blinker indicators glow after LED bulbs install

[douellette88]

after installing led bulbs and a electronic flasher on my car when i turn the parking/headlights on the blinker indicators glow at about half brightness...anyway to fix this?

it also did the same thing when i did it to my 97 cutlass supreme

[Bing]

My guess would be that the led lamps do not draw enough electricity for the system to work properly.
Would be the same principal as a lamp out that creates a slow blink.

[douellette88]

yeah but does anyone on here know of a fix to this?

[willwren]

Remove the ricer LED lamps to solve the problem.

[douellette88]

No thank you, I love the look of LED'S

[willwren]

They produce less light. They are not designed for the reflector lamp design on our cars. They project light only in one direction, so none is reflected properly inside the housing.

[Bing]

Some of the new technology is just not meant for or designed for our old cars.

[willwren]

And most of that new lighting technology is marketed towards import tuners that think their cars go faster because they have LED lights (less draw on the alternator, you know.......nets you 5 more horsepower and makes your tail end look cheezy!)

[01bonneSC]

And most of that new lighting technology is marketed towards import tuners that think their cars go faster because they have LED lights (less draw on the alternator, you know.......nets you 5 more horsepower and makes your tail end look cheezy!)

[Jrs3800]

My gut would say, the highest current draw you get from the lighting system would be the front head lamps.... Maybe if the tuner world went to LED front lamps ........lol

[J Wikoff]

You could add resistors inline with the bulbs. That would make the circuit act more like an incandescent bulb was installed. I don't know the resistance you would need, though.

[douellette88]

You could add resistors inline with the bulbs. That would make the circuit act more like an incandescent bulb was installed. I don't know the resistance you would need, though.

wouldnt that make the bulbs less bright though?

[J Wikoff]

Probably... When they are "glowing at half brightness", are they on when they aren't supposed to be, or are they in general just half as bright as they should be?

[douellette88]

on all the time half bright, but blink full brightness if i turn my blinker on

[J Wikoff]

Isn't that normal?

[douellette88]

no..im talking about the little green indicators up by the speedo, those arnt supposed to be on all the time

[J Wikoff]

Oh... I thought you were talking about the turn signals themselves.

[michaelbsc]

You could add resistors inline with the bulbs. That would make the circuit act more like an incandescent bulb was installed. I don't know the resistance you would need, though.

wouldnt that make the bulbs less bright though?

You may find that you need resistors in parallel around the LED bulbs instead of in line in series. Most likely the LED doesn't have enough leakage current to turn off the solid state output on the control module. But I could be wrong. I know this is a common problem on solid state outputs for industrial controls, i.e. an LED bulb replacing a plain old incandescent lamp often leaves the output indicator glowing, but I'm not an automotive expert by a long shot.

I'd start with something like 4.7K Ohms. Pretty common value, so it's easy to find. If it doesn't fix it, then try 2.2K, again a pretty common value easy to find.

You would probably need a pretty sophisticated light meter to tell the difference in brightness if you have resistors in parallel. If you're worried about it, then experiment and use the highest value that actually works.

If they're in series, yes, you'll probably dramatically affect the light output and it won't work.

The real issue, as pointed out by others, is that the LEDs aren't really the right kind of light source for the lamp assembly.

But it's your car. Knock yourself out, just don't endanger others.

MB

[jedwards83]

You're going to need a rather large power resistor wired in parallel with the LED's to make the load equivalent to an incandescent. Most cars (not sure about ours) detect a burned out bulb by the load, and will turn the flashers on rapidly when one appears to be burned out, or when there's an LED installed.

A 6 ohm 30 watt wirewound (or similar) resistor should work on all four corners. Most cars measure load in pairs, so you can get away with a 3 ohm 50w resistor on either the fronts or backs.

This might not be the problem however-- I had a buddy do this to a Nissan pickup, and every time he turned on his signals, it turned off his cruise control as if the brakes were being pressed even with the resistors installed. Long story short: LED's are a bad idea if the vehicle is not designed for them.

[InfiniteRiddles]

Ever see the replacement LED brake light assemblies? I think they make it look ugly and like was mentioned above, dose not spread out the light properly.