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PostPosted: July 10, 2010, 4:17 pm 
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Joined: April 16, 2006, 8:48 am
Posts: 143
Location: Freelton, Ontario
My first post in this area. As my car gets closer to completion I seem to be posting in more and more areas...

This time I am looking for help, guesses, ideas etc on what is causing my turn lamps (indicators) to all flash (a la Hazard lights) when I select left or right?

The car is using a Miata harness and switch gear. Due to some engine issues I have already checked all the grounds (that I know of) and I have removed the side repeaters.

Any Ideas? Could it be as simple as the flasher unit is bust?

Thanks all

PS I am colour blind, the first car I built (a '61 Mini) had to be rewired with the help of my sister (I was 15 she would have been 13) as I got just about every wire wrong. So this is a huge improvement (20 years on).


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PostPosted: July 10, 2010, 6:12 pm 
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Mid-Engined Maniac

Joined: April 23, 2006, 8:26 pm
Posts: 6422
Location: SoCal
Well there you go, have someone check over the wire colors first, since it's not something that can be helped on the Interweb.

Short of that, somewhere in your electrical system you have a connection between the left and right turn signals. I suggest unplugging things one at a time and see if you can compartmentalize the error.

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PostPosted: July 16, 2010, 6:32 pm 
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Joined: April 16, 2006, 8:48 am
Posts: 143
Location: Freelton, Ontario
Well I am now thinking this issue is nothing to do with colour and everything to do with being exceedingly stupid.

I checked all the components of this circuit and the problem was resolved when I disconnected one of the rear lights. That will be the rear ligths where the turn lamp and the tail light are the same bulb and therefore the same circuit. When you connect a turn light to a common light everything comes on :roll:

So is there a way to rectify this or do I need to but laights that have a separate bulb for tail lights and indicators?


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PostPosted: July 16, 2010, 7:56 pm 
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Mid-Engined Maniac

Joined: April 23, 2006, 8:26 pm
Posts: 6422
Location: SoCal
Every bulb should have one wire connected to ground. If it's a dual-filament bulb, then the outer metal collar must be grounded. If both aren't true then the circuit's wired wrong. I'm guessing you have a bulb connecting two separate circuits.

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Both available from https://www.lulu.com/


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PostPosted: August 14, 2010, 2:59 pm 
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Joined: November 7, 2008, 4:48 am
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Location: snow city - it's wet!
KB58 wrote:
Every bulb should have one wire connected to ground. If it's a dual-filament bulb, then the outer metal collar must be grounded. If both aren't true then the circuit's wired wrong. I'm guessing you have a bulb connecting two separate circuits.

What he said, lol. (not sure why I didn't see Kurt's post before replying...)

Some taillights use dual filament bulbs. This allows two separate, positive inputs into a single bulb (& taillight) that shares a single ground between both circuits. Look to older cars for examples.

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PostPosted: August 16, 2010, 12:18 am 
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Joined: August 15, 2007, 10:48 pm
Posts: 233
Location: Claremont,Ontario,Canada
Hi There

I had the same problem with my car.I bought LED trailer lights for my car. They have a single bulb for brake and turn. My donor steering column had wiring for seperate turn and brake lights. Easiest way out is to get some new lamps with seperate bulbs for the signals and the brakes or add a seperate bulb for turn or brake. I was stubborn and wired in a "trailer adapter" to convert the 2 seperate signals into one. But then the current draw of the LEDs was insufficient to make it work so I had to add some load resistors . That fixed that problem but then I had to figure out a way to turn on the hazards. I think I ended up needing a 3 pole 2 position|(on off) switch to turn on each of the fronts seperately without bridging them together and activate the rear brake circuit with the 3rd. Hope this helps.

Phil


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