Flashing Indicator Installation Design

[Colin Morgan]

Having reluctantly finally decided that it is time to install flashing indicators on my 6-volt +ve earth Ruby, I wondered about the easiest way to achieve this.

I wanted to leave the existing original wiring undisturbed, continue to use the original trafficator self-cancelling switch, and also keep the working trafficators.

So, I decided to purchase four suitable lamps that take festoon bulbs and fit them with a 6v self-flashing festoon amber LED bulb that are available now.  The lamps have been fitted on the bumpers and wired back into the existing trafficator junction box under the bonnet to ensure each pair of LEDs, at the front and rear, flash when a trafficator is switched on in the usual way.  

This seems an easy way to provide flashing indicators with minimal changes?  The LEDs take only 200 milliamps each so the new wiring is light-weight and little current is added to the existing trafficator circuits.

Has anyone else tried this?  

Colin

[Nick Lettington]

I have...

Two flasher units, one fed off the feed to each trafficator from the junction box. 

It took a little head scratching to wire up the bulbs as my car is positive earth, but the LEDs work best with a full earth return anyway.

I have a scrawled out circuit diagram in a coat pocket somewhere I think...

[Pearls not a Singer]

Check the brightness in lumens. You may find the festoon type are not very easy to see in bright daylight

There are wiring layouts so you can have hazard lights for the rare occasion when you breakdown, but I don't think you can do this off the trafficator circuit

[Charles Levien]

Hi Colin, I’ve done this very successfully on our 1937 Opal. There is a dual function LED available to fit into the side lights which cleverly gives you a yellow flashing light when indicating and plain white for side light. This works well and the indicator is positioned on the car in a good place to be seen. 
I have kept the semaphore indicators working separately as originally switched from the steering wheel for originality but never use the when out on the road — they are good fun but don’t stand up to comparison with LEDs when it comes to modern driving conditions.
As for rear lights, you can fit an indicator/tail/ brake LED into the pork pie lamp.
BUT it’s essential to have a good earth to each point.

All the best,
Charles

[JonE]

I've got a bit of kit I made up that converts 6V brake light circuit into rear indicators, flashing red obviously. I'm not going to use it so shout if you interested in trying or having the parts list/wiring diagram.

With fronts - and thus low wattage LED headlamps, using sidelamps as dedicated indictors could also be sensible if one routed sidelamp function into dipped headlight...

[John Mason]

I have a negative earth 6 volt Ruby on which I put flashing indicators on some years aga (before LEDs were readily available). I also wanted the original semaphore signals to work. Electriickery is not really my thing and when first done I had flashers doing a go slow and semaphores going up and down. I got around the problem by fitting relays and having two individual separate circuits . Nearside and offside with a flasher unit for each circuit. It also Incorporates 4 way Hazard lights the only difference being instead of flashing both at the front and then at the rear. My hazards flash nearside front and rear followed by offside front and rear. This is more effective as when viewed from front or rear the lights flash side to side. I must however state this is not fully legal in the UK.

John Mason.

[John Cornforth]

Hi Colin

I believe the "regs" require the front and rear indicators to switch on and off together, which individual self flashing LEDs won't do. However, this is one of those things (like the use of LED headlights) where you are extremely unlikely to be picked up over it. It's far more important to have indicators fitted which are bright and clearly visible.

The use of separate left and right flasher units in conjunction with 18 or 21 watt filament bulbs is probably the easiest way.

[Howard Wright]

Hi

The use of LED flashers and indicator switch units is fraught with difficulty I found.  Unless everything is well suppressed the engine and dynamo give off a huge amount of high frequency interference.  I resorted to a standard indicator unit and filament bulbs in the end.

Cheers

Howard

[Colin Morgan]

Thank you for the comments and suggestions. All four separate lights are now wired up and all work. One required a separate earth wire before it would flash, the other 3 are earthed back through the bumper bolts and brackets.

Brightness could be an issue. I have seen it suggested that a 21W filament bulb puts out about 250-350 lumens? Doubt these LEDs put out as much light as that. I have just been out to try the flashers for the first time in daylight. It is not sunny just at the moment, but they are visible enough.

The acid test will be whether or they still work with the engine running and the brake lights on? Not checked this yet.

[Rick F]

Somewhere in the back of my mind - a repository that gets increasingly cluttered with age - I think that I once heard that it is illegal to mix semaphore signals and "modern" traficators. Is this correct?

i only ask out of curiosity as, regardless of the legality, as John suggests above, you are unliely to get nicked - unless you fall foul of a realy grumpy jobsworth!