Ok, all - this weekend I decided to install a few things on my 2004 TJ - all LED based. I recently got new tires, and a Smittybilt SRC classic tire carrier rear bumper (plus a rim to hold one of my old tires so I now have a full-sized spare and not the dorky factory spare - I only say that because the old spare was OEM, while my old tires were 33s on 17 inch Fuel rims - and it looked weird) - but I needed a replacement for the third brake light.
Long story short, I fabricated a bracket to mount into the holes on the vertical of the carrier, and mounted one of the oblong trailer LED lights; it actually looks pretty sweet. Got it all hooked up and it works great. In my opinion, it looks like something I bought (ok, parts were bought, but fabrication also happened).
I also decided to upgrade my turn signals and brake lights to LED as well. I started with the front side markers first. Swapped 'em out, and tested, blinking fine - all seemed ok. I then swapped out the front turn-signal lights for LEDs. Tested - and...hyperflash. I was aware that this was probably going to happen, so I had purchased a relay. Unfortunately, I think the relay I bought has led me to my current trouble.
I had bought a 4-pin flasher relay meant for LED lights; when I pulled the old relay from under the steering wheel cover, I noticed it had 5 pins. I wasn't sure if this was going to be an issue, so I popped in the new relay, and tested the signals. Well, everything seemed ok - left and right blinked properly, emergency flasher blinked properly, brakes still lit up right. All seemed ok...until later in the evening.
I went to turn on my headlights - and my turn signal indicators on my dash were both lit up! I found that this happened whether I had only the running lights on, or if I had my headlights on. Using my turn signal at this point would cause things to flash properly, but my side markers remained dark without the turn signal running (otherwise they'd flash properly). My front signal light would go from bright-to-dim when "flashing" (not sure if this is correct, but I think it is).
I think my problem is that flasher relay - I need a proper 5-pin relay. I ordered one on Amazon, plus (as a "just in case that don't work" move) some load resistors (to use the original relay). I also ordered some other LED tail lights because the originals I bought were red only, and I didn't realize that the bulb also served to light up the license plate at the same time, and so needed to be white in color. I had replace my reverse lights with LEDs as well (they worked ok), but they weren't very bright, so I bought some others to replace them too. All of that is supposed to come on Monday - so I'll swap it all out and hopefully that will fix my dashboard issue.
I guess my question at this point is whether anyone else thinks that was the issue - that the reason my side markers weren't working when my headlights or running lights were on, plus my dashboard indicators remaining on when no signaling happened, were because I didn't have a 5-pin flasher relay in place?
Also - one other question, if anyone knows the answer:
In the process of doing all of this, I didn't have handy any "answers" or a book, and was purely going on what I had remembered, that the flasher relay was either under the column panel, or under the upper panel (I had ended up removing both before finding it was under the upper one, oh well). As I was trying to figure things out, I ended up pulling something which I probably shouldn't have, but I got it back together ok. I was wondering if anyone knew what it was?
Basically, toward the right (toward the passenger side) next to the flasher relay socket, was another device. It had a cover on it, which came off as I removed the whole thing - which was some kind of circuit board attached using some spring clips, that slipped over pins (I didn't count 'em, but it seemed like there were about 8 pins) protruding from the column module. I noticed that when I used the turn signals, it was "clicking" as well. On the board was a smaller relay, plus a multi-turn potentiometer (IIRC).
My thought was that this module was the actual "flasher" and that the "flasher relay" was just that, a bog standard 5 pin Bosch automotive relay. Being electronic, this flasher uses some kind of current sensing (basically the resistance of the light bulbs) to determine flashing frequency. But I was wondering about the potentiometer? If this device is the actual flasher, does that potentiometer determine the flash rate? In other words, if this is true, could we just replace the bulbs with LEDs, leave the standard relay in place, then re-adjust the potentiometer to slow the hyperflash down?
Of course, I could be completely wrong in what this device is - but it was definitely a curious item (and covered with some kind of weird grease - I can only guess some form of dielectric compound). I just wanted to know if anyone else here knows, because I had read on other forums about modifying certain circuits to change the flash rate - and it seemed like this board was similar to the pictures I recall...
Thank you all for any light you can shed here!
Long story short, I fabricated a bracket to mount into the holes on the vertical of the carrier, and mounted one of the oblong trailer LED lights; it actually looks pretty sweet. Got it all hooked up and it works great. In my opinion, it looks like something I bought (ok, parts were bought, but fabrication also happened).
I also decided to upgrade my turn signals and brake lights to LED as well. I started with the front side markers first. Swapped 'em out, and tested, blinking fine - all seemed ok. I then swapped out the front turn-signal lights for LEDs. Tested - and...hyperflash. I was aware that this was probably going to happen, so I had purchased a relay. Unfortunately, I think the relay I bought has led me to my current trouble.
I had bought a 4-pin flasher relay meant for LED lights; when I pulled the old relay from under the steering wheel cover, I noticed it had 5 pins. I wasn't sure if this was going to be an issue, so I popped in the new relay, and tested the signals. Well, everything seemed ok - left and right blinked properly, emergency flasher blinked properly, brakes still lit up right. All seemed ok...until later in the evening.
I went to turn on my headlights - and my turn signal indicators on my dash were both lit up! I found that this happened whether I had only the running lights on, or if I had my headlights on. Using my turn signal at this point would cause things to flash properly, but my side markers remained dark without the turn signal running (otherwise they'd flash properly). My front signal light would go from bright-to-dim when "flashing" (not sure if this is correct, but I think it is).
I think my problem is that flasher relay - I need a proper 5-pin relay. I ordered one on Amazon, plus (as a "just in case that don't work" move) some load resistors (to use the original relay). I also ordered some other LED tail lights because the originals I bought were red only, and I didn't realize that the bulb also served to light up the license plate at the same time, and so needed to be white in color. I had replace my reverse lights with LEDs as well (they worked ok), but they weren't very bright, so I bought some others to replace them too. All of that is supposed to come on Monday - so I'll swap it all out and hopefully that will fix my dashboard issue.
I guess my question at this point is whether anyone else thinks that was the issue - that the reason my side markers weren't working when my headlights or running lights were on, plus my dashboard indicators remaining on when no signaling happened, were because I didn't have a 5-pin flasher relay in place?
Also - one other question, if anyone knows the answer:
In the process of doing all of this, I didn't have handy any "answers" or a book, and was purely going on what I had remembered, that the flasher relay was either under the column panel, or under the upper panel (I had ended up removing both before finding it was under the upper one, oh well). As I was trying to figure things out, I ended up pulling something which I probably shouldn't have, but I got it back together ok. I was wondering if anyone knew what it was?
Basically, toward the right (toward the passenger side) next to the flasher relay socket, was another device. It had a cover on it, which came off as I removed the whole thing - which was some kind of circuit board attached using some spring clips, that slipped over pins (I didn't count 'em, but it seemed like there were about 8 pins) protruding from the column module. I noticed that when I used the turn signals, it was "clicking" as well. On the board was a smaller relay, plus a multi-turn potentiometer (IIRC).
My thought was that this module was the actual "flasher" and that the "flasher relay" was just that, a bog standard 5 pin Bosch automotive relay. Being electronic, this flasher uses some kind of current sensing (basically the resistance of the light bulbs) to determine flashing frequency. But I was wondering about the potentiometer? If this device is the actual flasher, does that potentiometer determine the flash rate? In other words, if this is true, could we just replace the bulbs with LEDs, leave the standard relay in place, then re-adjust the potentiometer to slow the hyperflash down?
Of course, I could be completely wrong in what this device is - but it was definitely a curious item (and covered with some kind of weird grease - I can only guess some form of dielectric compound). I just wanted to know if anyone else here knows, because I had read on other forums about modifying certain circuits to change the flash rate - and it seemed like this board was similar to the pictures I recall...
Thank you all for any light you can shed here!
