Thanks for moving it, Jack. I agree this is the right place. I apologize for posting in the other forum.

And I as well am stumped as to why I'd need resistors on top of the ep-27 flasher unit. I'm really not sure I want to splice wires and mount a resistor that gets very hot.

 

No good deed goes unpunished. We were both addressing your issue at the same time. Now that I've merged your other post, I can't edit it to clean it up.

 

I appreciate it, Jack!

 

I ran the recommend load resistors and it did nothing.
I have led bulbs in my tail lights as well.
Like is said before I did everything and my stock navigation head unit would flash!
No clue.

 

Doesn't make sense at all. With the eBay flasher, the fronts would flash normally and not the rear. With the better flasher from autozone, none would flash. But as I said, just using rear LEDs with the flasher and having incandescent up front, I have no problem.

Makes me think if I used the eBay flasher and added resistors to the rear id be fine, but who knows. I could splice and add them and have them not work. I'd rather not cut into anything unless I know for sure.

The guy at superbrightleds seemed very sure if be fine if I simply added resistors.

What a headache this has become. Seemed so simple.

 

Did you run resistors and a flasher unit?

 

Yes I did. I guess I should have tried the resistors out back but didn't. I gave up and put the stock blinkers up front!

 

I'm in the same position you were in. I can either try resistors in the rear, or stick with incandescent bulbs up front.

I ordered a pair of resisteors from eBay. I'm back and forth on whether I want to instal them.

Either way, I feel there HAS to be a way for our trucks to run LEDs in all 4 corners. When I find out, you'll find out too.

 

I like your thinking!!
I'm happy for now running my switch back halo rings in my retrofit lights.

 

Hey thanks! And at least you have some form of switchbacks currently. They look cool so I'm really hoping this can be solved for both of us.

 

Resistors are not hard to install, especially if you use some wire taps. LED's don't have a filament like regular bulbs so their resistance is different. When a regular bulb is in the circuit it is completed through the filament, and when the bulb goes out the resistance in the circuit is higher so the relay hyperflashes. With an LED the resistance of the bulb itself is higher so the relay automatically thinks the bulb is burned out. The purpose of adding resistors is to trick the relay into thinking the circuit is complete, because technically its not with an LED. The "electronic" relays may (and have shown) not always act the same way as the mechanical relays.

The recommendation of using 25watt resistors is overkill. Look at your regular bulb's filament, that is not 25watts. That is the only thing that completes the circuit. I would suggest getting some small 25 ohm 5watt resistors and some wire taps and just splice them in. Put one on each plug you are converting to LED. The 25watt ones are the ones you would have to worry about heating up and getting hot. Google how to add them, its not hard at all.

 

Also people "add resistors" but often do it the wrong way. One side of the resistor goes to positive and the other side to negative. It sounds like you would be shorting out the circuit but you aren't. I just ordered my bulbs. I can do a write up when I get them.

 

I look forward to seeing your results. I did everything that you just said and my screen blinked on and off with the blinker. I gave up and took them out.
Please let me/us know how you make out.

 

What you're saying here is to wire the resistors in parallel with the bulbs. Since the bulbs have such high resistance, they are seen as an "open circuit" that looks like a burned out filament. With the resistor in place, some current can flow in the circuit and it simulates an operational bulb. The voltage across the contacts of the LED is still 12+ volts though, and there is enough current to the LED to cause it to light. (LEDs use very little current.)

And, I agree you should not have to use resistors that have a higher Wattage rating than the incandescent bulbs you are replacing. But, I don't see why a 25 Watt resistor should heat up. The current flow through it is controlled by the Ohm rating, not the Watt rating. You might even be able to use a higher resistance value, such as 47 Ohms, which would limit the current even more. Just don't go to a smaller resistance, because that WOULD begin to look like a "short".

- Jack

 

I actually ended up ordering 50 watt 6 ohm resistors as they seem to be the most popular and were cheap to order. The way I understand it is, it's true I don't need a resistor that can handle 50 watts, but it wouldn't cause an issue. Kind of light a light socket rated at 50w with only a 10 watt bulb in the socket.

I know I need to splice into the negative and the positive flasher, not the other positive, right? The splicing is still kind of hazy in my head and I'd like to see a write up on adding those resistors if you don't mind?