LEDS
 

I got my wiring situation as far as turn and brake lights figured out but no matter what I do I cannot get turn signals. I have power at the fuse panel. I have power at the plug coming from the wires on the column harness but they will not flash no matter what I do. I have a zero load flasher too and they just don’t work. I am gonna put 1157 bulbs in tomorrow with a regular flasher and if that doesn’t do it I will spell out the nuisances of all the weird things it does when you hit the switch and maybe I can get some more insight but in the meantime have any of you guys had LEDS that just would not work?

Yep.... never could get them to blink - no matter what flasher I installed

Worst case scenario you wire in one standard 1157 in the trunk, tapped into each side wiring and hide them somewhere.

You need the proper LED flasher.

I have a zero load flasher

Regular flashers, regular bulbs and that’s it, she works

I'd be tempted to try a different LED flasher and the LEDs again, after there are a lot of people running LED tails and they work fine.

But I'm a huge fan of the reduced load on the charging system and wiring. Bench testing my instrument panel lighting it went from about 2.5 amps with stock bulbs to about 0.3 amps with LEDs. In my case using the original harness the more I can do to make it's life easy the better.

LED's have a polarity unlike regular bulbs. You don't have one or more backwards do you?

Tried to explain this in post #4. LEDS need a dedicated LED flasher to work. I bought my LED lamps from SuperBrightLEDs. They are brilliant, pardon the pun. I also bought their recommended flasher unit. Going a few years now, LEDS are brighter than originals.

^^This.^^ A no load flasher will not work. You need a dedicated LED flasher.

I have changed to LED's on my Firebird and I really like them. I have LED's throughout the car except for headlights. They are really expensive. You definitely need an LED compatible flasher. I tried a couple until I found one, I liked.

I have LED taillights on my 65 GTO from Diode Dynamics, they are drop-in, no flasher change needed. Expensive, amazingly bright, but drop-in replacements.

How about a picture or video of them working?

Shifty, is that request to me? Glad to.

Some aftermarket electronic flashers are polarity sensitive. The wiring going to the flasher socket *should* be correct based on the standard but sometime the wires are reversed from the factory, and with a mechanical flasher that flashes based on load, it will still work as intended. I found this to be the case while wiring my car.

This may not be your problem but thought I would throw it out there for consideration.

I'd like to revisit this topic .... I was just doing some harness testing I can't get my LED taillights to flash using the appropriate LED flasher unit. Using a superbright CF12ANL-01 flasher ... I'm running one standard 1157 in a front position for testing.

I plug in the old OEM style flasher and they work with a single 1157 installed.

The LED flasher units are passing current because the lights will come on, they just won't blink. I have two of the LED flashers ... neither would work in either the turn signal or 4-way position.

Anyone have a part number for a flasher that worked for them?

Thanks.

Diode Dynamics for 1965 GTO rear:

Tail Light LEDs for 1964-1973 Chevrolet Chevelle (pair)

SKU: DD0016P

Bulb Size: 1157

Color: Red

Bulb Model: XP80 (510 lumens)

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Problem might be that you don't have an LED in both housings? I have LED's in my fronts too.

I'm using Phillips 1157RED in the rear, fit good and seem to work well.

I can certainly try some LEDs in the front too.

I kinda like the click click of the old can type, so I might leave those in for the turn signals and see if I can solve the 4-way problem.

Been avoiding the shop the last couple of days with below zero temps ... even though it only gets down to about 45 ... takes too long to heat up :)

While I do not have LED bulbs installed (yet), I am using an electronic flasher that has a ground wire coming out of it which is advertised as working with LED's and has good reviews.

Search for:

EF32RLNP

The ground wire works with the electronics of the flasher circuit and allows the flasher to operate at the correct rate regardless of no bulbs, LED bulbs, or incandescent bulbs being used.

It isn't "plug and play" since you do need to connect the ground wire, but other than that it fits and works...and the clicking noise is plenty loud so it sounds right :)

Thank you, I'll put that on my list of flashers to try.