Help with LED tail lights - D40 King cab

hey guys/girls

fitted up some led tail lights yesterday and they work great and look awesome but the left indicator flashes fine for the first 2-3 blinks then speeds up to a faster flash rate while the right one works a treat with no problems at all.

any ideas??

thanks

It's possibly a load issue, most flasher cans flash faster when a globe blows because of the load change and with LED the load change is permanent because LED's draw less current, although that really doesn't explain why it only happens to one side I don't think so it may not be right.

forgot to mention - i have checked all the other globes and they are all working. when i put led indicators on my R1 i had to wire in resistors...maybe this is what i need to do here.......?? just weird that its only one side

Try rechecking the connections.

probably a load issue as mentioned, probably need a resistor to slow it down.
When I got my bullbar (built in indicators) the trailer wiring test light started to flash when turning right, my guess is that there is a higher load on right turn than left from factory, don't know why, that would explain why you need resistor in left only.
By the way, where did you get them? I need some to replace mine after god put his tree in a stupid spot

hey mate,
a resistor does sound fit in this situation, though just for some trouble shooting, try swaping the lights see if it changes.

It's definitely a load issue.

The flasher unit depends on a fixed resistance to determine its charge/discharge rate. If you blow the front left indicator in your car, for example, the rear left flashes much faster. An LED draws such a small amount of current compared to the incandescent bulb that it almost looks like it isn't there, electrically. You need to increase the load on the circuit.

It beats the shit out of me how we can't develop a flasher circuit that simply provides the regulation rate of flashing via the humble 555 timer chip and a fast relay. These chips have been around for donkeys' years and we STILL charge a stupid bloody coil and discharge it across a bulb to make the lights flash.

The flasher can is actually designed to flash faster when globe blows to indicate to the driver that there is a problem. Its some European rule .You can buy electronic flasher cans here that do just as you said and flash the same rate no matter what load.
I havent looked too hard but i really dont know if we even have a flasher can or its a function in the dash cluster.

you can buy units specifically made for the purpose of rectifying this problem, try ebay.

alternatively you could wire in an appropriately sized resistor.

like this
2x 12V 50W LOAD RESISTORS -FOR AUTO GLOBES & LED LIGHTS (eBay item 190328289985 end time 07-Dec-10 00:10:20 AEDST) : Cars, Bikes, Boats

Personally I think the fake loads defeat the whole purpose of low-power globes. The fake loads consume the extra power needed to make the stupid things work the way they were supposed to.

justdrinkbeer: i have the same problem with my right blinker too - load light on the dash comes on every time, but not with the left indicator. nissan say their bars come with built in resistors to prevent this. i got the lights from truckbits down here in melb but you should find them at any auto store....i made the alloy bracket for them myself using 100x50x3mm channel

Electronic flasher will solve the problem and is cheaper than load resistors

D40KC said:

justdrinkbeer: i have the same problem with my right blinker too - load light on the dash comes on every time, but not with the left indicator. nissan say their bars come with built in resistors to prevent this. i got the lights from truckbits down here in melb but you should find them at any auto store....i made the alloy bracket for them myself using 100x50x3mm channel

Click to expand...

Built in resistor would make them both flash though. Sounds a bit fishy to me

just an update guys....got the problem fixed. wired a resistor across the left rear blinker and it is now flashing at normal speed and the dash light that was coming on with the right indicator has now stopped - fixed the 2 problems in one go!

Good one, gotta be a series/parrallel issue then, that makes sense. What size resistor?

This is weird that newer D22 uses a flasher can. My 18 year old Mazda van used an IC circuit for the flashers.

OTOH, it shouldn't "blow" when I connect the trailer up, like the IC controlled Mazda flasher did (at $200 circa 1985).

terryc said:

This is weird that newer D22 uses a flasher can. My 18 year old Mazda van used an IC circuit for the flashers.

OTOH, it shouldn't "blow" when I connect the trailer up, like the IC controlled Mazda flasher did (at $200 circa 1985).

Click to expand...

Obviously, in spite of the "advanced technology", they didn't use the IC output to drive a relay, they just drive the lights directly.

Still, a bulb at half brightness still shows you the way around at night.

rescue said:

Electronic flasher will solve the problem and is cheaper than load resistors

Click to expand...

What is an electronic flasher, where do I get one & where do I put it?
Oh, and how much?

Sorry for all the questions

you can buy special flasher cans for led tail lights. go to repco or bursons and they should have these .