Will LEDs work with the Blinker Mod?

mattging94 · Mar 24, 2016

Calling the electrical gurus on this one: I'm starting to upgrade some of my bulbs to LED on my '03, and I'm curious as to whether or not LED's will work in my front turn/marker lights when I have the "Blinker Mod" done on the corner lights already. I know the blinker mod relies on grounding the smaller corner light through the heavier filament of the turn signal bulb but LEDs work completely differently. Does anybody know if this will work?

Grey_04 · Mar 24, 2016

I'd would like to know myself so will be following.

Kealel · Mar 25, 2016

It would not, LEDs are polarity sensitive (unless you buy special ones)

The way the blinker mod works, is when the bulb lights with the blinker, the polarity is reversed. While this works on actual bulb because polarity does not matter, having a normal LED in there will be the same as not doing the mod.

Sent from the drivers seat of my Ranger

hoosier1104 · Mar 25, 2016

That might put them in phase versus 180* out of phase or may not work at all. It is simple enough to change the bulb.

mattging94 · Mar 31, 2016

UPDATE: I did some experimenting with the LEDs I got for my tail lights and here's what I found. With the running lights off, the LEDs work just like the incandescents and the corner lights blink with the main blinkers fine. It's when the running lights are on that things become tricky. The corner light doesn't light up, and the blinker function on the larger bulb gets dimly lit up. With the incandescent bulbs the blinker filament is heavy enough to act as a ground wire for the smaller corner bulb, but with LEDs both bulbs are trying light up and cant because the voltage is not enough to run them both in the same circuit.
Everything works fine with an led in the corner and incandescent in the blinker - it's the LED in the blinker that screws up the corner light.
Personally I'd rather have the blinker mod over the LEDs, so I'll probably just stick with the incandescents (even though I hate how the orange paint flakes off the blinker bulbs).

I think the only way to make the corner light blink with LEDs is to add separate bulbs for turn and marker, or eliminate using it as a marker altogether (which probably isn't legal)

Doofy · Mar 31, 2016

Buy a better grade of Amber bulbs. They are not all painted.

mattging94 · Mar 31, 2016

Doofy said:
Buy a better grade of Amber bulbs. They are not all painted.

What brands aren't painted?

85_Ranger4x4 · Mar 31, 2016

I have seen some LED's that say they are made so they don't require tinkering with the flasher unit, makes me think they might have a built in resistor... so they might work for what you are doing. Or they might not...

Doofy · Mar 31, 2016

Sorry, had to go look. They are Sylvania Long Life. The Amber coating is on the inside of the bulb and they look great in clear housings. I've also purchased red bulbs. If you are still finding painted bulbs at the parts store...time to find a new place to shop. I normally get my bulbs from Amazon.

mattging94 · Apr 1, 2016

85_Ranger4x4 said:
I have seen some LED's that say they are made so they don't require tinkering with the flasher unit, makes me think they might have a built in resistor... so they might work for what you are doing. Or they might not...

I hadn't thought about resistors - adding a load resistor across the blinker circuit might have the same effect as the heavier incandescent filament in grounding out the corner marker. Or it might not do anything at all.

Doofy said:
Sorry, had to go look. They are Sylvania Long Life. The Amber coating is on the inside of the bulb and they look great in clear housings. I've also purchased red bulbs. If you are still finding painted bulbs at the parts store...time to find a new place to shop. I normally get my bulbs from Amazon.

I think Sylvania Long Life is what I have right now - but it's been 4 years since I put them in so I don't remember for sure. It doesn't really matter if the paint coating is on the inside or outside, over time the heat of the bulb will cause the coating to flake off and your turn signals start to turn white. Only difference is with the paint on the inside at least the flakes don't land in the bottom of the housing. True colored glass would be the best thing

hoosier1104 · Apr 1, 2016

You can also upgrade your blinker relay. There is a tech article on it in the tech library.

mattging94 · Apr 1, 2016

I've already got an LED compatible blinker relay installed - that just solves the hyperflashing issue and doesn't have anything to do with the corner light mod

Doofy · Apr 1, 2016

The Sylvania bulbs that I have appear to be Amber glass. The filaments can be seen clearly thru the glass and Sylvania says they are gas filled. These bulbs have been in for several years and look brand new.

I've tried all the Led's and have found the longevity to be piss poor, at best. I'm sure I'll try them again at some point, though. Sure love the miserly power draw!

mattging94 · Apr 6, 2016

UPDATE #2: Picked up some load resistors yesterday and tested out my corner lights with the resistor on the turn signal circuit - SUCCESS! The resistor acts just like the turn signal filament on the incandescent to ground out the corner marker. So now I'm ordering my LED corner and front turn lights.
Two key things to remember if you want to combine the blinker mod with LEDs: 1) You have to use non-polarity sensitive LEDs, 2) you have to use load resistors on the turn signals

hoosier1104 · Apr 6, 2016

Good piece of advise.

What size resistor is it?

Will LEDs work with the Blinker Mod?

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