Area Representative peewee7 Posted June 10, 2003 Area Representative Share Posted June 10, 2003 I have removed my factory fitted wings and have fitted carbon ones. I would like to know how to remove the wiring from the side repeater, basic I know. Now that the repeater is no longer earthed can I just snip the green wire and remove from the connector block? Or will I have to earth a 3” or 4” inch strand? in order to reduce the speeded up flasher signal? If you’re behind me and can read this, its because I’m letting you.... Pee Wee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Pete I'm slightly confused by what you are asking. 1. Do you want to transfer the repeaters to your new wings or not? 2. If yes, then you will have to provide an earth wire from them to a piece of metal somewhere connected to the chassis as they can't earth through the carbon fibre. 3. If no, then the flasher shouldn't notice a small side repeater missing and should still flash at the correct rate. The flasher unit is set up to notice a 21Watt bulb blown not a 5W repeater If it doesn't, let me know and I will give you a solution. Chris Chris 1.8K SV 140hp see it here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative peewee7 Posted June 10, 2003 Author Area Representative Share Posted June 10, 2003 Chris, I want to completely remove the side repeaters from the car wires included. When I first removed the left hand repeater the flasher unit flashed at a quicker rate. I haven’t tried with both removed, will run out to the car and check. Cheers for the quick reply, currently bunking off work, prepping the car for Le'Mans, Cheers Buddy! If you’re behind me and can read this, its because I’m letting you.... Pee Wee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Pete It surprises me the flasher is that sensitive. If it's reacting to one repeater missing, taking the other one off will not help. Are you sure that in disconnecting the side repeater, you haven't accidentally disconnected the front or rear indicator? I understand the flasher circuit and I find it hard to believe it can detect a 4 watt lamp missing. Could you double check? Chris 1.8K SV 140hp see it here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Pete I just checked my flasher and it CANNOT detect the absence of the side repeater. I think you must have accidentally disconnected a main indicator bulb as well - which the flasher will detect. The earth for the repeater is maybe used as the earth for the main light (although I didn't check), so disconnecting the earth will take out both lamps. Chris 1.8K SV 140hp see it here Edited by - Chris W on 10 Jun 2003 16:17:32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative peewee7 Posted June 10, 2003 Author Area Representative Share Posted June 10, 2003 Chris, If you remove the wing side repeaters you’ll find a black rubber bulb holder, the only wire that runs into it is solid green. Out of the holder runs a black earth, with a small round fastening on the end, which was screwed onto the wing stay. I have now cut the green wire about 4 inches from the connector block that this wire runs into. The remaining four indicators still flash at a faster rate than previously with six. If you’re behind me and can read this, its because I’m letting you.... Pee Wee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Pete 2 questions: What year is your 7? ... and what is the wattage of the repeater bulbs? Are they smaller than the normal indicators? The repeater should have no effect on the flash rate, so this is weird. Chris 1.8K SV 140hp see it here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative peewee7 Posted June 10, 2003 Author Area Representative Share Posted June 10, 2003 Chris, My Caterham is a 2002 (Oct 26) and the bulbs are straight push in types 12v 5w. If you’re behind me and can read this, its because I’m letting you.... Pee Wee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted June 10, 2003 Share Posted June 10, 2003 Pete There's really something weird here. The flasher unit is an electronic device which monitors (inter alia) the current flowing through the lamps. For a pair of normal indicator lamps at 21W each this is 1.75A per lamp or 3.5A total. The flasher is set to detect a change of current of 0.8 amps (it doesn't matter how it does it, but trust me, it's a VERY precise set up inside the thing). This current is half way between one lamp working and two lamps working. ie: if the total current falls below 2.7Amps the flasher will flash the remaining bulb and the repeater at twice the normal rate. But the important thing is that if the current change is less than 0.8 amps, the flasher will NOT signal a bust bulb. The change in current due to a single repeater is only 0.33 amps and therefore not even close to causing the flasher to signal a fault. So I don't understand how by removing a repeater you are getting the flasher to signal at twice the rate. There is no manual adjustment on the flasher it is factory set by standard components. As you also have a new 7, it's not even that you have some kind of old flasher which might be set up differently. I even took the repeater out of mine after having done the calculations and sure enough, the flasher kept on flashing at the normal rate. Removal of a main indicator bulb did of course cause a change to twice normal flash rate. I am totally mystified. Something is wired strangely. Chris 1.8K SV 140hp see it here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative peewee7 Posted June 10, 2003 Author Area Representative Share Posted June 10, 2003 Chris, Just when I thought Id got the car sorted. Thanks for your assistance, if by any chance you have a bolt out of the blue, please don’t hesitate in dropping me a line. Cheers………. If you’re behind me and can read this, its because I’m letting you.... Pee Wee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris W Posted June 11, 2003 Share Posted June 11, 2003 For the benefit of everyone else, I am not going nuts (yet!!). We've solved the mystery. Talking offline to Pete, It turns out that he changed the indicator bulbs a few weeks ago at the front to 15W versions instead of 21W as normal. These draw less current (1.25 amps compared to 1.75 amps for the normal bulbs) - a decrease of 0.5A. This decrease in current is not enough though to make the flasher unit flash at the the x2 fault rate. The current needs to decrease by 0.8 amps to do that. However, removal of the 4W side repeater which draws 0.33 amps is now just enough to trigger the flasher unit as the total decrease in current is now 0.5A + 0.33A = 0.83 amps. Actually, if you do change to 15W bulbs at the front, the flasher will then detect any bulb blowing on the indicators, whether a main bulb or a repeater, so this may be a good change to make (assuming it's legal - no idea). You cannot change back and front to 15W though because the flasher will see this as a blown bulb due to the total current decrease. I can sleep easily again Chris 1.8K SV 140hp see it here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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