My LED turn signals don't work right: Difference between revisions

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====Why the stock flasher doesn't work with LEDs====
====Why the stock flasher doesn't work with LEDs====


The way the stock flasher works is mechanical. There's a small piece of springy metal in the relay body, and as it heats up from current flow it flashes the signals. Mechanical flashers will increase or decrease in rate as voltage or current changes because the springy metal bit heats up at different rates ... or doesn't heat at all, as with LEDs. LEDs draw significantly less current than incandescent bulbs, so the flasher relay never heats to the point where it 'breaks' the circuit. Electronic flashers are designed so that they have a fixed rate of flashing, regardless of voltage or current. They do this by using solid state devices like transistors to do the job the springy metal bit used to do.
Older vehicle flashers were mechanical. They had a small piece of springy metal in the relay body, and as it heated up from current flow it flashed the signals. Mechanical flashers will increase or decrease in rate as voltage or current changes because the springy metal bit heats up at different rates
 
The stock EX250 flasher is solid state, but it doesn't use a timer. This is why its flash rate varies with bulb load, like an old mechanical flasher. With mechanical flashers, the flash rate is determined by the bulb load. As more bulbs are added, the current through the heater element increases and causes it to heat faster, breaking the contacts faster and resulting in a faster flash rate. The Ninja's solid-state flasher reacts the opposite, flashing faster with the reduced bulb load from lower-current LEDs. Fixed-rate flasher modules (like the new one you're putting in) use a timer to regulate the flash rate independently of bulb loading.


==Fixing "all signals flashing at the same time"==
==Fixing "all signals flashing at the same time"==