LED astray

[Robin Oldfield]

Having read many articles about the benefit of LED lighting I purchased two lovely ST38 lookalikes with LEDs for tail, brake and flasher lights for my AH Tourer.  Hooked up to an LED compatible flasher unit and two very discreet white lens front lights it all worked a treat - until I started the engine. Total chaos. After advice I fitted a capacitor to the flasher unit feed, then placed it as far as possible away from the coil.  Some improvement but still chaos caused by the Seven's ignition system.  I could not face fitting earthed capacitors throughout the wiring so I bit the bullet and purchased bulb ST38 combination units and a conventional flasher unit.  Result - perfect! Except that my pocket is 250 quid lighter.  Has this been covered in the Forum before?

[Andy Bennett]

It has been discussed here from time to time.
I fitted rear LEDs and had similar problems. I attached 2 part ferrite cores which just clipped onto wires and all was good.

Andy

[Robin Oldfield]

I did a search on this forum but could not identify any discussion on LED flashers.

[Howard Wright]

Hi Robin

On a recent thread I had a similar problem.  All the leds flickered with the engine running even when switched off.  Like you I put a condenser on the flasher unit But added one on the switched side of the coil (as advised by forum members) and hey presto everything now works beautifully.  

I had already changed the led flasher unit for a conventional unit and was running a combination of led at the front and conventional bulbs at the back which provides enough resistance to work the flasher.

Cheers

Howard

[Barry Townsend]

I had exactly the same problem with my LED flashers and spent endless hours trying various fixes.
The solution, as usual, was simple and inexpensive when I found it - suppressor caps on the spark plugs! everything now works perfectly.

[AustinWood]

I had a very different experience. Changed over to LEDs all round with only one problem. I was very careful to make sure they were all earthed properly.
The one problem was an indicator LED. It wouldn't flash, never came on. I tried it in several places, always the same. Connected directly to 6 V, worked perfectly. I have one incandescent indicator.
I also took out the LED in the dash light - it was far too bright. Fitted a 5W 12V bulb - just right.

[Andy Bennett]

Robin
Try searching for LED Indicators

Andy

[Robin Oldfield]

Found it.  A search for LED flashers did not!  There seems to be a variety of cures, with a capacitor in various different places.  The plug caps solution is interesting too.  I believe that this is what they did in the early days of car radios.  Thanks to all for your help.  Luckily I can use some of the redundant bits on another car.

[John Mason]

I do not have LEDs anywhere on my car but I do have suppressed plug leads to prevent interference on my neighbours TV and radios. Anyone who had LEDs and wants to keep the old fashioned look of spade end plug terminals can fit in line suppressors which screw in the same way as suppressed plug caps. Mine were obtained from Auto Electric Supplies. I have no interest In this company other than as a customer.

John Mason.

[David Cochrane]

The chief advantage of LED bulbs is their low current consumption. As the indicator bulbs are on for such a short time during a journey, this advantage is negligible. So don't bother with LED bulbs in indicators, just use old-fashioned (and much cheaper) filament bulbs, and you won't have any problems with flashing!

David