Load Resistor gone bad?

D

DJE44

Member
All of a sudden, my left hand LED goes hyper and flashes extremely fast at a long light (signal flashes fine for 30 seconds or a lane change, any longer than that and it goes hyper).

I've installed load resistors for all of my turning signal LEDS (front and rear) about 2 years ago, with no problems. Is one of the the left side resistors the culprit? Do these resistors go bad after time? Right hand signals fine.

Thanks for any input!
 
They shouldn't go bad, but it could be an issue that as the resistor heats up with prolonged use that some thing shorts out or makes contact. They're cheap and easy enough to swap out. Might be worth a try.
 
Yeah after talking with a few people and doing some research it could be a bad vampire clip connection. To me if it was a bad resistor it wouldn't stop the hyperflashing at all. I'm going to check connections first before I replace it.
 
Turned out it was a bad connection with those lousy vampire tap connectors. I removed both of them from the positive and negative taps and spliced / soldered the leads into the resistor. Problem solved. enyby8aj.jpg
 
I have a question since you're using those load resistors. i remember on my first gen I did this mod but after testing, I noticed the load resistor would heat up to the point it would burn you. It became so hot that the soldering even melted away...

How this happened, try leaving your turn signal on for at least 30 seconds to a minute or longer. Though some of our lane changes are within a short time frame, if you're waiting for a left in a long line up, you'll likely have problems. I had two sets of load resistors and the recommended type, I think one was 25w the other 50w and both were hot as hell after a bit of time.

If anyone has some insights to this I'd be really interested. Thanks guys!
 
A load resistor by design has to heat up in order to work. Basically it has to simulate the resistance that a normal bulb puts on the circuit. That resistance has to get converted to heat or light. LED's hyperblink because the resistance is so much lower than with a standard filament bulb. They also get less hot than standard bulbs. That heat has to go somewhere else in order to maintain the same resistance. Notice load resistors are basically heat sinks. The ones I got even came with a warning that the unit gets extremely hot.

On my BMW, I had to get CANBUS LED bulbs to prevent hyperblink. Same concept, but the resistors are built into the base of the bulb.
 
CANBUS are the way to go, but very pricey.

I've installed several resistors on front and rear turn signals over the years on 3 Infinitis I've had and have never had them heat up to the point of burning. And while installing they're flashing for a good half hour or so. Warm to the touch but never burning hot. Perhaps the ohm of the resistor you have is incorrect?

The issue above that I had was simply a bad connection.
 
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Hrm I have to check what I have but would you be willing to tell me what resistor specs you used?

Sent from my SGH-I747
 
I think my resistors were slightly different specs. I have them somewhere, just need to see where I put them away but I will report back.

Sent from my SGH-I747
 
So I finally found my resistors and I had two variations of them. 50w 6 Ohm and 25w 25 Ohm. Either one had the same result of heating up to the point of melting the solder on the connections. You won't find it hot after 30 seconds to a minute. But imagine if you were to leave your 4 ways on for 5 minutes...you'd have four very hot resistors and hopefully they aren't touching anything that will melt or deform.
 
Like I said before, mine never got that hot. Even after 20-30 minutes during install and testing. They were warm to the touch, nothing more than that.

Perhaps it was your variations / difference in ohm.
 
hrmm...I wonder why mine became that hot..this was when I had my 1st gen though. Now that I'm on the 2nd gen, I was reluctant to do the mod. Any particular LED bulbs that you recommend?
 
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