75 Super with LED front turn signal wiring question

[daSCHISSnit]

I shaved the front turn signals and put an LED strip on the front bumpers. Wired the led Black to Brown (ground) and LED yellow to the Black striped wire (same on both sides)

Issue: blinkers work just fine when the headlights are off but once the headlights are on, the blinkers don't blink. Why?

I know there is still one more wire in the front (grey) for the running lights.
I already have an LED relay for the signals.

Help

[Danwvw]

IF your fenders or buckets were not well grounded this could happen. Probably can read a voltage on the front fenders relative to Battery Neg. with the heads on.
_________________
1960 Beetle And 1679cc DP W-100 & Dual Zeniths!

[bluebus86]

if the headlamp and signal light share a common ground point as is stock, a poor ground connection can place a positive voltage from the on headlamp onto the ground point, thus causing the problem you describe,

As other post suggested, check the grounds at the lights, make sure they are good, clean, tight etc....

you can test the ground by turning on the headlamps, turn light off, then measure the voltage from a good body point to the ground wire at the common ground point or at the signal bulb. if you see a voltage there with the headlamps on, you know you have a poor ground for the headlamp.


good luck, Bug On Brightly!
_________________
Help Prevent VW Engine Fires, see this link.....Engine safety wire information

Stop introducing dirt into your oil when adjusting valves ... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=683022

[daSCHISSnit]

so, I wired back in the original bulbs/holders and it looks like that even though I have an LED relay installed, I"ll still need LED load resistors

[ashman40]

[daSCHISSnit]

I'll have to check the relay terminals later today. It's just a generic LED relay.

As for the ground, I ran a separate ground wire to the black lead of the LED and still got the same results.

After I removed the temporarily wired in front stock turn signals (which blinked like normal), I left the front LEDs wired in and then I changed the rear bulb from LED back to incandescent and it started blinking. I've since ordered load resistors and will probably order another relay if the one I currently have is incorrect.

[Chochobeef]

You should not need a load resistor with the correct relay. I am running LED's all around and mine flash like they are supposed to.

I don't remember where I purchased mine (I think amazon), but it specifically states that its a solid state relay and can handle all led or a combination of led and incandescent. Check TX-73's build thread. I got the same flasher as he did.

[ashman40]

[HeyWatchThis]

So I have been drawing up a rewiring plan for my off-road rig with LEDs, and drawing up the circuits I ran into this problem-- Now I don't know if what I ran into is EXACTLY the same as what's happening to you because I don't know exactly what is in every stock beetle electrical component and haven't studied it, and don't exactly know what you've got going... Anyway...

I think the issue is this:

Traditional bulbs respond to more voltage. More voltage means it will be brighter.

Automotive LED's have voltage regulators on them and putting more voltage to it just means it's going to shed more power as heat prior to getting to the LED.

So while the lights are on, it may be the case that originally, more voltage was applied when you turned the turn signal switch on (Lights stayed lit, then glowed brighter with the extra voltage from the signal circuit), but the LED's take that extra voltage and just waste it as heat with no visual response in the lights.

I'm having to do a round-about way to cut power to the signals while the lights are turned on. If my plan doesn't work (may be some polarity issues, diodes being how they are) then I'll probably just put a 2nd set of lights. One set for blinkers, one set for runners. Maybe this helps, Worth what you paid for it anyway

[bluebus86]