LED resistor?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Lights, Neon, LEDs, HIDs
Forum Discription: Under Car Lighting, Strobe Lights, Fog Lights, Headlights, HIDs, DRL, Tail Lights, Brake Lights, Dashboard Lights, WigWag, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=11255
Printed Date: July 26, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Topic: LED resistor?
Posted By: Heliax
Subject: LED resistor?
Date Posted: March 21, 2003 at 10:50 PM
Hi everyone, newbie here, hoping I could get some help with my prob. I just installed two front flush mount LED blinkers on my motorcycle, its a Yamaha R1 (crotchrocket). There are five LEDs in each blinker, and they have 3 wires- black (ground), red (blinker), and blue (running lights). Now, when the bike is running, and the blinkers are not flashing, the lights are supposed to chase...meaning they "knight rider" if you will haha while you are cruising. What is happening is that they shut off completely after a few seconds of riding. The blinkers work fine when I flick them on, but when I turn the blinkers off, the lights will chase for a few seconds (running lights) and then shut off again. I would like the running lights in each blinker to chase 100% of the time like they are supposed to. The guy I got them from told me they need a resistor or a relay to remedy that so that they stay on, to simulate the load of a standard light bulb. Any ideas on what resistor I should add, what ohm, watt, etc, and what wire should I install it on- black, red , or blue? Or a relay to get for them? I have a radio shack right next to my house- thanks in advance
Replies:
Posted By: draasch
Date Posted: March 22, 2003 at 7:59 AM
where do you have the blue wire hooked to. should be a 12v when the key is on?? double check that wire. sounds like the blue wire is not holding 12v. just a swag.
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Posted By: Powerslave0
Date Posted: March 25, 2003 at 2:46 PM
The resistor he is speaking of places a load in the circuit, so it works. LED's use less power, so to increase it to a normal load, you (they suggest) need a resistor to place the FAKE load in the circuit. In your instance, I don't see where this is relevent, you must be loosing power in order for it to shut down. There is a Capacitor in your circuit, so it stores a charge when the lamps are blinking, then when you shgut it off, they're on till the voltage bleeds out of the capacitor. It is probably wired wrong. One of the wires must have a constant source, the other is switched with the signal lamp power. . . Then ground. . .
My turn signals are fast with LEDs in, but normal with the regular bulbs in. Some instances, your turn signals won't even work with the LED bulb in, because of the loa being so light, so the normal thermal blinker doesn't know anything is there. WIthout the load, the bplnker won't blink because it doesn't see any real current.
Posted By: Heliax
Date Posted: March 26, 2003 at 2:04 PM
Yeah- I double checked all the wiring and it is wired the same as the stock lights. If I were to install a resistor, what ohm do you guys think I should get, and do I solder it in series with the running light power source wire (blue) or the power wire (red) only? There are two power wires one for running lights (blue) and one for blinkers (red), and a black (ground). If I can figure this out, I need to do the same thing on my rear blinkers that are LEDs too hehe- I do see your point about the capacitor, but they only shut off after I give the engine a good rev, so they keep doing the knight rider thing until I pull off from a light or something similar and not at a certain period of time as if they were discharging. I'm pretty sure its just the bike thinking nothing is there or something similar- thanks for the replys!
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