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LED turn signals = rapid flashing

PeoriaMac

New member
Having added a Rifle Sportbike fairing to my 1986 R80, I found it necessary to replace the OEM turnsignals and add a couple of Lockheed-Phillips LED flush-mounts to the Rifle.
With the reduced draw of the LED lights, the turn signal flashes quicker than before.
Is this anything I ought to be concerned about? My concern is that it might hurt the flasher, and possibly shorten the life of the standard turnsignal bulbs in the rear.

Conversly, I presumably could add resistors to the hot lines going to the LEDs and bring their draw to the same level as the OEM bulbs.

Any thoughts?

Mac
 
Flashers are cheap, not an issue.
But safety matters and probably neither the rear nor front are providing the expected clues about your intent to drivers around you. Hope you still remember hand signals..

I'd fix the rate with a different flasher or resistor if I had to keep the fixtures you added but by preference I would have looked for a compatible part at the outset (either std bulb or led) to avoid this predicatable problem. It will happen with any LED not designed as direct bulb replacement on a machine originally equipped with bulbs.
 
If you go the resistor route than the resistor goes from the hotline to ground, not in series with the hot line.
 
If you go the resistor route than the resistor goes from the hotline to ground, not in series with the hot line.

I had to think about that one for a minute but it makes perfect sense because if it were in series it would not affect curent flow. In series the total circuit resistance is equal to the value of the smallest resitor in this case the LED. I remember an electrical instructor saying "A resistor is only a resistor when it is under load"
 
I had to think about that one for a minute but it makes perfect sense because if it were in series it would not affect curent flow. In series the total circuit resistance is equal to the value of the smallest resitor in this case the LED. I remember an electrical instructor saying "A resistor is only a resistor when it is under load"

Actually you're wrong on both. In series it would affect the current flow because the toal resistance is equal to the sum of the resistor and the LED. Current flow would go down due to higher total resistance.
 
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