Wiring LEDs / Load Equalizer
 

I'm doing fancy-pants high output LEDs on my '03 Honda Sabre. Turn signals and tail light are changing into spaceship-like multi-diode board arrays.

I need to install a load equalizer to compensate for the minute amount of electricity that the brighter-than-stock bulbs use.

Exciting, cheap, but a minor pain in the keister.

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Equalizer I need is either item #4810 or #4807:

http://www.customdynamics.com/loadeq...Turn%20Signal0

I roughly know what I need to buy and where to put it, but I'll ask first:

Anybody have any experience with wiring?

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That is all. Continue eating corn flakes and wrestling 'gators.

I've got experience in this department, what do you need to know?

Sweet! Alright... check it out:

How do I know what model of load equalizer I need? I have the top options above... stats are:

#4810 is 5.6 ohms (2.5 amps @ 14VDC).

#4807 is 7.5 ohms (1.9 amps @ 14VDC).

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I'm running these bulbs:

http://superlumination.com/1156_1157.htm (The Superstars, the ones with the silly sun cartoon next to the heading)

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The load equalizers are cheap... but I don't know how much of a "step down" I need.

Also: Is there a way to rig a "quick switch" so I can go back to stock wiring flow? Or does a load equalizer make that unnecessary.

I'm a little confused on exactly what the equalizer does... I'd imagine it just steps-down the electricity from the harness to the lights.

I like layman terms, myself.

Any wisdom?

Turn signals are controlled by a device called the thermal flasher. A thermal flasher is an electric device that opens and closes a circuit automatically at regular intervals because of alternate heating and cooling of a bimetallic strip that is heated by a resistance element in series with the circuit being controlled.

In other words, strip heats up, makes contact, turns light on. Strip cools down, breaks contact, turns light off. The timing of the interval is dependent on how much current is drawn by the bulbs in the signal indicator. The LED's draw significantly less current than a conventional bulb so that alters the interval, in most cases it makes it flash on and off very slowly, if at all.

The load equalizer fixes this problem by simulating the current draw of conventional bulbs, returning the interval to normal.

Now, on to your question...

Generally speaking, the 7.5 ohm equalizer should produce a slower flash interval than the 5.6 ohm equalizer since it's drawing less current and heating the bimetal strip more slowly.

Best way to figure out how much current each side uses is with Ohm's law (I=(V/R), where I=current, V=voltage, and R=resistance). Adapt this formula to calculate resistance with parallel circuits, and we get http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4d0feb32e4.png. We know the voltage is 12 volts, just grab a multimeter, measure the resistance of your bulbs, plug in the values, and you have your answer.

Sorry that it's long winded, but hope this helps.

Could I also solve this problem by putting inline resistors for each light?

Which would be better? Equalizer or resistors?

If you wire it in series (inline), that affects how much voltage the light bulbs recieve, making them dimmer (and since they're LED's, they probably won't have enough voltage to work). The resistor would have to be wired in parallel with the bulb so it can simulate the equivalent current draw while still providing 14 volts to the LED bulbs.

If you can find a resistor of equivalent value that can handle the current similar to the equalizer, then you can go with that, but considering how inexpensive these things are, it doesn't really make much sense to reinvent the wheel.

So... equalizer it is!