Wrong or Bad Flasher Relay for LED Lights?

Gurft

Gurft

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Limerick, PA
So all of the lights on my '97 TJ, except the headlights, have been swapped with LEDs by the previous owner. They never replaced the flasher relay, so I picked up a replacement relay in hopes to fix the hyperflashing.

I first ordered an EP27, to find out that my Jeep has an 4 pin, so I then ordered an EP26, specifically this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082PD45KM/?tag=wranglerorg-20

Replaced it, and now when the engine is not running, everything works fine and flashing is as expected. However, when the engine is running as soon as you turn on either the left, right, or hazards the relay will not stop clicking. Interestingly if you turn off the signal or hazard the LIGHTs stop blinking even though the relay is still going. Any thoughts before I return this EP26 for a replacement? Maybe I just got a bad relay, or is this a symptom of something else maybe?
 
The relay I put in mine when I installed LEDs will continue to click, but only for about 3 or 4 clicks. It was amusing at first, but now I barely notice it. Are you sure yours won't stop at all?
 
Are the side markers still incandescent bulbs? If the side makers are LED then itll throw everything off. I cant remember the specific reason to why.

I also cant explain it, but I used a cheap led set from ebay and had several weird issues, one being the turn indicators on the dash being on all the time (with an EP26 relay). I ended up replacing those LEDs with ones from superbrightleds and the issues stopped immediately.
 
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tworley said:
Are the side markers still incandescent bulbs? If the side makers are LED then itll throw everything off. I cant remember the specific reason to why.
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X2. The reason is LED lights only conduct in one direction and the side marker circuit requires the bulb be able to conduct in both directions as an incandescent bulb does. The side marker current flow through the side marker lights reverses when the headlights are turned on or off and LED lights don't allow that to happen.

There are a couple ways around that, one being installing a bridge rectifier at each side marker bulb, and the other being a specially configured pair of LED bulbs, but I haven't personally seen the latter.
 
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Do the diode/resistor mod on the side markers and that should clear up all issues. Play around with a 1W or 1/2W resistor kit to determine which resistor dims the side marker to a brightness you like which is bright enough to see at night but not so bright the turn signal portion isn’t enough brighter to be noticeable also. Look up steelcity06’s write up, tells you exactly what to do. Very easy overall works great.
 
Buy the EP26 from Quadratec. The Amazon appears to be a knockoff, I’d return it for sure. Didn’t notice that the first time around.
 
Going to have to search for the bridge rectifier solution. I used a non diode relay and just used the coil side on the light and and tapped power for load side to the LEDs.
 
tworley said:
Are the side markers still incandescent bulbs? If the side makers are LED then itll throw everything off. I cant remember the specific reason to why.

I also cant explain it, but I used a cheap led set from ebay and had several weird issues, one being the turn indicators on the dash being on all the time (with an EP26 relay). I ended up replacing those LEDs with ones from superbrightleds and the issues stopped immediately.
Click to expand...
The side markers being LED are not a problem if they are tolerant of current in either direction and don’t care about polarity. There are plenty of bulbs these days that meet the criteria.

The problems start when the front bulbs are swapped to LED because then the side markers can no longer ground properly. This will happen even with LEDs up front and incandescents in the side markers. The front LEDs block the side marker’s ability to ground so it seeks ground by traveling upstream to the dash indicators, backfeeding them and lighting them to get to their ground instead. The diode/resistor mod on the side markers fixes everything.
 
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