Led bulbs help!!!

[Ethan Griffis]

Wednesday around the afternoon time i put leds in my 97 Explorer cornerlights and a hour after the left side turn signal started buzzing and today the right started doing the same I've searched everything but no luck

 

[Mbrooks420]

Do they blink normal? I’d swap the relays around under the hood.

 

[BKennedy]

I think he means they are flickering rapidly. I had a couple of Ebay LED's I bought for real cheap do that in the Explorer's door panels. I replaced them with two different bulbs from the same bag and they work fine.

 

[Mbrooks420]

If they are “hyper flashing” it’s due to the current being to low on the LEDs.

 

[Ethan Griffis]

If they are “hyper flashing” it’s due to the current being to low on the LEDs.

They don't flash at all they just buzz and stay on when blinkers are put on

 

[Ethan Griffis]

But where are the relays located I've checked owners manual and couldn't find anything

 

[Mbrooks420]

Under the hood on the drivers side by the battery, I believe. Under a black cover.

 

[Ethan Griffis]

Oh that box

 

[BKennedy]

Check the system by replacing LED's with the bulbs you removed. If it works, the LED's are not compatible. I don't understand why you would need to replace with LED. The system was designed for incandescent bulbs and LED's do not draw enough voltage for it to operate properly. I changed my interior lights to LED, but that was so I could leave the door open or have the interior lights on for an extended period of time with out running down the battery while camping. I also installed a interior light on-off switch for the same reason. Steady on lights draw as much power as the need to work. Lights that flash at a specific rate need to draw the amount of power that the system was designed for.

You might need to change the flasher to a LED compatible flasher. The flasher should be located in the interior fuse panel.

Do the lights work when steady on, or are they turn signals only?

 

[Ethan Griffis]

They work fine when running lights are turned on but only when blinkers are on they buzz

 

[Ethan Griffis]

Okay so I just got home 20 Mins ago and took my explorers corner light out and put all the old bulbs in and the blinker went back to normal but the back taillight would not flash only the front would i have leds in my dome lights,tag lights,and front lights?? I don't understand this still?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Could be a bad connection at the non blinking bulb. LEDs make no difference in places without a flasher. The LEDs aren’t drawing enough current to make them blink. I’d test the bulb with a meter or test light to verify it’s not bad. You could always measure for voltage at the socket as well.

 

[Ethan Griffis]

10-4 will check

 

[Jeff98ohv]

It's under the steering column. Your issue is the relay, you need to go to a parts store and get an led relay, I know the exact issue. The tricky part is the relay is on the backside of the fuse panel under the steering column . This will correct your problem. I had to do it because my subs were pulling too much, my lights would dim, so I put LEDs in everything and ran into this exact problem

 

[Ethan Griffis]

Do you remember what relay you ordered?

 

[Mbrooks420]

Looks like a relay to me.

 

[Ethan Griffis]

Okay, i will keep you guys updated

 

[Ethan Griffis]

Hope this works

 

[Spudhut]

Make sure the flasher relay you get is specific to flashing LED lights.

Normal or 'older type' relays that work with your incandescent bulbs wont work correctly. They require much more current to 'mechanically' operate or flash your incandescent bulb. LED's lack this current draw. That's where the LED specific flashers come in - they have a circuit board or transistor built in to control the LEDs to flash as needed. Think of it like the difference between Digital and Analog

I did a quick check and it looks like the EP27 should work with success.



Probably overkill, but here some useful information on older flasher relays:

This small, cylindrical device is sometimes located in the fuse panel under the dashboard of the car. It costs about $3 in the auto parts store and works reliably for years.

Inside the thermal flasher there are a few simple components:

• An electrical contact that conducts electricity into the wire
• A piece of gently curved spring steel to which the electrical contact attaches
• A resistive wire wrapped around a smaller piece of spring steel

When you push the turn-signal stalk down, the thermal flasher connects to the turn-signal bulbs by way of the turn-signal switch. This completes the circuit, allowing current to flow. Initially, the spring steel does not touch the contact, so the only thing that draws power is the resistor. Current flows through the resistive wire, heating up the smaller piece of spring steel and then continuing on to the turn-signal lights. At this point, the current is so small that the lights won't even glow dimly.

After less than a second, the small piece of spring steel heats up enough that it expands and straightens out the larger, curved piece of spring steel. This forces the curved spring steel into the contact so that current flows to the signal lights unimpeded by the resistor. With almost no current passing through the resistor, the spring steel quickly cools, bending back away from the contact and breaking the circuit. The cycle then starts over. This happens at a rate of one to two times per second.

Ref: How Turn Signals Work

 

[one chance]

the buzzing is coming from your multi function switch.. replace switch.