Blinker Hyper-Flashing 101

[Defyant]

A while back i did my exLED strip blinker/DRL combo mod.

As soon as i'd installed the modded lights back into the car i noticed i was a victim of the dreaded Hyper-flash.

Hyper-flashing occurs when you replace conventional blinker bulbs with LED replacement.

Hyper-flashing occurs also when one ore more of your blinkers "blow" lowering the current load back to your blinker relay.

Conventional bulbs
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light up by sending + and - power to a small filament inside the bulb. The filament "shorts" gets hot and glows producing light.

LED (light emitting diode)
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Allows current to travel through the diode in one direction (only) as electrons and not short or cause "load".

LED Blinker Relays
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My fix was to simply buy a specific LED designed blinker relay. (from ebay) These relays are designed to balance the load and stop "Hyper-flashing". For better or worse.

LED Blinker Relay shown LEFT standard Blinker Relay shown RIGHT

For Aurion owners this relay is unfortunately located behind your dash gauges......

The downside to LED relays
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For me was that for some unknown reason i lost the function that my blinkers would flash once when i activated my alarm and twice when de-activated.

I'm not sure why this happened but i decided to remove the after market LED blinker relay and install the original Blinker Relay and add Load Resistors instead.

Load resistors
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The use of load resistors is to put back the lost load by shorting across the power wires to the blinker.

The diagramm below shows typical connection of a load resistor.

As can be seen the resistor is shorted across + and - power wires to the Replacement LED build.

When power is sent to the bulb the Load Resistor partially shorts the power adding LOAD and telling the standard blinker Relay everthing is good.

A typical Load Resistor will look much like the next picture.

and can be purchased from ebay and will usually come with directions and connectors.

you will notice that the ratings on the ones in the picture are 50w 6RJ.

50W is the total power rating they can handle and 6RJ stands for OHM's.

OHM's
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Is a measurement of resistance.(impedance) 6ohm is enough resistance to mimic the shorting of the standard light bulbs.

all tho! not all systems need 6ohm and a lower amount of resistance (impedance) is enough.

My DIY load Resistor install.
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Deciding to go the DIY path as usual and using "what i have" i tested a few different rated Resistors i had left over from an old speaker project.

As can be seen there are 3 different ratings and after testing i found that the lowest rated @ 10W 3.9ohm was enough to add sufficient load to stop my Hyper-flashing. At this point i will say that any of the 3 sets you see here are all within acceptable use to stop Hyper-flashing.

The next 2 pics shows a quick install across the blinker power wires these in my case on an aurion's passenger side blinker are the RED/silver and BROWN/silver wires leading to the GREY plug.

The down side to using a load resistor is that they GET HOT. Shorted power needs to dissipate in the form of heat.

As can been seen after 30 seconds of blinker use the Resistor reaches 92 degrees celsius. Within the working range for the resistor.

NB: note that the heat will be lower from the 50W load resistor shown above due to the higher handling capacity.

As shown above, to simply allow the resistor to be so close to other wires with such heat would be a brain fart.

The fix is to remotely install the resistor away from any such problems.

Ive made up some small custom clamp style brackets and pre-drilled a mounting hole.

Adding wires to remote locate.

Using "self drilling screws" the resistors are surface mounted an area away from any danger.

Surface mounting will also help act to dissipate heat faster.

With the headlight installed as seen there is plenty of cooling room away from any other wires etc.

The same is done to the Drivers side blinker adding a second Load Resistor.

I now have no Hyper-Flashing and have my blinker flash's for my on and off alarm.

[69.NIX]

Great write up mate (Y)

[STLTHZR6]

What a write up :) Good to know

[Defyant]

Thanks Guys :D

[ZR 007]

.

Edited February 23, 2014 by ZR 007

[Rebz]

ebay

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/4-LED-Turn-Signal-Load-Resistor-Blinker-Fix-50W-6ohm-/330923703920?pt=AU_Motorcycle_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d0c96fe70

[Defyant]

Thanks Rebs :D

it's never long before some one asks the low IQ question :(

A typical Load Resistor will look much like the next picture.

and can be purchased from ebay and will usually come with directions and connectors

[Rebz]

Thanks Rebs :D

it's never long before some one asks the low IQ question :(

A typical Load Resistor will look much like the next picture.

and can be purchased from ebay and will usually come with directions and connectors

Got your back mate ;)

Edited February 23, 2014 by Rebz