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The Borg were wrong - resistance is NOT futile

Discussion in 'Tips and Tricks' started by blakkmoon, Oct 18, 2010.

  1. blakkmoon

    blakkmoon Member

    So all lights (except headlights) are changed to LED's
    Love LED's, nice n bright

    Turns out you need to add some resistance
    Otherwise the signals can freak out

    Either buy resistors - http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=led+resistor&_sacat=0&_odkw=teak+shower&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

    Or buy a new flasher for LED's
    http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=led+flasher&_sacat=0&_odkw=led+resistor&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

    Or the simple easy cheap method that I used
    Just wire in one of the old bulbs that you just took out
    That creates enough resistance

    Then I needed to wire in my trailer lights
    Had to use a 5 to 4 converter
    http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d141.html

    It gave me a ton of problems until I realized that this too need resistance on the brake lights

    So I wired in a bulb for the brake light as well
    Everything works light a charm now
     
  2. fupabox

    fupabox Well-Known Member

    other than my headlights and 2 front bumper lights (didn't like the way white leds made them look..too greenish..pukey) all of my lights including dash lights are led,and I would never change back..Blackmoon.did you find you have a slightly smoother idle now? or is it psychosomatic in my case?..I actually think it's a bit smoother with less load on the alternator...I was going to test the load difference between the leds and regular filament bulbs..but the thought of changing them all out and then putting them back to test them seemed like something I could save for a bored,dead of winter project..Did you use coloured or all white leds?..I bought maybe 150 different bulbs/colours/types led,smd,uvled (went a tad nuts on ebay and deal extreme:)) and found that some were lacking in intensity....I also found that using a red led inside a red tailight housing was much brighter than the same led bulb from the same manufacturer in white....seems the coloured plastic filters out some of the intensity in different spectrums in the white bulbs..(since white is made up of all the other visible colours in the spectrum.).if you filter it out through a coloured lens..you are removing the intensity of that particular wavelength,therefore diminishing output ,and also making a muddy coloured light...in identical lumen output bulbs of different colours ...amber leds under amber lenses..red leds under red lenses etc. ..give the best results in brightness and appearance....the only foreseeable problem I can see is that they emit so little heat they may cover over in bad snowstorms.....Blackmoon ..where did you wire the filament bulbs into the circuit for reistance ? I'm wondering if just tying a few knots into the end wires in the bulb circuit would have the same result?...now I gotta go play with my ohmeter and test that theory:mad::p....sorry seemed to type a lot..didn't mean to rant or thread jack......need sleep..did you try leds in the trailer lights as well??...or still not enough resistance?
     
  3. blakkmoon

    blakkmoon Member

    Yes I would agree to a smoother idle
    You definitely feel a larger draw when you plug in the trailer
    I thought about switching the trailer to LED's as well
    1. because anything that creates less draw on these tiny alternators is good
    2. because I ALWAYS have trouble with trailer lights and filaments dying

    I have found that all LED's are not created equally as well
    Some I got off ebay were pretty crappy
    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270611501875&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_2238wt_1137

    The price was great
    They LOOKED great, nice n bright
    They died in a week
    The seller even refunded me ( kewl, honest seller )

    Other lights I bought locally ( like these ) http://www.princessauto.com/trailer/trailer/trailer/trailer-electrical/8006325-4-x-2-1/16-led-catseye-clearance/marker-light

    were ok - ish
    not very bright tho

    Tried these - http://www.princessauto.com/trailer/truck/truck-accessories/truck-electrical/8063836-1156-red-led-automotive-bulb

    They pretty much just sukt all around

    In the end
    I got these for markers / signals
    http://www.princessauto.com/trailer/trailer/trailer/trailer-electrical/8182099-2-7/8-x-1-1/2-mini-clearance/marker-light

    And these for the tail lights
    http://www.princessauto.com/trailer/trailer/trailer/trailer-electrical/8006326-4-red-led-stop/turn/tail-light

    Super bright ! Even in daylight

    I don't actually think it will be an issue in a snowstorm
    I don't think even regular bulbs would melt snow off
    If they were not in a housing - sure
    But encased, no, it wouldn't matter
    ( besides u r near TO, u don't know what a REAL snowstorm is :p )

    I just wired the old bulb in - line ( i think b4 the LED ) the way you would with a resistor, and I only did it at the rear lights
    One for each signal, and one for the brakes

    Without it, the signal flasher in the dash would make a buzzing/screeching noise, and NOT flash

    Tried stringing in extra LED's ( cause more is better )
    But still not enough resistance

    I also tried putting in a fuse, which of course just popped

    I was going to try a breaker or relay, but did't bother

    I used the little tiny side marker type lights, not the big 1157's
    That seems to be enough

    The brake light one, I only noticed AFTER putting in the converter box for the trailer lights
    I don't even understand how it is happening
    But once the converter box was in
    When you put on a signal light, the brake light would just slightly flash along with the signal
    barely visible on on side
    then brighter on the other

    It only happened when the trailer was NOT hooked up
    I never noticed it at first because I was only testing things with the trailer lights hooked up

    So for some reason, just a little bit of resistance on the brake light and it was OK

    The reason I used the bulb
    it was simple, free, and available ( in the junk pile )

    Princess auto did not have any resistors for this
    Ebay would take too long
    The local trailer shop wanted WAY too much ( don't even remember )
    They also charge 3 times what Princess Auto does for the EXACT same LED lights
     
  4. fupabox

    fupabox Well-Known Member

    hey low blow:p..I'm in god's country 100km north of Toronto...:)
    I found a few of the leds blew after a couple weeks as well..I bought them in such large quantities it didn't matter(and so cheaply :))...I've been thinking of putting a flasher on the third brake light (did it on my Miata a few years ago ..when in a small vehicle you want people to notice that you are braking,since so many are driving half asleep) Just added a rapid flash to the brakelight on my sons CBR as well and he's noticed that drivers don't seem to tailgate him as much....

    This one looks good for a third brake light (turns built in a s well)
    http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10518
     
  5. blakkmoon

    blakkmoon Member

    OK I give you THAT
    At least you are a fair bit north of TO :)

    Its just that when THEY get a few inches of snow, they call out the military
    When WE get a few inches of snow, we are still debating on whether or not to put away the flip flops
    They don't call it Winterpeg for nothin!

    I love those lights
    They would be great
    But here, we would probably get a ticket for having a flasher

    Here we get tickets for having blueish colored headlights, even when they ARE DOT approved ($200 fine)
    They just issue the ticket no matter what, then we have to go fight it later

    So while it would be great, I can see a great big hassle

    I have seen some LED signal lights on road crew type trucks that progressively got to the left or right
    Almost looking animated

    But I am sure that's only for things like city trucks or emergency vehicles

    But if you can get away with that thing I would go for it
     
  6. fupabox

    fupabox Well-Known Member

    Wow!!! NDP police state.....I guess they need the fines from working people to give away for theit pet projects.....
     
  7. Stuff99

    Stuff99 Moderator Staff Member

    think someone needs to send a news crew around to the city and police vehicle yards and point out all of their infractions and make it public.
     
  8. blakkmoon

    blakkmoon Member

    Sounds like you may have missed my rantings about the compliance, inspections, and jack boot crack downs.

    No NDP or any other party politics at all.
    Even our mayor seems to be against the sunday night shakedowns.

    Its our provincially owned, monopoly insurance.

    Imagine a $200 fine for being low on windshield washer fluid.
    NO JOKE
     
  9. Acerguy

    Acerguy Moderator Staff Member

    :eek: Really?

    By the way, great post on the LEDs. I have a couple of applications that would be fun to try those on.
     
  10. blakkmoon

    blakkmoon Member

    Yes really !! It was a good friend of my brothers that got the ticket.

    You want to see another great example of our public insurance company at work?
    Read this article just posted in the local paper.
    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/mpi-makes-young-man-pay-for-honesty-105418378.html

    I'm not sure which part I find more outrageous.....
    The part that they want him to pay, or that a tail light costs $1800....

    And we all pay extra on our insurance for uninsured motorists already.

    This is our NON PROFIT Crown Corporation ( monopoly )
    That last year earned $103 Million NET PROFIT
     
  11. BC_MMC

    BC_MMC Member

    Before you get overboard imagine how your choice is ten or twelve insurers who each want to make that $100 million profit or more.
    And the fact you can make your problems known, they HAVE TO LISTEN or get voted out of office. Our gov't insurer funded overtime for cops to man traffic cameras and catch as many people as quickly as possible (nothing to do with safety at all) and it backfired. That ended the very next election.
    Make sure the gripes you post here are on talk radio and mainstream newspaper's letters to the editor.
    It's not likely too many legislators read this forum.
     

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