Successful LED Blinker Configuration, 2017 TRDOR

I upgraded to LED blinkers at all 4 positions on my 2017 TRD Off Road. Here's what I found to be successful and unsuccessful.

If I installed LEDs without appropriate make-up resistance at any of the 4 blinker positions, the blinker would flash normally when just the DRLs were on; however, when I turned the headlights on, the blinker would hyperflash.


The OXILAM 2023 Upgraded 7440 Amber LED With Built-In Resistor and Cooling Fan (

$32 OXILAM 2023 Upgraded 7443 7440 LED Bulb Amber with Fan, CANBUS Error Free, 4000LM 600% Brighter, Turn Signal Light Anti Hyper Flash, T20 7441 W21W WY21W 7440NA Blinker Bulb Replacement (Pack of 2)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCK9YP11) didn't have enough make-up resistance to cover itself and an LED in a rear blinker position. Hyperflash still occurred when the headlights were on. It does, however, have enough make-up resistance if it is the only LED on that blinker circuit (i.e. when I still had an incandescent bulb in the rear blinker position). In other words, it only has enough make-up resistance to cover itself. The cooling fan appears to only come on when necessary and I could only hear it spool up and down if the motor was off.


I installed the OXILAM 2022 7443 Red LED (

$25 2023 Upgraded 7440 7443 LED Bulbs Red Brake Lights, 4000LM 600% Brighter, CANBUS Error Free, OXILAM 7441 7444 T20 W21W LED Lamps Replacement with Projector for Tail Turn Signal Stop Lights (Pack of 2)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09P15SG44) in the rear blinker positions. At 8 watts, it doesn't have enough load by itself to satisfy the computer. Hyperflash occurs when the headlights are on.


The standard specs of a 7443 incandescent bulb are 25.9 watts and 6 ohms. I installed 25 watt 6 ohm resistors (

$12 uxcell 25W 6 Ohm 5% Aluminum Case Resistor Screw Tap Chassis Mounted Wirewound Load Resistors Gold Tone 5 Pcs

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XC1N5ZQ) in parallel on the rear blinker positions. This stopped hyperflash on the blinkers when the motor was off, but the blinkers stopped functioning altogether when the motor was running. Weird. The total load (25 watts from the resistor plus 8 watts from the LED) was too much for the computer.


I replaced the 25 watt 6 ohm resistors with 15 watt 10 ohm resistors (

$8 Torchbeam 15W 10ohm Load Resistors for Fix LED Bulb Fast Hyper Flash Turn Signal Blink Error Code, Pack of 2

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2PPZLJS). I couldn't find a 15 watt 6 ohm version in the nice aluminum cases. This now prevents hyperflash in all configurations with the noted OXILAM Amber LEDs in the front positions and the OXILAM Red LEDs in the rear positions. The resistors provide the necessary make-up resistance for the rear positions, and the built-in resistors in the OXILAM amber LEDs up front provide enough make-up resistance for the front positions.


I bought some inexpensive thermal grease (

$7 MoneyQiu HY-510-25g Thermal Conductivity: >1.93W/m-k CPU Thermal heatsink Paste Silicone Grease Compound Non-Conductive for pc CPU gpu PS4 .25Gram

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NRG8KJK) and applied it to the back of the resistor during installation. It helps immensely with heat dissipation. #6 x 1/2" stainless steel self tapping screws from Menards worked nicely for the mounting (after drilling an undersized pilot hole just to get the ball rolling). I used split loom, crimped-on spade connectors, adhesive shrink tube, and generous amounts of dielectric grease for all connections since all of the wiring on the rear lights is directly exposed to the elements via holes in the frame.

I have the same OXILAM 7443 Red LEDs in the rear brake light/running light positions. I also have BRISHINE 194 Amber LEDs (

$11 BRISHINE 194 LED Bulbs Extremely Bright Amber Yellow 5630 Chipsets 168 2825 175 T10 W5W LED Replacement Bulbs for Car Interior Map Dome Door Courtesy License Plate Lights(Pack of 10)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WKCDZVC) in marker light positions. Additionally, I have SEALIGHT H11 LEDs (

$40 SEALIGHT H11 H8 H9 H16 LED Bulbs, 600% Brighter H11 LED Lights, Super Focused H11 Low Beam bulbs Fanless, 6000K Daylight White Halogen Replacement, Pack of 2

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JZJH81R) in the high beam, low beam, and fog light positions. I don't experience any issues with all of these LEDS installed in combination.

 

Oof. I made sure to post just thumbnails for the pics. Not sure why it defaulted to the Gigantor version.

 

Very cool write up. Trying to find a good resistor combination can be annoying, to say the least. And you wouldn't think that 33W is too much, but it can be. But glad you found a combination that worked for you.

 

Funny, I was just researching how to prevent hyperflash after replacing my front turn signal bulbs to LED. I have Meso Total Tails in the rear buckets but up until now had regular bulbs in the headlights. When testing, I used the hazard lights and experienced no hyperflash and went about my day. First time driving though and I immediately had hyperflash in my signals.

I'm curious as to what type of resistor I'd need to purchase to get this set-up to work. I purchased these bulbs:

$18 Alla Lighting Newly Upgraded T20 7440 7443 LED Turn Signal Light Bulbs 7444NA 7442NAK, Amber Yellow W3x16q Base, Super Bright 2835-SMD 360° LED Blinker Direction Lamps for Cars, Trucks

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EEI9LLM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

But I'm also wondering if those ones you posted that supposedly has a built in resistor would be enough.

 

Those Alla's show 4.5 watts each.


7440 incandescent bulbs are 25 watts. To make those Alla LEDs work, I'd say you need at least a 20-watt make-up resistor in the 6-10 ohm range (

$25 K&S Technologies Heavy Duty In-Line Resistors 20W/8.5 Ohm

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0041PULB8). I've never been able to find reasonably priced 20 watt resistors in the little aluminum cases. I think I'd default to a lower wattage resistor in the aluminum case (the 15 watt) and see if a total circuit load of 20 watts (15 watts from the resistor, 4.5 watts from the Alla LED) were enough to satisfy the computer.

I can only presume that the 2019 Taco computer is the same as the 2017, so I bet you'd have good luck using just the OXILAM amber LEDs that have the built-in make-up resistor.

 

Just out of curiosity, are your DRLs LED? It seems that people installing the Meso total tail kit that have LED DRLs don't have the hyperflash issue and don't need resistors, except when in reverse and using the turn signal. That was my experience, although I've since removed the total tails and changed out to the Form Lighting tail lights. They have built-in resistors and have had no issues since day 1. I'm wondering if the ECU is set to detect a lower resistance level if the DRLs are LED.

 

Yes, my DRLs are the L-shaped LEDs that go around the low beam lens. I didn't think of checking reverse light configurations. Just checked that and my current LED setup doesn't cause any blinker hyperflash in reverse with any headlight configuration (DRL, low beam, high beam).

 

I appreciate the knowledge. Electricity is one of those things I'm very slowly picking up on and kind of understand at a basic level, but when it comes to the math of it all I am hopeless.

I'm going to give those ones with built in resistors a shot since I'd like to just keep things PnP, and in all honesty, having an LED front signal isn't really THAT big of a priority to me if it all doesn't work.

 

Just a little update and shout out to Bob for the knowledge, I ended up purchasing the OXILAM with built in resistors and they worked PnP with no hyperflash like the Alla's had.

I'm stoked to have matching LED signals in the front and rear now.