LED indicators

[dezwartj]

Dare I raise the question? For safety and electricity use reasons I went all LED on my TC. Purchased the LED circuit boards that fits nicely into the D shaped rear lights. What a difference! People can actually see me now from the back...
Then I got LED light "bulbes" for the side lights. They are white for the running lights and amber for the direction indicators.
Of course it won't blink now since the load is not sufficient enough to get the flasher unit to work. So I purchased a special positive earth electronic flasher unit from the UK. Still no blink. Then I got the heavy duty load resistors that are made for that purpose... You guessed it, still no blink. I nearly always us my arm signals when I go left or right, but at night it would be nice to have some blinking lights going. Do any of you have an inkling what is needed here to resolve my self inflicted problem?
The only thing I can think of now is that my new flasher unit is defective.

[Norman Tuck]

Hello Dezwartj,

For many years I have been flashing my LED lights using a turn signal module that I purchased from Speedway Motors (·www.speedwaymotors.com/)(Part # 91064070 now $104). It requires negative ground and uses buttons for left and right signals. It has the added advantages of automatic timed turn-off (not adding time when brakes are on) and 4 way warning flashing. It also operates the brake lights.
In 2009 I posted an article on installing it on a TC in our Club Newsletter at: http://abingdonroughriders.org/ARR%20Ne ... 202009.pdf.

Also, I replaced the original "Bullet" upper stop/tail lamps on TC/6864 with
reproduction LED 1932 Ford lamps purchased from Mac's Antique Auto Parts. https://www.macsautoparts.com/led-tail- ... 957-1.html (Part #18-13402-LRDR, now $52.99 each).

They are very, very bright and, to me, appear period appropriate. They are made of polished stainless steel and are very durable. The lights may prevent a rear-end collision.

You will need to make brackets out of a flat piece of metal. I used a piece 1 1/4 inch wide extruded aluminum bar from the Home Depot. I drilled it to fit the lights and the bolted on the side of the tank. Then I bent it 90 degrees. If the lights are mounted "sideways" they appear to be "arrow shaped," which is useful for turn signals.

Norman Tuck TC/6864

[Franz Tenbrock]

look here in my blog
https://www.mgexp.com/forum/t-series-an ... 68/page-50
with some simple eleictric parts you gget a good working system
you need one relay less because you have no trafficator to switch off
will make it like this in my TA too
10 Euro and you have a working system

[i.thomson]

You have my sympathy. I have tried a range of so called "LED Flasher units" and found them to have been variable in their usefulness. Some are current sensitive, though without taking them apart it is puzzling as to why, and others are polarity sensitive even though just reversing them and making sure they are insulated from "ground/earth" should work. As they are so hit and miss all I can offer is the observation that of your two standard reasons for using LEDs their current saving hardly applies for such intermittent operation. So I would stick with the cheaper filament bulbs for the front indicators but with separate bulbs if you really need amber indicators (white is legal here in UK but may not be as noticable to modern drivers). With separate bulbs you can also use LEDs for the sidelights, luckily they are getting smaller. Upgrading to 21 watt bulbs would increase your visibility and is probably illegal but, hey, how many police or testers are likely to know or investigate especially when they are actually safer. You may have trouble squeezung the larger bulbs into the 1130 unit or difficulty finding fittings (I make my own using motorcycle bulbs). That still leaves you with the problem of finding a flasher unit which works with this combination though. Good luck.

Ian

[dezwartj]

Hurray!! I've got all my LED's blinking now on the indicator lights. The trouble was the special (positive ground) electronic flasher unit I special ordered from the UK. I connected a different (ordinairy) flasher unit together with a 6 Ohm load resistor and >>> Bingo!!
Thanks for all the advice. When you see a TC driving in the dark in Canada, Make sure you have some sunglasses on! Lovely bright lights are making the TC very visable now.....