size is BA9
Lucas license plate light fixture is also two BA9. Superbrightleds.com has
BA9S LED bulbs in various colors. I found these to be the brightest at 96 lumens,
will fit in the sockets and are dimensionally similar to the tiny incandescent bulbs.
Does not matter if they are single or double wire bulb sockets.
Bulb sockets are held in by friction and with a little coaxing will simply pop out.
I was able to do the entire gauge cluster without removal.

Superbrightleds.com bulb description + part number:
COOL WHITE (6100K) = BA9S-CWHP5
WARM WHITE (2700K) = BA9S-WWHP5
RED = BA9SRHP5
BLUE = BA9SBHP5
AMBER = BA9SAHP5
GREEN = BA9SGHP5

White takes 0.10 amps each and colored take 0.07 amps each.

If you need a source for 1157 LED items:

iBRIGHTSTAR Extremely Bright 1157 BAY15D LED on Amazon.com:
AMBER = 1157-3014-66Y
RED = 1157-3014-66R
WHITE = 1157-3014-66W

These draw 0.26 amps each.

Last edited by Unique427; 09-23-2020 at 04:55 AM..
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