LED bull bar indicator

[Patricapatrol]

Evening, just replaced the indicator in a TJM bull bar with a led one and it’s so dull you can’t see it. I pulled the bulb out of the indicator beside the light and it works fine (except it’s flashing at double speed) the bull bar indicator is piggybacked of the indicator beside the light . 97 GQ . any ideas why ?

[MudRunnerTD]

Evening, just replaced the indicator in a TJM bull bar with a led one and it’s so dull you can’t see it. I pulled the bulb out of the indicator beside the light and it works fine (except it’s flashing at double speed) the bull bar indicator is piggybacked of the indicator beside the light . 97 GQ . any ideas why ?

Hi mate, yes you need a resistor? or diode? or something for the LED as the flasher can cant deal with it which is why is is double flashing. They will be readily available at repco or supercheap. plug and play nearly. Ask there and the staff will take you straight to it.

[04OFF]

Id say to check your wires, sounds like you may have a bad connection causing a voltage drop, and so both the LED "and Bulb cant get enough power to both work at the same time.

The fast flashing is because once you removed the Bulb, the LEDs create no load on the Flasher Unit and so it thinks the Bulb is blown, as i gather you will re-fit the Bulb after the LED wire/s is sorted, you wont need a resistor as the bulb will still create the load and the LED will flash just fine.

[PeeBee]

I upgraded the standard bulbs to LED stop/tail/indicator and as MudRunnerTD said, get a resistor and its done, one per side on the indicator circuit right next to the unit on the bulbar - takes 10 minutes a side all up.

[Mickhead]

Or a jaycar LED flasher relay at 15 bucks if you replace all the globes with LEDs to stop the fast flashing.. Plug and play, 1 minute. Resistors are pointless because they generate heat and use more power, which is why you deleted the filament globes in the first place.

[Hodge]

Or a jaycar LED flasher relay at 15 bucks if you replace all the globes with LEDs to stop the fast flashing.. Plug and play, 1 minute. Resistors are pointless because they generate heat and use more power, which is why you deleted the filament globes in the first place.This +1.
Put those resistors in the bin where they belong. Some of them draw more juice that the original globes. Just gotta touch one to see how hot they get and then ask how many amps it takes to actually warm them up that much.

I got a like for like led compatible flasher off the bay. Nissan pin arrangement and polarity.
Has adjustable flash frequency.

[PeeBee]

Or a jaycar LED flasher relay at 15 bucks if you replace all the globes with LEDs to stop the fast flashing.. Plug and play, 1 minute. Resistors are pointless because they generate heat and use more power, which is why you deleted the filament globes in the first place.

They work for me where the only LEDS are on the rear bar and I have yet to find a LED set for the ARB bulbar. In this scenario, the LED flasher can is not a solution - tried it also. I went the LED set in the rear bar because of issues with mud getting into the light fittings and they stopped working. Tried all sorts of different makes, switched to encapsulated LED's and job done, run the resistors, easy.

[Patricapatrol]

Up-date, original indicator beside h/lamp still a bulb so no need for resistors. Reason was because tested with ignition on but didn’t start the engine. With Engine running the bull bar led indicators work a treat. . Purchased a led compatible flasher relay from jaycar to replace original factory one. Now able to remove the heat sink resistors i put in for the rear leds . Thanks guys for all your comments