LED conversion on exterior lighting

[ronmanfredi]

I just completed the change over to the LED lights for the park, turn, hazard, brake and backup lights on my 82 model.  It has the Dana Cruise Control that does Not use the brake light circuit to shut it off when braking.  In doing some research, I learned that a 2 prong LED flasher with an external ground is needed for the lights to work correctly.  Also, the flasher needs to have the + and Load spade terminals in the correct position.  When most cars are built with the old style flasher, it didn't matter which position the terminals were in the fuse box, but LED flashers do.  With this is mind, I purchased 2 United Pacific 90652 flashers which include a reverse polarity base if needed.  I also purchased Auxito 1156 and 1157 bulbs.  After reading the reviews on a lot of bulbs, I decided to go with these and I really like them.  You can get all of these parts off Amazon. It turned out that the turn signal flasher was a direct plug in into the fuse box, but the 4 way emergency flasher needed the reverse polarity base.  Once installed, I took a 6" long piece of electrical wire, connected one end to both flasher external ground leads and the other end to a ground point on the side of the dash mounting bracket.  It turned out really well!   

[tanda62]

Thanks for this information. I am going all led on my 63 and this is helpful. 

Tom

[JimM]

My 1975 does not have cruise control. I replaced the flasher on the fuseblock with a digital version and installed LEDs in the rear turn signals, taillights, backup lights, and side markers. All work. But putting LEDs in the front turn signals do not work. What am I missing? Resisters in line to the front turn signals? A ground wire to the flasher as you have done? 

[ronmanfredi]

On 11/2/2023 at 10:32 AM, JimM said:

My 1975 does not have cruise control. I replaced the flasher on the fuseblock with a digital version and installed LEDs in the rear turn signals, taillights, backup lights, and side markers. All work. But putting LEDs in the front turn signals do not work. What am I missing? Resisters in line to the front turn signals? A ground wire to the flasher as you have done? 

The flasher I bought is designed for LEDs and the attached ground wire must be hooked to a ground in order for the flasher to work.  You may have purchased a digital flasher for conventional lights.  In that case, adding a resistor to each side should help.

 

[JimM]

Just installed the led flasher with ground wire and it solved my problem. Side markers, front and rear turn signals and parking lights, all work. Thank you much for this helpful tip. Avoided adding resisters to the front signals, which might have also worked but would have been more difficult.