Replacement flasher for high current draw

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Hideogumperjr

Hideogumperjr

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Hi all. I have replaced my rear tail lights with a halogen replacement bulb and cleaned connections and the reflector and they are indeed much brighter but I now find that my flasher is flashing so fast there is almost no persistence from the turn signal indication. Got honked at yesterday because it was bright out (a rarity this time of year in Seattle!) and the guy wasnt paying attention to my bright brake lights.
It currently has a Tung Sol AP 273 S flasher.
Can someone recommend a replacement for high current draw?
Thanks in advance.
John
 
They make a heavy duty flasher for trailer hookups, I don't know if that would work or not.
 
I bought one on ebay for led lights that fixed mine up it was like $6.00 suppose to fix hiper flashing.
 
I am leaning toward a 25A electronic flasher. Not being a thermal device it should allow normal flash rates at higher currents for the halogen bulb with plenty of overheard.
Just looking for anyone who has switched to halogen lamps and fixed it this way.
Thanks for all. Dang it used to be so easy, so few parts, but so easy!
 
Take the halogen out and put a normal bulb back in.

1. Your wiring is not designed for the load
2. Your wiring is still not designed for the load
3. Your lens will not like the amount of heat it generates
4. What is the brightness difference between running light and brake, it will not be
correct, every halogen tail I've seen has an overly bright running light
5. Halogens are much slower to come to full brightness than incandescent, Do you really
want brake lights that are slow to turn on
6. If halogen technology made sense for brake lights wouldn't at least one automaker
have installed them from the factory
7. Just because an auto magazine says to do it doesn't make it a good idea.

Are the taillights on that car round approx 5" in diameter? I remember reading that one of the pre 65 darts could accept a round led trailer light with almost no modification to either the car or the light. That would be a much much better solution than halogen bulbs.
 
oohhh. Ouch....
I have read Dan's info, but must have gotten off track somewhere with the halogen replacements.
I will review and see where I went awry easily done in these modern times.
Thanks.
John
 
I think you need a solid state replacement for your factory mechanical flasher control unit.
Maybe try one out, see if your system can bear the load. Need clean and good connectors and wiring from the battery, front of car to the tail lights.

http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d140_automotive_flashers.html

two variants of electro-mechanical replacement flashers on this page..

.
 
Rice Nuker said:
I think you need a solid state replacement for your factory mechanical flasher control unit.
Maybe try one out, see if your system can bear the load. Need clean and good connectors and wiring from the battery, front of car to the tail lights.

http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d140_automotive_flashers.html

two variants of electro-mechanical replacement flashers on this page..

.
Click to expand...

What parts are required to make the wrong part functional is moot. A 1157 bulb has a 32 cp bright and a 3 cp dim filament. A halogen 1157 is 50 cp bright and 15 cp dim. So instead of approximately a 10-1 ratio you have about a 3-1 ratio. It will be hard to tell the difference between running lamps and brake lamps at night.
 
Is that the old lens with the pocket in the middle like this:

http://www.taillightking.com/images/61-70DodgeCar/62D_Dodge_TLLens.jpg

If so the halogen bulb will kill that lens. Running the halogen bulb on 50 year old wires that are 3 gauges too small may destroy something else too - or start a fire. Eventually switching that load will kill the brake light switch - and you will be dark in the back

I would make a set of LED's for it if it were mine. There are no "drop in" cures for the dim lights in our early cars. None of the "LED bulbs" are any good, I have a pile of bad examples.

Here is what I did to brighten up my '65:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=172744

Making a new lens is always a possibility too.

B.
 
Hideogumperjr said:
Hi all. I have replaced my rear tail lights with a halogen replacement bulb
Click to expand...

That's not as good an idea as it might seem. Most of the halogen replacements for 1157s are relatively slow to come up to full intensity, because of their much higher wattage than a standard bulb -- typically 50/15w (bright/dim) rather than the stock 27/8w. Not only does this louse up the bright/dim intensity ratio as has already been correctly pointed out, but you are throwing a ~100% overload on wires that were marginally adequate for the standard-wattage bulbs, so there's going to be a lot of voltage drop and a lazy rise time. You want your brake lights to come up to full intensity fast, not slow; the faster they rise to full brightness, the more time the distracted cow on her celphone in her SUV taking the kids to soccer has to notice you, put down the Big Mac, tell the kids to shut up, and think about stepping on the brake. See this post for discussion of smarter bulb upgrades.

If you are bound and determined to run the slow-rising halogen bulbs, use an Ideal EL-12 electronic flasher.
 
I switched to an EL-12 flasher and I like it because it has a consistent 50 duty cycle (roughly) and it's louder than a standard one so I can hear it flashing and don't go down the highway looking like an old fool with his flasher blinking away.
 
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