graearea Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 I've just added the Caterham LEDs, and as the title suggest, turning on an indicator causes that side's lights to blink and also the opposite side's. the correct side seems to be brighter on the front, so switching left and right you get a brighter ring on my leds.I have an LED blinker relay.someone suggested adding diodes????? I don't really know what that means.I reconnected the old lights and everything worked again. if I remove one set of lights, it seems to have the same effect with all lights blinking. any ideas? J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 Yes.I'm assuming that you have a single telltale lamp on the dash. Please say if you have two because the rest of this will be irrelevantHere's the explanation and a link to a diode kit: https://www.caterhamlotus7.club/comment/2419517#comment-2419517.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graearea Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 It is a single lamp I'll take a look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graearea Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 I did try and look for stuff on here. thanks Jonathan.am I right in thinking that pulling the bulb and replacing it with an LED would fix this?otherwise people are saying the JAL relay will fix it ( I bought the same relay, just not from JAL) or that adding diodes would fix this. or maybe just replacing the whole thing with a LED..... :shrug:thanks loadsJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 It's common to need a new relay when you change to LEDs. That won't fix the problem caused by the circuit that uses a single telltale. Changing the telltale to an LED won't fix it. Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 PS: For anyone replacing the telltale with an LED, possibly as part of replacing all of the warning lights... if you have a single telltale the existing circuit won't work with that. The diode trick will fix it.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graearea Posted July 4, 2023 Author Share Posted July 4, 2023 OK. solved.removing the incandescent telltale resulted in the indicators working perfectly, just without the telltale. with the telltale every led blinked.I replaced the telltale with classic car LEDs with one of their LED telltales. I was told this wouldn't work and he was 95% correct. the rear wrong LED indicator had 1 led light up dimly, with the correct LED indicator blinking as normal.I did buy a little 8 quid diode loom that I was told (and I do believe) would fix this problem perfectly, but the other LED is so dim that you won't see it in the day and at night it'll be drowned out by the brakes.only problem now is the reverse light not working! (but I have no proof this was working before... multimeter time ahead.thanks all!J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SM25T Posted July 4, 2023 Share Posted July 4, 2023 Only works with ignition on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan R Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 This is an interesting predicament! I had assumed that the JAL units were literally plug and play so it would be interesting to hear if anyone else has had similar issues Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graearea Posted July 5, 2023 Author Share Posted July 5, 2023 Just to point out these were caterham not JAL. And the instructions were an out of date video on their site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR400D Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 I fitted the CC ones and they worked fine. The video was out of date then...... 2 years ago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan R Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 #10 - My apologies, it seems my attention to detail is not as keen as my ability to make an assumption! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 "This is an interesting predicament! I had assumed that the JAL units were literally plug and play so it would be interesting to hear if anyone else has had similar issues""Just to point out these were caterham not JAL."AIUI the electrical issues are:1 LED indicators will require a suitable relay. On old Sevens this will usually require a change. This is a straight swap. 2 If the Seven has a single telltale light in the dash the circuit will need to be changed if you fit LED indicators or an LED tellltale. This is where the diodes come in. Kits are available.3 If the Seven has an earth-switched reverse light it will cause problems with the Caterham LED rear lights because they use a common earth for the different circuits. Several solutions are available for this.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 "only problem now is the reverse light not working! (but I have no proof this was working before... multimeter time ahead."Anything relevant in this thread about reverse lights and the Caterham LED unit?Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
graearea Posted July 5, 2023 Author Share Posted July 5, 2023 I plugged in the old light. it didn't work. I plugged the light into the fog lamp and it DID work. so it's the car's fault, not the LED kit. I'll see if I can find the cause of no reverse lamp, but then it isn't an MOT requirement so.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted July 5, 2023 Share Posted July 5, 2023 There's a switch in the gearbox. The switch might have one or two terminals.Have a look around there and when you've found something tell us the number of terminals and the wiring colours.As upthread: Ignition ON to test.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 (edited) I have the same issue after LED install (JAL rears, JAL flasher & Classic Car LED fronts) Mine is slightly different in that only both fronts flash when indicating left or right. The opposite side to the direction signalling is dimmer. Hazards OK. Telltale stopped altogether. @Jonathan Kay the link above which seems to imply a fix, has stopped working! Edited August 25 by Wrightpayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Ian: Yours has only one telltale for the indicators on the dash. Have you modified that with the diodes? Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Yes, one telltale as per factory supplied loom. No additional electronic components. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Thanks There are two relevant fixes. A single telltale lamp and changing the indicators to LEDs When there is only one indicator telltale on the dash the circuit uses the indicators on the other side of the car as the route to earth. If you change the indicators to LEDs then the telltale won't work when it's asking the current to flow the wrong way through them. There's a simple solution using a couple of diodes and a new connection to earth. The Caterham LED rear light units and earth-switched reverse lights Earth-switched reverse lights use the switch in the gearbox to provide the earth to complete the circuit, either through the body of the switch when it only has one terminal or through a terminal connected to earth when there are two terminals. But the new Caterham rear light unit has an always-earthed earth that is used by the rear tail, brake and fog lights, so an earth-switched reversing light circuit won't work. There's a simple solution using an additional relay. (And other solutions are available.) Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Just been looking at the wiring diagram and came to the same conclusion. This should be the fix if my logic is correct… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted August 25 Share Posted August 25 Crossed post... I've now added the links. And here's the new circuit that's needed for the fix for the indicators: https://www.customdynamics.com/media/wysiwyg/product_instructions/MDK_Tech_sheet_printer_friendly_version_.pdf Jonathan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wrightpayne Posted August 30 Share Posted August 30 (edited) Just removed the telltale bulb (temporarily) and the indicators are working as expected. Its a very small bayonet type. The bulb holder has two spade terminals so will be easy to make up an adaptor loom without chopping the chassis loom. As an aside, the LED flasher unit seems very quiet more so than the incandescent flasher. Might be time to add a buzzer while I’m in there! Any buzzer recommendations that will work with the LED upgrades? Edited August 30 by Wrightpayne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Kay Posted August 31 Share Posted August 31 16 hours ago, Wrightpayne said: Just removed the telltale bulb (temporarily) and the indicators are working as expected. Its a very small bayonet type. The bulb holder has two spade terminals so will be easy to make up an adaptor loom without chopping the chassis loom. As an aside, the LED flasher unit seems very quiet more so than the incandescent flasher. Might be time to add a buzzer while I’m in there! Any buzzer recommendations that will work with the LED upgrades? Well done. The new circuit will allow any buzzer or beeper to work, as the current will now only be going one way. Are you interested in timed or "self-cancelling" indicators"? Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now