Side marker flasher

[Bitsyncmaster]

I was wondering how much interest there would be if I provided a product for flashing the side markers with your turn signals that works with LED bulbs.

I would guess it would cost about $30 for one unit that will do two side markers (front or back). Circuit boards are the most cost and then shipping costs. The more boards I buy the less it cost me.

Price also depends on how the connections are made. Cheap would be you solder your own wire to holes (pads) on the circuit board.

[DavidProehl]

I don't mind soldering, but at a $30 price point (very affordable in my mind) I think you could increase the price a little if it meant solder free connections.

The bigger issue in my mind on whether or not I'd buy it is how much modification is needed to the existing wiring? I don't like making electrical modifications that are difficult to reverse. Example: I overcomplicated the install of your dome light relay so that I wouldn't have to cut or splice into my harness. I can go back to the stock wiring setup in about 30 minutes. To me it isn't about how easy it is to install, it is more about how much of a modification is required.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I could use the power from the blinker and "parking lights" to power the side lights but it would need a diode and drop the voltage to the side lights by 0.6 volts.

You would wire each of the two side lights (two wires each) to the circuit board, the two blinker wires would need to be spliced to run those two wires, one "parking light" wire spliced, and one ground wire. I would also have an optional +12 volt wire if you don't want that 0.6 volt drop.

I could attach short wires so the user can use crimp butt connectors. I could find a connector either wired with short wires or circuit board mounted. Or attach long wires. The long wires may push shipping because the weight goes above first class mail.

[BABIS]

I am definitely interested in this!

[DrJeff]

+1 I'll buy a set.

[Lwanmtr]

Ahh.. a faulty front indicator socket will do this with no extra wiring needed (how do I know?)...hehe.

Ideally, something plug n play would be great as opposed to having to do modifications to the wiring.

[Christian Dietrich]

So since my car has all leds now, simy switching the ground from the blinker to the front side marker wouldn't work because there leds? Well if you build it i'd buy it and solder if I have to. Sounds cool!

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[Chris4099]

Dave,
I'm curious as to how you would wire this up. I'm running all LEDS and currently have the front side markers blinking. However, after I converted the bulbs in the binnacle, I noticed an issue with current flow and causing my turn signal indicators to glow when the parking lights are on. Turns out the old dmcnews.com tech article that says the blinker module grounding the circuit and allowing the side marker light to work is wrong. The 3 turn signal bulbs in parallel reduced the resistance enough that the side marker could simply ground through them without them appearing to eliminate. Once they are all LED however, the binnacle indicator can now glow from that low amount of current.

So my plan is to now reverse the change and install one of these on each side:
http://www.modifry.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=75

This eliminates the need for the side marker to ground through the turn signals. But it would only work for the front markers unless you buy another set for the rear ones and wire at the tail lights. If you have a more elegant solution, I'm very interested!

[Bitsyncmaster]

So my plan is to now reverse the change and install one of these on each side:
http://www.modifry.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=75

Not sure how those work. On my design I used via proto type, you cut the side marker light wires off the harness and attach to my board. Then you tap into the harness to get the "lights" and "blinker" That provides the signals and will provide the power for the new board. My board will have two channels so it can do both front side markers. Probably will rate it for 3 amps max since that is a common diode current rating.

So the front board will attach the two side lights (4 wires), one "lights" wire, two blinker wires and one ground wire.

I mounted my front board under the front grill. The rear board is under the passenger side tail light. My proto type boards also ran a power wire but I could eliminate that requirement by using two diodes to get power via the "lights or blinker" wires.

So the board will have two diodes, one XOR gate, two MOSFETs and some resistors and zener diodes. The board will not be boxed but probably have shrink wrap to cover it.

[Chris4099]

OK, so similar setup. The one I linked to simply does it with two components versus your single one.

For now I'm going to disconnect the original mod so that my turn signal indicators in the binnacle don't glow when I have the headlights on. At some point I'll then get around to doing either the item I linked to or yours (depending on how it ultimately wires in). Considering how much of a pain it is to run wire to driver side marker light area from the grill area, I'm not in a rush. LOL

[Bob635]

An interesting potential update to the DeLorean

[Timebender]

I'm in!

[r00b]

Me too

[GR8SCOTT]

Very interested

[gulwng3]

I'm in also, but like David P., I'm willing to pay more to avoid work on my end and modifying the existing wiring.

Andy


I don't mind soldering, but at a $30 price point (very affordable in my mind) I think you could increase the price a little if it meant solder free connections.

The bigger issue in my mind on whether or not I'd buy it is how much modification is needed to the existing wiring? I don't like making electrical modifications that are difficult to reverse. Example: I overcomplicated the install of your dome light relay so that I wouldn't have to cut or splice into my harness. I can go back to the stock wiring setup in about 30 minutes. To me it isn't about how easy it is to install, it is more about how much of a modification is required.

[Bitsyncmaster]

I'm in also, but like David P., I'm willing to pay more to avoid work on my end and modifying the existing wiring.

Andy

There is not much I can do about reducing wiring changes. The side lights need to have power to flash when the lights are off. And I turn the ground side of those side lights on and off to make them flash.

I have almost caught up on other things so I did start entering the schematic and ordered some parts.

[Peripatetic]

I'd be up for it. I would just need a lot of walkthrough. I always drive with all of my lights on because I heard it reduces your chances of an accident by like 5% (not DeLorean study, I assume it was Honda Civics?).

[Bitsyncmaster]

I have a board (PCB) laid out. I tried to look for screw terminals to install on the board but then because those are so large, I could not just have the board covered with heat shrink.

So right now I just have 4 through hole pads (for 16 AWG wire) laid out on the left side and 4 also on the right side (for the side lights + and - wires). The left side is left blinker, right blinker, lights and ground.

I'm using Schottky diodes so the voltage loss should only be about 0.2 volts with LED side lights and 0.4 volts with incandescent side light.

My plan is to solder about a foot of wire into each of the 8 holes. So the user would not have to solder but use crimp splices to his harness. I could also sell without the wires if you want to solder your own into the board.

If you have any other suggestions, let me know. I may get one prototype which cost me about $75 or just get 100 production boards which cost $425.

[dmcnorway]

I'm interested Dave, will probably order a few sets from you when they're ready.

Stian Birkeland
Norway

[Bitsyncmaster]

100 boards ordered this morning. Will take about 2 weeks to receive them.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Got the boards and assembled one. Bench test looks good. I don't know if I'm going to install these in my car since I already have proto types (front and back) that are installed and already working. My proto types use a constant power source but these new boards don't need that.

[Christian Dietrich]

Looks damn good!

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[Bitsyncmaster]

I made a simple engineering change. I replaced three resistors with diodes and replaced three zener diodes with resistors. With my bench testing I found that if the car was all LEDs the original design had a problem. My car still has incandescent bulbs in the turn signal indicators (dash) which is why I never saw that problem. So it looks like I am going to install these new boards in my car after all.

I'm waiting on those new parts to arrive. Diodes are longer than the resistors so I had to order some shorter diodes and longer resistors.

I'm still troubled with the fact a lot of people won't want to attempt to install these because you will need to splice and cut wires. I guess they could ask for help from someone that does electrical car stuff.

[Lwanmtr]

Alot of people may be worried about permanantly damaging the wiring harness (which is expensive)..also many may not be comfortable with doing it.

[DavidProehl]

For those that don't want to modify their stock harness, perhaps an adapter that plugs into the stock bulb socket could work. So it would plug into the existing socket and split power off from there, kind of like the Craig radio harness extension a couple vendors used to sell so you could splice into the extension rather than the stock harness when making stereo mods.

I know that makes for a messier install with more wire, but that might help a few folks out. Depending on the wiring needs for this I was thinking I might build something like that myself so I could still buy this from you.

[BABIS]

the wiring changes are so minimal that I wouldn't bother about them, considering that the side lights sockets are often rusted and need to be replaced anyhow..

[Bitsyncmaster]

I have to write up a color code table. You may need some extra wire. I don't remember how the harness routes. If all the wires are in one location you would not need extra wire if you mounted the board near that location.

I removed my side light sockets a long time ago when I installed LEDs. I used the same LED design used for my door lights which was 4 LEDs driven by a constant current (30 ma.) LM317 IC.

[Christian Dietrich]

I rewired half my car anyway years ago and have no problem installing this Dave! Looking forward to its release. Btw since my car is all LED's, would the standard mod for the front marker turned flasher still apply, being all led and such?

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[Christian Dietrich]

I do love the idea of all the sides flashing. Chevy did that on there mid to late 2000's Silverado's.

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[Bitsyncmaster]

I rewired half my car anyway years ago and have no problem installing this Dave! Looking forward to its release. Btw since my car is all LED's, would the standard mod for the front marker turned flasher still apply, being all led and such?

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My board will work with any combination of LEDs or bulbs (current limit of 1.5 amps for each side light). The original wiring change to get side lights flashing only worked reliably with incandescent bulbs. Since with my board you need to run both side light wires to my board, the cars that had the old mode will change that mod. Your front and rear signal lights would put those cut ground wires back to ground.

[Christian Dietrich]

My board will work with any combination of LEDs or bulbs (current limit of 1.5 amps for each side light). The original wiring change to get side lights flashing only worked reliably with incandescent bulbs. Since with my board you need to run both side light wires to my board, the cars that had the old mode will change that mod. Your front and rear signal lights would put those cut ground wires back to ground.
Oh ok well i havent done anything yet and was going to do it over winter but i was curious to ask first! Thanks buddy!

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[Morpheus]

I"m definitely interested in this when it's released!

[Bitsyncmaster]

My parts came in but the order was short the 3/4" heat shrink tubing (covers the finished board). I guess that got shipped in another package which never arrived.

Anyway, I tested the voltage drop of using the diodes for side light power. The drop is 0.197 volts with 30 ma. LED load and 0.216 volts with 60 ma. load. This is not important with most users but I have 30 ma. constant current side LEDs and it starts dropping current if the voltage drops below 12.1 volts.

[BABIS]

My parts came in but the order was short the 3/4" heat shrink tubing (covers the finished board).

Dave do you think that the heat shrink tubing will provide a good insulation against water or it would be worth to have the circuit boards epoxy potted?

[Bitsyncmaster]

Dave do you think that the heat shrink tubing will provide a good insulation against water or it would be worth to have the circuit boards epoxy potted?

With the unit mounted behind the front grill or behind one tail light, you should not have to worry about water. Epoxy potting would drive the cost (build time) way up.

[Bitsyncmaster]

Install document attached.

[OZ DMC]

Install document attached.

I have always thought this is a good idea, well done.

I have bulbs in my markers and would be interested in fitting your modification if its not too complicated.

Thank you

[Bitsyncmaster]

I've added this product and this document to my web site.

[gulwng3]

Dave, probably my first of a long line of dumb questions, but... this board would be installed either in the front of the car or the rear of the car and then long wires would need to be run from front to back or back to front to connect all side marker lights to this board, correct?

Andy

[Bitsyncmaster]

Dave, probably my first of a long line of dumb questions, but... this board would be installed either in the front of the car or the rear of the car and then long wires would need to be run from front to back or back to front to connect all side marker lights to this board, correct?

Andy

I guess you could do that but it would be a lot of work to run the wires from front to back. It was my intent you would only do the front or back with one unit. If you wanted both front and back to use two units. You could even just use one driver and get four units to further reduce wiring for added cost.

[mike3112]

Looks great Dave,
I'm in for one? or two?

do I have this right? I'll need one unit to do the two front lights and one more unit to do the rear two lights?
I have your domelight timer. Nice work!
let me know when you're ready to ship.
Mike

[Bitsyncmaster]

Looks great Dave,
I'm in for one? or two?

do I have this right? I'll need one unit to do the two front lights and one more unit to do the rear two lights?
I have your domelight timer. Nice work!
let me know when you're ready to ship.
Mike

That was my plan (to use one for the front and another for the back). I have units ready to ship now.

[Ryan King]

Hey Dave -

I don't see your prices posted anywhere any longer. Please let me know where to find this list.

Thanks!

[Bitsyncmaster]

Hey Dave -

I don't see your prices posted anywhere any longer. Please let me know where to find this list.

Thanks!

Electronic fused Fan Fail, $114
Dome unit, $88
RPM relay, $83 with your old unit
Fan relay, $77
Blower relay, $72
Head Light relay, $72
Hot Start relay, $66
Duel side marker flasher, $30
Pair of window switch LED boards, $20, $25 installed, requires the new DMCH switches.
Idle ECU, $138 with your old unit. I have 11 pin units also for $150 with your 9 pin unit returned.
LED AC panel, $110. Your choice of blue or green backlighting.
Front Relay Bank Ground Buss, $15. $10 if combined with another product.
Round pin extractor, $40. One end for male pins other end for female. No replacement if you drop it.

Prices include shipping to lower 48 states

[tommyrich]

I just purchased a pair of the side marker signal circuits last week. They are fantastic!. They work great with mixed bulbs (LED Front/Rear and regular bulbs for the markers).
Dave makes great products and ships super fast.
Thanks Dave!
Tom

[BABIS]

Pics of my installation:

4992349924499254992649927

I took all the wires needed from the connectors of the front flashers/parking lights. then I reassigned the former marker lights wires to low beam buckets since in my H4 euro lights I have integrated parking lights..