So a few years ago I bought these “extra bright” bulbs and electronic flasher for my 1964 OTS. I think it was one of those places where you get super awesome headlights and a relay kit and whatnot.
I can’t find my correspondence, but looking at these, I’m assuming the four SF1-A01’s are for the four turn signals and the two SL0-A01’s are for the brake lights. Does that sound reasonable? Shouldn’t these be noticeably brighter than the regular stock bulbs? They aren’t LED. Is it safe to just try 'em?
Is there any harm in trying this electronic flasher? My “old fashioned one” is pretty tired and weak…
Extra bright filament bulbs likely draw more current, and likely run hotter. That would make me concerned about alternator capacity and melting lenses. Not saying either is a problem, but something to think through. I don’t see a problem trying the EL13 flasher. You can get extraordinarily bright LED’s from Diode Dynamics, which will draw less power and run cool. But if you switch to LED turn signal bulbs, you will need an LED-specific flasher.
Melting lenses, maybe, but not very likely, at least the material the lenses are made of will take 10 minutes of 21W or more without damage, too hot to touch. Try the bulbs first.
I think the flasher should speed up with a heavier load, it stays on with too little load and it slows down when the voltage is lower.
I said it was something to consider, not necessarily a problem. But you want to think about the cost of possibly replacing a lens vs the improvement in visibility. Much less problematic to replace with high output LED’s, although the real deal LED’s are pricey.
You can spend hundreds on xke specific leds or you can just buy 1156 and 1157 leds. Sylvania has them in amber for front turn/ marker lights and red for stop turn in the back. They use about 1/4 the wattage so easy on the old wiring AND they’re about 50% to 100% brighter than origial. Buying the colors keeps them from washing out the lense color. You’ll need a led compatible flasher too. All in about $80 and most of the local parts stores have everything in stock.
It’s not clear to me: does this $45 bulb have an integral flasher?
Specifically, I have installed LEDs on the four corners of my Series III and have not yet sourced the LED-specific flasher I am led to believe is required to get them to function along with the in-dash indicators and audible “click” when turned on.
I’ve seen these mentioned in other posts but don’t know if they’ll work on my Series III
It’s not really car dependent. Traditional flasher relays are thermal: the load on the circuit causes the contact arm to heat up, which causes it to “snap” off. Once it cools, it returns to shape and snaps on. The more load you add, the faster it flashes. So the OP’s high output filament bulbs will cause a traditional flasher to be faster.
If you go with LED’s, the bulbs consume so much less power that a traditional flasher relay won’t heat up and “snap”. For these bulbs, you use a solid state flasher that uses a timer circuit to determine on/off and an electronic noisemaker to simulate the click. There’s no need to use this type of relay with filament bulbs.
If you’re just using LED’s for stop or tail lights, the flasher doesn’t come into the picture. It only matters if you change out the turn signal bulbs
Sooo- either or both of the LED flasher units I posted above ought to?
I know they’re only $12-$15 each, but I tire of the speed of growth of the small stack of “may work” parts lying about my shop. Trying to go for a “one and done” purchase. TIA.
