LED turn signals/turbo blinker fix

[jester_motorsports]

I found a link to this site:

http://www.mesa4x4.com/tech_articles...r/flasher.html

After reading through the article, I proceeded to yank out my flasher and disassemble it. The board looked similar, but not exact. I then proceeded to the site that it referred to:

http://www.atmel.com/

There, I looked up the chip number and the wiring diagram. After figuring out where I needed to "trim" the circuit at, I made the incision. I had to keep checking continuity with a meter to make sure that I had completely broken the circuit. Note: An exacto knife is not exactly the best tool for the job! However, it WILL get the job done, if done VERY carefully.

Anyway, I reinstalled the flasher and it worked GREAT. I know that there are tons of people out there using LED lights on their vehicles now for turn signals. I thought that reposting this would help and that maybe this thread would be a little easier to find in a search. When I get time, I'm going to do a detailed write-up on this with pictures so that everyone can do it.

Also, I'd like to offer this as a free service if anyone is interested. If anyone doesn't want to attempt this themselves, I'd gladly do it for you. I can go purchase the flasher and make the modification and then send it out to you already done. All I'd ask for is payment for the flasher itself (no mark-up), the tax, and whatever the actual cost is to ship it to you (which shouldn't be much). Please just let me know if you're interested.

[ddd]

Do you have any pictures of it in action? Will it work on an 04?

[Bear]

Originally Posted by jester_motorsports

I found a link to this site:

http://www.mesa4x4.com/tech_articles...r/flasher.html

After reading through the article, I proceeded to yank out my flasher and disassemble it. The board looked similar, but not exact. I then proceeded to the site that it referred to:

http://www.atmel.com/

There, I looked up the chip number and the wiring diagram. After figuring out where I needed to "trim" the circuit at, I made the incision. I had to keep checking continuity with a meter to make sure that I had completely broken the circuit. Note: An exacto knife is not exactly the best tool for the job! However, it WILL get the job done, if done VERY carefully.

Anyway, I reinstalled the flasher and it worked GREAT. I know that there are tons of people out there using LED lights on their vehicles now for turn signals. I thought that reposting this would help and that maybe this thread would be a little easier to find in a search. When I get time, I'm going to do a detailed write-up on this with pictures so that everyone can do it.

Also, I'd like to offer this as a free service if anyone is interested. If anyone doesn't want to attempt this themselves, I'd gladly do it for you. I can go purchase the flasher and make the modification and then send it out to you already done. All I'd ask for is payment for the flasher itself (no mark-up), the tax, and whatever the actual cost is to ship it to you (which shouldn't be much). Please just let me know if you're interested.

Josh you call the action turbo, I call it hyper!


How much do the flasher cost out of curosity? I hve been meaning to take care of this problem for a while but you know how time is…you never have enough of it.

I'll bite, make sure the flasher is compatable for my '97! This is a good idea to do it on an extra flasher, if you ever decide to trade in the truck and go back to stock bumpers and lights, you can just switch out the flashers again! (not that either one of our trucks is even capable of being restored to stock)

Also for those that are not aware of the fact. The "turbo" action of the flasher is caused by installing LED type bulbs which use a lower current of electricity. The stock flasher is designed to flash fast when you hav a bulb burnt out (this is like a check engine light for your electric system) the LED is making your truck think it has a burnt out bulb. The down side to this mod would be not being able to immediately know you have a burnt bulb. But that is little worry, you just have to go old school and check your turn signals manually from time to time like we used to have to do back in the day!

[Bear]

Originally Posted by ddd

Do you have any pictures of it in action? Will it work on an 04?

This mod should work on any model! I doubt that there are any video floating out there of the action Josh is describing.

But this "problem" is very recognizable, instead of the steady beat of the flashers, it is very rapid. Say instead of having 15 flashes per minute, you have 45 flashes per minute (hyperthetical example)

This mod slows the tempo of the flasher back down to 15 flashes per minute.

See my other post on this thread for further explantion of the cause of the rapid flasher.

Hope this helps!

[jester_motorsports]

Originally Posted by ddd

Do you have any pictures of it in action? Will it work on an 04?

Yeah, pictures wouldn't quite do it, like Bear said. You would need a video of it and, no, I don't have that available. Yes, this should work on any model of truck. The flasher may or may not be different, but the modification is the same. I can easily check to see if the model of flasher is the same from year to year. If so, then it's no big deal. If the model of flasher is different, I'll just have to look up the schematic of that specific chip in the flasher and make an adjustment.

[jester_motorsports]

Originally Posted by Bear

How much do the flasher cost out of curosity? I hve been meaning to take care of this problem for a while but you know how time is…you never have enough of it.

I'll bite, make sure the flasher is compatable for my '97! This is a good idea to do it on an extra flasher, if you ever decide to trade in the truck and go back to stock bumpers and lights, you can just switch out the flashers again! (not that either one of our trucks is even capable of being restored to stock)

If it takes the same flasher is my truck then the Trident part number is EP35. They're a pretty cheap fix.

I'll just need to verify that the flasher part number is the same and then make the modification. Want me to work on one for ya?

I plan on keeping a couple of these in stock so that I've got them readily available for people if they want them.

[grumpy]

"(not that either one of our trucks is even capable of being restored to stock)"

why not??? just weld the IFS stuff back on!!!! with all the swaps it should be easy to find one

FYI-its caused by the resistence being lower on LED then bulbs and it uses the resistencefor flash rate. I think its one flash per second and then doubles with LED's

[AK98Taco]

Originally Posted by grumpy

FYI-its caused by the resistence being lower on LED then bulbs and it uses the resistencefor flash rate. I think its one flash per second and then doubles with LED's

Exactly. The amperage draw is also greatly reduced.

[AK98Taco]

I like the fast blink. Get's people's attention, and with the horrible Utah drivers I'll take all the help I can get.

[Bear]

yea! if you don't mind, depending on the other deal going on. I can either send you the cash through him or through pay pal

[Bear]

Originally Posted by grumpy

"(not that either one of our trucks is even capable of being restored to stock)"

why not??? just weld the IFS stuff back on!!!! with all the swaps it should be easy to find one

Sure! Cost me as much to do a re-install as it did to Take it all off…no thanks!

Originally Posted by grumpy

FYI-its caused by the resistence being lower on LED then bulbs and it uses the resistencefor flash rate. I think its one flash per second and then doubles with LED's

Thank of it as the same as Grumphonics! I was just in a hurry and worded it wrong.LOL


But yes you are right.

[Bear]

yes, but in some states it is illegal, and will catch you a fixit ticket in nothing flat.

In my case my front LED's flash so fast and usually covered in mud, makes them a bit hard to see. I am hoping that slowing them down will "intensify" the light

[grumpy]

not sure if still that way or not use to use the resistance as charge rate on flasher( capacitor)

[jester_motorsports]

Originally Posted by Bear

yea! if you don't mind, depending on the other deal going on. I can either send you the cash through him or through pay pal

No problem. I'll get one fixed up and get it out to you.

[AK98Taco]

Originally Posted by Bear

yes, but in some states it is illegal, and will catch you a fixit ticket in nothing flat.

Crazy. I wonder why it would be illegal, maybe perhaps because it looks like a strobe and [stupid] people may confuse my truck for an emergency vehicle?

Last summer I drove through Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, and Seattle with no front signals and fast rear signals without a problem.

[Bear]

improper or malfunctioning equipment.

I agree it is stupid. Yet while you are being pulled over for this trival infraction, down the street on the corner, the crack dealers are seling their "wares". What I am saying is that the police officers already have enough to deal with, without having trival issues such as this to worry about.

[AK98Taco]

Originally Posted by Bear

improper or malfunctioning equipment.

I agree it is stupid. Yet while you are being pulled over for this trival infraction, down the street on the corner, the crack dealers are seling their "wares". What I am saying is that the police officers already have enough to deal with, without having trival issues such as this to worry about.

Weird. I guess they could reason it's malfunctioning, but the function of the turn signal is to alert other drivers as to your intentions, and for that the fast blinker still functions.

[themariachi]

Thanks...

[emminz]

Will this mod work if you tow a trailer with standard bulbs? Sounds like it's just bypassing the lights out warning, so it should work fine, correct?

[jester_motorsports]

Originally Posted by emminz

Will this mod work if you tow a trailer with standard bulbs? Sounds like it's just bypassing the lights out warning, so it should work fine, correct?

Not sure. I haven't tried it in that application. It could very well work for that as well. Try it out and let us know.

[brendog84cj8]

Originally Posted by jester_motorsports

I found a link to this site:

http://www.mesa4x4.com/tech_articles...r/flasher.html

After reading through the article, I proceeded to yank out my flasher and disassemble it. The board looked similar, but not exact. I then proceeded to the site that it referred to:

http://www.atmel.com/

There, I looked up the chip number and the wiring diagram. After figuring out where I needed to "trim" the circuit at, I made the incision. I had to keep checking continuity with a meter to make sure that I had completely broken the circuit. Note: An exacto knife is not exactly the best tool for the job! However, it WILL get the job done, if done VERY carefully.

Anyway, I reinstalled the flasher and it worked GREAT. I know that there are tons of people out there using LED lights on their vehicles now for turn signals. I thought that reposting this would help and that maybe this thread would be a little easier to find in a search. When I get time, I'm going to do a detailed write-up on this with pictures so that everyone can do it.

Also, I'd like to offer this as a free service if anyone is interested. If anyone doesn't want to attempt this themselves, I'd gladly do it for you. I can go purchase the flasher and make the modification and then send it out to you already done. All I'd ask for is payment for the flasher itself (no mark-up), the tax, and whatever the actual cost is to ship it to you (which shouldn't be much). Please just let me know if you're interested.

I have a bumper on the way with LED turn signals and have pulled the Flasher from my 95.5 xcab tacoma. I have the cover off and the only numbers I have on the inside are V23072-4HD and A1056-X21. I went to the Atmel Site and not able to find Anything that matched these numbers.

Edit: There is also a little black chip on the circut board an the numbers on it are UAA1041B KBS 9423. I am also not able to find anything regarding these numbers on the Atmel site also
Edit again: I have found a data sheet on this chip and it is a motorolla chip. There is a diagram and the 6 pin is labeled "Fault Det On/Off", the 7pin is labeled "Fault Det", Which one do I cut the link to?

On the outside case It has a TOYOTA with number 81980-02010 and it also says TRIDON on it which may mean it is a different brand. I checked online for "Tridon Flasher" but couldnt find anthing on the web site that came up. Any help you guys can give would be much appreciated.

[jester_motorsports]

Honestly, your best bet is to just go to the parts store and spend $10 on a new one. That's what I did. That way, you follow these instructions and make it easy. I could guess and tell you which one but that may not work. You'd end up spending the $10 anyway. I just looked at the factory one that came out of my truck and mine has a different number on the case and the chip. My case has a Toyota part number of 81980-AC030. My chip is the U643B like in the article. That's my recommendations. If you don't wanna spend the $10, then get a picture of the chip, top and bottom, and I'll see what I can do.

[brendog84cj8]

Originally Posted by jester_motorsports

Honestly, your best bet is to just go to the parts store and spend $10 on a new one. That's what I did. That way, you follow these instructions and make it easy. I could guess and tell you which one but that may not work. You'd end up spending the $10 anyway. I just looked at the factory one that came out of my truck and mine has a different number on the case and the chip. My case has a Toyota part number of 81980-AC030. My chip is the U643B like in the article. That's my recommendations. If you don't wanna spend the $10, then get a picture of the chip, top and bottom, and I'll see what I can do.

Yea I will go get a new one like you suggest and keep the stock one on hand incase I go to normal signals some day.

[jayotto4]

I have some resistors that just splice into the wiring that will fix this problem. They just give the system the resistance of a regular bulb so it thinks it has not burnt out.

[jester_motorsports]

Originally Posted by jayotto4

I have some resistors that just splice into the wiring that will fix this problem. They just give the system the resistance of a regular bulb so it thinks it has not burnt out.

Yeah, I understand this, but this mod is to get around having to splice resistors into your wiring. Doing this mod to the flasher relay will keep you from having to measure circuit resistance with the regular bulbs and then finding out what resistance flashers you have to get to add to the system to get back to the normal resistance and then splicing them in and doing all of that crap. Plus, to splice the resistors in, you need measurements with the old bulbs wired up and there are a lot of people out there that didn't take those measurements before they installed their LED's.

[grumpy]

Originally Posted by jester_motorsports

Yeah, I understand this, but this mod is to get around having to splice resistors into your wiring. Doing this mod to the flasher relay will keep you from having to measure circuit resistance with the regular bulbs and then finding out what resistance flashers you have to get to add to the system to get back to the normal resistance and then splicing them in and doing all of that crap. Plus, to splice the resistors in, you need measurements with the old bulbs wired up and there are a lot of people out there that didn't take those measurements before they installed their LED's.

plus adding the resistors in defeats the low power draw of the LED's also.

[brendog84cj8]

Originally Posted by brendog84cj8

Yea I will go get a new one like you suggest and keep the stock one on hand incase I go to normal signals some day.

I went out the got a Tridon EP-35 that has the U643B chip in it. I made the cut and it works. I Get the same blinking rate If I have a bulb out or not.

I have not hooked up my LED signals yet as the bumper is not quite ready to go on. I should still get the same results once the LEDs are installed.

I used a utility knife and careful hands to make the cut. This is way easy to do once you know exactly where to make the cut, I did not try the resistor trick but I dont see how that could be any easier to do than this was.

[jester_motorsports]

Originally Posted by grumpy

plus adding the resistors in defeats the low power draw of the LED's also.

Yeah, what he said.

[jester_motorsports]

Originally Posted by brendog84cj8

I used a utility knife and careful hands to make the cut.

That's what I used too. It's pretty easy to slip though so I'll be using a Dremel on the next one.

[Bear]

Originally Posted by jester_motorsports

That's what I used too. It's pretty easy to slip though so I'll be using a Dremel on the next one.

Would that next one you refer to be mine?