No Flasher Unit Installed

[AndyNWuk]

Hi all,

I know we have had lots of debate on upgrading the vehicle to using LED Headlamps and Tail Lamps etc.

I have already upgraded and very happy with the Headlamps to NightEye and found them fabulous and much clearer on the road.

I have also fitted the Number Plate LED Bulbs on the rear, Boot Light and Internal Passenger Lights which all work superbly and much brighter and clearer than before, all helping to reduce the battery consumption even if only small.

Before changing my rear Stop/Tail, Reverse and LED Bulbs which I have already bought, I wanted to look into also changing the Indicator bulbs at the same time to avoid having to remove the clusters twice.

After doing some research, Classic Car LED's informed me that some bulbs may suffer from "Hyperflashing" if used with a conventional Flasher Unit and that it may have to be replaced with an electronic type (which they said would work with both LED and incandescent bulbs).

I searched my ZS EV for the Flasher unit to find where this relay was situated, in the ZS ICE vehicle, it is I believe inside the Passenger Fuse Box, but nothing showing for the ZS EV.

After posting on Speak EV, I had one answer back that said "Modern Cars are no longer fitted with Flasher Units, the speed of the flashing is controlled from the BCM (Body Control Module), the clicking sound during indicating and hazard operation that I can hear from the right drivers door speaker, is a generated audio tone from the BCM, not an actual Flasher relay unit".

This guy also went on to say that in the BCM software, there are provisions to select incandescent or LED lamps depending on which type are fitted to the vehicle.

So as I do not have the possibility to access the BCM software as this is at dealer level, changing my Indicator bulbs for LED is not that straight forward, unless I go with the option one member gave me of the Twenty20 bulbs, which have a resistor in them and also "Hyperflashing" correction, but these bulbs generate 1,800 Lumens and have been reported to be too bright for indicator lamps?

My question now is, has anyone swapped out the indicator incandescent bulbs for LED?
Which bulbs did you buy?
Did you get any form of "Hyperflashing"?

For me it is looking like leaving the indicators as incandescent and just changing the others to LED unless anyone else has a better solution.

Any information will be much appreciated.

Andy (Blackpool)

 

[Gomev]

I seem to remember, I think it was @Srp111 (or someone) bought some don't know if fitted.

 

[Marcad]

Andy, speak to Duncan at CCL and explain, he may well do a try and return, or maybe get both and return the ballasted ones if the normal work. They have been very helpful to me in the past.

 

[AndyNWuk]

Andy, speak to Duncan at CCL and explain, he may well do a try and return, or maybe get both and return the ballasted ones if the normal work. They have been very helpful to me in the past.

Thanks Marc, worth a try, will call him tomorrow.

Andy (Blackpool)

 

[Srp111]

I seem to remember, I think it was @Srp111 (or someone) bought some don't know if fitted.

Yes I bought some led indicator bulbs , they work for around 30 seconds but then start to hyper flash, I was just going to return them to standard when the weather is a bit better rather than mess with resistors etc.
They are brighter and don't show any Amber glow around the light cluster but aside from that no difference to standard.

My front indicators are osram silver bulbs and do look great ?

 

[SCB86]

I've just purchased the Twenty20 bulbs below for mine (the link is the exact bulbs you'd need for the MG)

I've used them in about 4 cars now and they're amazing. They produce 1800 lumens per bulb! They also have a special thermal compensation programme, if the bulbs are used for a long time they can get hot. So the bulb automatically reduces the brightness to protect the bulb and wiring from damage.
They're so good they even come with a 3 year warranty. They're completely plug and play and have built in resistors so they don't hyper flash. At £28 a pair they're not cheap but you get what you pay for ??‍

581 Twenty20 HF0 LED Indicator Bulbs - Anti Hyper Flash

The latest technology to come out of the labs over at Twenty20 introduces hyper-flashing resistant 581 LED car bulbs that are also CAN-Bus compatible.

www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk

 

[AndyNWuk]

I've just purchased the Twenty20 bulbs below for mine (the link is the exact bulbs you'd need for the MG)

I've used them in about 4 cars now and they're amazing. They produce 1800 lumens per bulb! They also have a special thermal compensation programme, if the bulbs are used for a long time they can get hot. So the bulb automatically reduces the brightness to protect the bulb and wiring from damage.
They're so good they even come with a 3 year warranty. They're completely plug and play and have built in resistors so they don't hyper flash. At £28 a pair they're not cheap but you get what you pay for ??‍

581 Twenty20 HF0 LED Indicator Bulbs - Anti Hyper Flash

The latest technology to come out of the labs over at Twenty20 introduces hyper-flashing resistant 581 LED car bulbs that are also CAN-Bus compatible.

www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk

I've just purchased the Twenty20 bulbs below for mine (the link is the exact bulbs you'd need for the MG)

I've used them in about 4 cars now and they're amazing. They produce 1800 lumens per bulb! They also have a special thermal compensation programme, if the bulbs are used for a long time they can get hot. So the bulb automatically reduces the brightness to protect the bulb and wiring from damage.
They're so good they even come with a 3 year warranty. They're completely plug and play and have built in resistors so they don't hyper flash. At £28 a pair they're not cheap but you get what you pay for ??‍

581 Twenty20 HF0 LED Indicator Bulbs - Anti Hyper Flash

The latest technology to come out of the labs over at Twenty20 introduces hyper-flashing resistant 581 LED car bulbs that are also CAN-Bus compatible.

www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk

Hi SCB,

I checked out the link you kindly gave me and also reviews on this bulb which are all very favourable as a direct replacement for the incandescent bulbs with having the resistors built into the bulb.

All reviews say they are great bulbs but a couple said that they are maybe a little too bright at 1,800 lumens, how did you find that?

Also, I checked out the ABD link and could not find an equivalent Twenty20 bulb for the Rear Indicators (WY16W) only the Front (PY21W), and the Side Repeaters (WY5W).

Which bulbs did you use to replace these types?

I had a phone call with Duncan at Classic Car LED's yesterday and discussed their range of bulbs but some may need resistors adding which I wanted to avoid and preferred at direct replacement which the Twenty20 bulb is.

I have also emailed Auto Bulbs Direct this morning from your link to see if the Twenty20 bulbs are available in the other types I need for this vehicle.

Many thanks for your advice so far.

Andy (Blackpool)

 

[SCB86]

Hi Andy,

I think the 582 bulbs will fit in the rear, but as I haven't taken the rear light unit apart I don't know for sure. They're the same wedge fit connector.

 

[AndyNWuk]

Hi Andy,

I think the 582 bulbs will fit in the rear, but as I haven't taken the rear light unit apart I don't know for sure. They're the same wedge fit connector.

Hi SCB,

Thanks again for your valued information.

As mentioned in my last reply, I had sent an email to ABD to see what was available in the Twenty20 series bulbs i.e as a replacement for the Side Repeater bulb (WY5W) and the Rear Indicator Bulb (WY16W).

I explained in my email to them that I didn't want to start messing around adding resistors and that the Twenty20 bulbs with the resistor built into the bulb was a perfect solution for me.

It looks like from their reply below, that the WY5W is available as a direct replacement but as of today, no equivalent to the WY16W for the rear indicator, so I may just leave things as they are at the rear until something comes along.

Here is the reply I received from ABD for your information:
Many thanks for your email and unfortunately we don't currently have a solution for the WY16W bulb in an LED but we can help with the WY5W as this is a 501 bulb and I would recommend the following,

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-twenty20-c3-canbus-led-assorted-colours.html

Andy (Blackpool)

 

[Marcad]

Try this

LED bulb T15 WY16W with 16 leds CREE orange for turn signals

Discover our LED Bulbs WY16W 16 LEDs CREE, for turn signals. Guarantees without OBC error and without fast flashing. No need external resistance, T15 base, orange color Delivery 24H.

www.ledperf.co.uk

they are saying it is designed to eliminate hyperflash

 

[Chrispydoc]

At £20 each it would take a few years to break even .......with the cost saved in electricity !

 

[Marcad]

They are a little expensive, supply and demand I suppose? There is nothing to stop the mix of LEDs and filament though so long as the LEDs are ballasted or designed to combat hyperflash the normal bulbs obviously don't have that issue.

 

[AndyNWuk]

Try this

LED bulb T15 WY16W with 16 leds CREE orange for turn signals

Discover our LED Bulbs WY16W 16 LEDs CREE, for turn signals. Guarantees without OBC error and without fast flashing. No need external resistance, T15 base, orange color Delivery 24H.

www.ledperf.co.uk

they are saying it is designed to eliminate hyperflash

Hi Marc, that looks interesting.

I did have a good conversation with Duncan at Classic LED, he was extremely helpful, but was looking at the lines of possibly having to add resistors, which I really didn't want to do and was looking for a direct replacement like the Twenty20 product which has the resistors built in.

The ones you have suggested in your last post could well be the answer to the problem.

Will keep you updated.

Andy (Blackpool)

 

[Marcad]

?

 

[SCB86]

Hi SCB,

Thanks again for your valued information.

As mentioned in my last reply, I had sent an email to ABD to see what was available in the Twenty20 series bulbs i.e as a replacement for the Side Repeater bulb (WY5W) and the Rear Indicator Bulb (WY16W).

I explained in my email to them that I didn't want to start messing around adding resistors and that the Twenty20 bulbs with the resistor built into the bulb was a perfect solution for me.

It looks like from their reply below, that the WY5W is available as a direct replacement but as of today, no equivalent to the WY16W for the rear indicator, so I may just leave things as they are at the rear until something comes along.

Here is the reply I received from ABD for your information:
Many thanks for your email and unfortunately we don't currently have a solution for the WY16W bulb in an LED but we can help with the WY5W as this is a 501 bulb and I would recommend the following,

https://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/501-twenty20-c3-canbus-led-assorted-colours.html

Andy (Blackpool)

I've just ordered these for the rear of mine
(eBay item number: 124096970464)

I'll let you know when they turn up if they're suitable, they say they don't cause hyper flash due to how powerful they are.

 

[AndyNWuk]

I've just ordered these for the rear of mine
(eBay item number: 124096970464)

I'll let you know when they turn up if they're suitable, they say they don't cause hyper flash due to how powerful they are.

Hi SCB,

Thanks again for the update.

I had already took the plunge after Marcad's link to go with the Cree rear indicator bulbs from here:

LED bulb T15 WY16W with 16 leds CREE orange for turn signals

But have gone with your suggestion of the Twenty20 bulbs for Front Indicators (581) and Side Repeaters (501).

The only thing wrong with the Cree Bulbs is they only come with a 12 months guarantee, which you can extend to 2 years at a cost, but all the Twenty20 bulbs come with a 3 year guarantee automatically, which is much better.

Just a shame they don't to the WY16W for the rear equivalent at the moment, but all set now to do the changeover to LED once these arrive.

Thank again for all your help, will keep you updated.

Andy (Blackpool)

 

[SCB86]

My bulbs arrived today, both the Twenty20 and the cheaper LED bulbs for the rear indicators I listed above.
The rear bulbs work fine and I can confirm they do not hyper flash.

Had an absolute nightmare fitting the front Twenty20 bulbs - I can't have turned the one bulb enough in the holder and the bulb fell into the light unit. I also had the wind pull the bonnet off the pole/bracket and drop it on my head ?

Ended up having to go to my local backstreet garage and after about 10 minutes of fishing the mechanic managed to get it out ? So embarrassing, but only cost me £10. Lesson learnt! ?

In the photo of the rear the left bulb is the LED.

The front pic needs no explanation.

(I know some might argue they think the front ones are too bright, but they are road legal)

 

[SCB86]

Hi SCB,

Thanks again for the update.

I had already took the plunge after Marcad's link to go with the Cree rear indicator bulbs from here:

LED bulb T15 WY16W with 16 leds CREE orange for turn signals

But have gone with your suggestion of the Twenty20 bulbs for Front Indicators (581) and Side Repeaters (501).

The only thing wrong with the Cree Bulbs is they only come with a 12 months guarantee, which you can extend to 2 years at a cost, but all the Twenty20 bulbs come with a 3 year guarantee automatically, which is much better.

Just a shame they don't to the WY16W for the rear equivalent at the moment, but all set now to do the changeover to LED once these arrive.

Thank again for all your help, will keep you updated.

Andy (Blackpool)

Hi Andy,

Those bulbs you linked look superb and almost as bright as the Twenty20 front bulbs!
If my versions from eBay hadn't have worked I'd have bought the ones you linked.
Definitely let us know how you get on fitting them and their efficacy!