Yeah I made it pretty difficult for myself , the default setup would work with LED too as user grease mentions, however, I have in my '78 grille some fancy combo lights: white DRL, orange parking/turn signal lights, and center fog lights (they are bright!)tgreese wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 2:21 pm Can you explain better how the original circuit works? Pretty sure the USA versions blink the front side marker light, and you suggest. If you follow the domestic wiring diagram, and it just switches and does not reverse the polarity of the marker lights, it should work with LEDs.
Correct,tgreese wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 3:27 pm If I understand, the blue turn signal wire is normally grounded, and goes open/closed when the indicators for that side are flashing. The brown wire goes high when the parking lights are on, or when the indicators are flashing.
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I presume you don't want to or can't open your fancy lights and change the way they are wired.
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got it thanks. btw the flasher relay is an electronic one so it does not rely on resistance for flashing.tgreese wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:32 pm Note that if you connect the LED side marker light in parallel with the relay coil, the side marker may not light. The relay coil may have low enough resistance that it looks like a short to the marker light. The relay should still work. I think the only way to avoid this is to put the LED marker light and the LED turnsignal light in parallel, and power the relay coil from the turn signal light power before the side marker light. This is the connections at the rightmost side of your above drawing.
Yeah, this is wrong. The relay should be ok operating just the turn signals. Current through the LED marker light will be determined by the potential its across (12->0 volts), not the load of the relay coil. The electronic flasher relay is a good thing though ... the relay coil will draw about 50 ma as I recall.tgreese wrote: ↑Wed Dec 21, 2022 5:32 pm Note that if you connect the LED side marker light in parallel with the relay coil, the side marker may not light. The relay coil may have low enough resistance that it looks like a short to the marker light. The relay should still work. I think the only way to avoid this is to put the LED marker light and the LED turnsignal light in parallel, and power the relay coil from the turn signal light power before the side marker light. This is the connections at the rightmost side of your above drawing.
I know, great invention! I have had them since my old ones stopped working when the engine (and the wiring) got hot. also the speed stays the same if you hook up a trailer, so no hyperflash or super slow flash when hooking up.sierrablue wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 1:47 pm You do have to run the electronic flashers for the LEDs, not because of a short, but the lights will stay ON if you don't, because there's not enough resistance to make it break the circuit. At least that's how I understand it, and on mine it seemed to be the case so I assume it's right...
Also the other advantage to the electronic ones is that they don't wear out over time, since they're all digital
Current for the mechanical flasher goes through a bimetallic strip that powers the contacts. The load (bulbs) needs to me high enough so that the strip will heat up from its own resistance. The resistance of the bulbs determines how much current flows through the bimetal strip. This heating of the strip makes it bend and separate the contacts. When the contacts open, it breaks the circuit and the lights go off, cooling the strip and making contact again after a second or two.sierrablue wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 1:47 pm You do have to run the electronic flashers for the LEDs, not because of a short, but the lights will stay ON if you don't, because there's not enough resistance to make it break the circuit. At least that's how I understand it, and on mine it seemed to be the case so I assume it's right...
If that's true then how come when you have a burned out regular bulb with a mechanical flasher, it goes faster? Wouldn't that decrease the load and thus make it slower, by your theory? I thought it was effectively a circuit breaker, so when it reached a certain load, it broke contact, and then came back because that load was gone.tgreese wrote: ↑Fri Dec 23, 2022 8:37 amCurrent for the mechanical flasher goes through a bimetallic strip that powers the contacts. The load (bulbs) needs to me high enough so that the strip will heat up from its own resistance. The resistance of the bulbs determines how much current flows through the bimetal strip. This heating of the strip makes it bend and separate the contacts. When the contacts open, it breaks the circuit and the lights go off, cooling the strip and making contact again after a second or two.sierrablue wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 1:47 pm You do have to run the electronic flashers for the LEDs, not because of a short, but the lights will stay ON if you don't, because there's not enough resistance to make it break the circuit. At least that's how I understand it, and on mine it seemed to be the case so I assume it's right...
If you've ever connected a trailer to a car with a mechanical flasher, you'll see the opposite of this issue with LEDs. The flashers will go very fast because the load of the car plus trailer lights is higher than the car alone. Higher load, more current, more heat, faster flashing.
The electronic flasher is ... electronic, using a timer circuit that does not depend on the load. It replaces the mechanical contacts with a transistor switch that's controlled by the timer. I would guess that the replacement electronic timers do not click... would be nice if they did, to alert the driver. You could add a little noise generator that would make a click electronically to mimic the mechanical flasher click.
If that's true then how come when you have a burned out regular bulb with a mechanical flasher, it goes faster? Wouldn't that decrease the load and thus make it slower, by your theory? I thought it was effectively a circuit breaker, so when it reached a certain load, it broke contact, and then came back because that load was gone.tgreese wrote: ↑Fri Dec 23, 2022 8:37 amCurrent for the mechanical flasher goes through a bimetallic strip that powers the contacts. The load (bulbs) needs to me high enough so that the strip will heat up from its own resistance. The resistance of the bulbs determines how much current flows through the bimetal strip. This heating of the strip makes it bend and separate the contacts. When the contacts open, it breaks the circuit and the lights go off, cooling the strip and making contact again after a second or two.sierrablue wrote: ↑Thu Dec 22, 2022 1:47 pm You do have to run the electronic flashers for the LEDs, not because of a short, but the lights will stay ON if you don't, because there's not enough resistance to make it break the circuit. At least that's how I understand it, and on mine it seemed to be the case so I assume it's right...
If you've ever connected a trailer to a car with a mechanical flasher, you'll see the opposite of this issue with LEDs. The flashers will go very fast because the load of the car plus trailer lights is higher than the car alone. Higher load, more current, more heat, faster flashing.
The electronic flasher is ... electronic, using a timer circuit that does not depend on the load. It replaces the mechanical contacts with a transistor switch that's controlled by the timer. I would guess that the replacement electronic timers do not click... would be nice if they did, to alert the driver. You could add a little noise generator that would make a click electronically to mimic the mechanical flasher click.
wimsurf wrote: ↑Sun Nov 27, 2022 11:05 am Did some more, slow but steady:
I have been chasing electrical gremlins:
the Jeep ignition switch has power for starting as a circuit, and for running, but not at the same time.
even with a new ignition switch, there is a delay between deactivating the starter circuit power and activating the running circuit. this causes the car to shut off 9 out of 10 times you start.
I fixed it with a delay relay on the starter power circuit: it keeps power on that part of the ignition for a couple of seconds before the new circuit takes over.
Then I had to address the cooling
The engine is in, and it runs, but I did not like the cooling (I had a crossflow radiator with both connections passenger side) the hoses are quite short, which is nice, but leave very little room for bends and fitment.
It definitely was not enough room for the AN20 connections I had planned. so I altered the radiator to have both connections ont he other side (had a good friend who can weld aluminum weld on 2 AN20 fittings straight to the radiator and adjust the tanks so the flow is correct)
The AN hoses look great and install looks very clean:
So the engine runs off the proper ignition switch, and cooling works.
now onto the rest: rebuild the grille, fixed all the front end wiring and mounted the completely refurbished front bumper:
blinkers work, parking lights work, headlights work and the fog lights in the center of the blinkers work. (more than I ever had)
it is all LED and the output is ridiculous.
in the coming weeks I will be working on wiring, which is not my forte so progress will be slow, but it will be precise and neat.
and I'll need to start rebuilding my seats into this:
these are Australian spec seats which had highbacks. the seller of these seats gave me the dimensions so I can rebuild my backrest with seperate headrests to these specifications.
stay tuned, more soon.
I got these, for even less at a European store: