Flashy Indicators

[ripspeedtimmy]

Hi guys, quick question.

I recently had my front bumper smoothed off and had the indicators taken out too be moved to where the side lights are. The sidelights have now been re-located into the front headlight. As the normal bulbs that were in the indicators before were 21w they would not fit where i put them so i replaced them with 5w bulbs. Only problem is becuase i have dropped the wattage, the indicators are flashing very quickly. Just wanted to know if anyone has had the same problem and what they did to rectify it, also will it fail an MOT if they flash too quickly. Help appreciated asap ppl as mot is 2moro :S. Thanks guys

[mike1]

depends on what mood the tester is in unfortunatly, it could fail as bulb is wrong wattage, can u not find the right wattage bulb to fit,sure there must be one out there.

also, sounds simple but have u checked that none of the bulbs have blown, cos my indecators get rapid after only 1 bulb has blown.

[poultonjoe]

tried hooking up a resistor?

[T600]

Should be about 90 Flashes per minute. Minimum is 60, Maximum is 120 Flashes.

I'm surprised they're running fast - would have thought they would been too slow if anything.

I'd be wary about using a resitor unless you have a high capacity one with a heat sink. It would presumably need to dump 16 watts per bulb to get you back to the current you had before. Your new bulbs are higher resistance than the old ones approximately twice the resistance, so your resistor would have to go in parallel with the bulbs, not in series.

In any case the light output of your new bulbs is 1/4 that of the old ones. Even if you make them flash at the correct rate a tester will probably notice the difference in light intensity so I think you're going to have to get some higher wattage bulbs in there.

[ripspeedtimmy]

Hey guys, Just to let you know problem is sorted, i managed to source 2 21w bulb holders from my local scrap yard and fitted them with 21 watt bulbs, i then tapped into the line on both sides and added the bulbs, problem solved. Another question ppl. If my mot ran out on saturday, can i stil drive the car for 7 days or something like that, i got the car booked in for an MOT monday morning, Cheers ppl!

[selfbuild]

If your cars MOT ran out on saturday and you were to be involved in an accident today (sunday) then your insurance will be void and therefore they won't pay out.

Also you will be probably get nicked by the police for not having a current MOT. The only place you can drive your car once the MOT has run out is to an MOT station or garage for repairs.