Hey guys

i recently purchased some LED bulbs from here

http://www.lightlens.com/coloredbulbs.htm

i went conservative and got super white LED parking lights and i ordered 2 LED amber (front) turn signal bulbs

Now when i ordered these, i made sure i had the correct bulb number.

I just installed them today and the parking lights work fine, but the turn signals flash really fast as if the bulb were about to go out (now in case you were wondering i did in fact order the correct bulb - 7440 12V, 21W). so i really dont understand what the problem could be.

My only thought would be to purchase rear (amber) turn signal LED bulbs (7443). i'm not very good with the electrical aspect of the wrx, so could someone please help me out? Thanks

 

check your fuse panel

 

no its fine...

The stock flasher relays on our cars - which are the devices that make blinkers "blink" - are designed to blink twice as fast as normal when a bulb is burned out. This is to let the operator know that there is a blinker bulb burned out. Unfortunately, most after market blinker products (including Custom LED products) consume so little power compared to the stock bulbs, that the flasher relay thinks that a bulb is out when this is not the case.

edgar,

 

if you want to fix it look here its a different car but id think the idea is the same

http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/forums/...ight=%2ALED%2A

edgar,

 

looks easy enough. Thanks!

 

did the fix with 10ohm resistors. the blinkers work great, but after leaving the blinkers on for a while, i noticed the resistor and wires began to smoke. i thought this was because there was not enough insulation so i added more electrical tape.

i realize that wires get extremely hot, that's why they have insulators; so what's happening is normal, but i just need to figure out how to insulate where exactly i cut the wire sheath so that i could wrap the resistor leads around it. someone help, i dont want smoke....

 

uh take it apart and ask radio shack to help...

i personally have never done the resistor thing to my subie but have seen honda owners do it

if its smoking im sure its not good
edgar,

 

update: as you said its normal as far as remedying the problem, id suggest to wrap the resistor with heat tape or beter yet even leave it unwrapped

i wouldnt recommend taping it with electrical tape or heat sinking it tho... for the simple fact that the resistor need to ventilate the heat that’s geting built up.

i guess if it were me id just tape up the wires and leave the resistor part exposed and tape anything eles around it with some heat tape to protect it from any excess heat
edgar,

 

The problem is that the resistors have to dissipate the power that would normally be used by a regular flasher bulb, and that is a lot of heat. Unless you mount them where they are not contacting anything there is a danger of melting things and a possible fire hazard.
An electronic flasher is a far better solution, although you may have to look around for the proper type.

 

i dont think they get that hot tho... i think they mostly get hot after about 5 min of flashing and even then they are hot to the touch just like a regular bulb would be.

i doubt it will start a fire haha but hey anything is possible i guess
edgar,

 

well i went out and bought some liquid electrical tape

found out that even though someone had said to tape the whole thing, resistors and all, that it's a bad idea. the resistor does in fact dissipate quite a bit of heat. the smoking was due to the heat generated from the resistor. it was burning up the electrical tape.

i've had to tweak a few things here and there so that the signals would continue to blink at a normal rate, and it seems to be working properly now.

tomorrow i plan on spiral wrapping the wires (NOT the resistors) to clean it up a little and perhaps just to be cautious; but the resistors just worry me being that hot and in the open. given they are between the wires of the turn tignal and are out of harm's way, but having something that hot and in the open just worries me. but hey i guess i worry about a lot of pointless things. any other comments or concerns? i really dont want to mess anything up here.

on a lighter note, the lights look SICK when activated. a really nice look, especially with cleared headlights and superwhite xenon bulbs!