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LED Not flashing with new EL12. HELP!


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I'm coming down to the final bits of my restore and have been going through the checks for inspection. I've converted ALL lights to LEDs except for the headlights and fogs. That's it.

 

My issue is that they refuse to flash on turn signals. The hazards flash fine and bright, but when turning on the turn signal the light is about half brightness and just stay lit. Also, the arrow on the dash lights up dimly and slowly when first switched.

 

Before everyone talks to me about the flasher, I've switched BOTH relays to the EL12. Bad turn relay from box? Nope! Swapped with the one I put in the hazard location and still the same. Hazards flash right and are nice and bright. Turns are still dim and don't cycle.

 

Any ideas from those who have converted to LEDs? Thanks, guys and gals.

 

- Charles

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I purchased TWO Tridon EL12 electronic flashers. I replaced BOTH. Please read my entire post.

 

As for the brightled.com part number... My Flashers are clear housing. Clicks, but is electronic...not thermal. What is the difference between the two other than one clicks and the other doesn't??

 

- Charles

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Again, stated this in my OP. Swapped the two relays and still the same results. Hazards work, turns don't. Ruled out a bad relay. No matter the load, I've heard that they should still flash. The ONLY thing I can currently think of is that not EVERY socket has had something plugged into it at time of test. Still fiddling with some other electrical stuff. This might be causing an "open circuit" kind of thing.

 

I should be able to test out this theory this week around Wednesday when I get my fog housings straight. Any thoughts on this theory?

 

- Charles

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  • 2 weeks later...

Again, stated this in my OP. Swapped the two relays and still the same results. Hazards work, turns don't. Ruled out a bad relay. No matter the load, I've heard that they should still flash. The ONLY thing I can currently think of is that not EVERY socket has had something plugged into it at time of test. Still fiddling with some other electrical stuff. This might be causing an "open circuit" kind of thing.

 

I should be able to test out this theory this week around Wednesday when I get my fog housings straight. Any thoughts on this theory?

 

- Charles

 

I had lots of issues with my flashers when I used the EL12. Not necessarily your exact issue but things that didn't make any sense. Once I changed over the the CF12ANL-01 that pcristquester mentioned I didn't have any other issues. The thing that I did that convinced me that it was the flashers was that they only worked when I had at least one regular bulb in any of the circuits.

 

After a bunch of research I found that the EL12 is an electromechanical flasher NOT and electronic flasher. Electromechanical flashers still require a certain amount of current in order to open/close. That would make sense why the hazards work and not the blinkers, because there are twice as many bulbs flashing when the hazards run. The CF12ANL-01 on the other hand is an electronic flasher, meaning that it is a circuit (kind of like a 555 timer circuit) that opens and closes the circuit regardless of the load (current) on the circuit. And this is also why it doesn't click like the stock flashers and the EL12.

 

Hope this helps if you haven't already figured this out.

Edited by mechengrkj
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The product description says it works with or without LED bulbs and no minimum load.

I don't know where you are getting that info from but Novita's website (they are the ones that make them now) says that it requires 1 lamp which in general requires about 2 amps of current to illuminate the bright filament. LEDs generally use a few hundred milliamps or about 1 tenth of that of a regular bulb.

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I don't know where you are getting that info from but Novita's website (they are the ones that make them now) says that it requires 1 lamp which in general requires about 2 amps of current to illuminate the bright filament. LEDs generally use a few hundred milliamps or about 1 tenth of that of a regular bulb.

I should have clarified myself in my response to Importwarrior's question that I was referring to the CFL12---- https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-vehicle-replacement-bulbs/cf12anl-01-led-bulb-electronic-flasher/781/835/
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I should have clarified myself in my response to Importwarrior's question that I was referring to the CFL12---- https://www.superbri...lasher/781/835/

My bad. I see that now. In response to that, If starndard bulbs use 2A, the max listed for these is 10A so I wouldn't use more than 5 bulbs per relay, meaning you probably can't use it on the hazards because you would have 8 bulbs pulling 2A each which would probably burn up the flasher.

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I am running the EL12 flashers and don't have issues. Maybe it is wire corrosion or a weak switch with high resistance? Keeping too little current from traveling through it.

 

Try checking the sockets and connectors as well.

 

Just out of curiosity, where did you buy your LED bulbs? I've heard if you buy higher quality ones they don't have as many problems as the cheap ebay ones.

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Just out of curiosity, where did you buy your LED bulbs? I've heard if you buy higher quality ones they don't have as many problems as the cheap ebay ones.

 

Lol EBay. I basically have gone through the whole electrical system on the car and fixed any corrosion, bad connectors, etc like PQ did in his write ups. I did that a while ago. My regular bulbs worked fine but I felt they were not as bright as I wanted them. That's when I switched to LED bulbs. I got a bunch of different kinds from eBay.

 

The T looking ones are not bad at all and very bright, but I did have a set in my fog lights and one of them broke at the seam where the led is assembled. Then I switched my fog lights to 3k HID setup.

 

My brake lights and side markers are 1157 65 led bulbs. They are very bright.

 

I'm sure your issue is an electrical one. Try doing this if possible, take a multi meter and make a wire with a 10amp fuse inline with it. Remove the flasher for the turn signals, set your meter to Amperage. Measure the current flow through the circuit at the flasher.

 

You basically run the meter inline with the circuit. The wire with fuse into the positive of the flasher, then connect that to the multimeter, then from the negative meter lead to the other flasher port.

 

The purpose of the fuse is incase the circuit pulls more current than the meter can withstand, the 10 amp fuse will help protect your multimeter.

 

Also the signals won't flash, they will just turn on and stay lit when you activate them during the test. Turn it on for a second, turn it off, then on and manually "flash" the signal. Get an idea of how much current is passing through it.

 

Like importwarrior said maybe not enough is going through to activate the electronic flasher.

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Sorry for disappearing from this thread. I had checked my content page and this one didn't highlight up for a while and now suddenly did.

 

The thing is that this is a CONPLETELY restored car. Down to every nut and bolt. What parts that couldn't be replaced were rebuilt including the turn signal assembly. I cleaned every connection I could reach in this car and everything works flawlessly in terms of electrical except this. Does this rule out the switch, no. Mistakes happen.

 

I have a few parts to paint for final assembly tomorrow, so while they dry I'll get to work on this issue a little by pulling the switch assembly again and making sure it's all clean. Hopefully I can find something. Maybe some grease got from the pivot point into the circuitry causing poor connection.

 

The EL12 has been known to work fine for the purpose of our cars being converted to LEDs. The bulbs are the cheaper eBay ones, but they all are very efficient and work beautifully in every other way. Brake lights are bright as ever. Corner markers are perfect. Parking lights are blinding. I just have to figure this one tiny hiccup out.

 

Thanks for the replys everyone and I'll get to this tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully I can make headway. I'll let you know what I find in the switch assembly.

 

- Charles

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Good news! Looks like the turn signal assembly was the issue! I disassembled it and cleaned off that dielectric crap I put on it. I was curious about the stuff from the start seeing as it was black instead of the usual clear.

 

Anyway! One problem cleared, one to go. I got everything together and tried it out to find the turns working BEAUTIFULLY. So I thought. They work perfectly EXCEPT when the running/driving lights are on. If they're on, it'll only flash on and that's it. I don't have the right front turn in yet, so I'll be putting that in just to see if that's throwing off the load.

 

Any thoughts on other possibilities in the meantime?

 

- Charles

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