I was looking on Autolumination and noticed they sell replacement flasher relays (noticed them on eBay too) for people that have LEDs so you dont have to use a load equalizers, and i thought why doesnt anyone use these? Supposedly you can replace your factory turn signal flasher relay with one of these and they are designed to handle both LEDs and incadescant bulbs. So you wont have the rapid flash or the glowing even when the car is turned off from the burnt out bulb device, etc. The only thing holding me back from trying is not knowing where the flasher relay is or what type of pin configuration it is.

 

The turn signal bulbs in MINI are connected directly to the BC1 computer. The flashing is performed by the computer. MINI (and a variety of other cars) do not use flasher relays, and unfortunately we can't use the electronic replacement flashers in our cars.

 

I wonder how they do it on the BMWs that have Factory LED taillights like the 2005 3 series that has rear LED turn indicators too. Im assuming its a different computer that can handle LED and filament bulbs (since the front are standard bulbs but the rear are LED) So i guess we are stuck with using Load Equalizers? Is it 1 per side (ie drivers side, passenger side) or is it 1 per per (total of 4)

 

just curious....if its controlled by the BC1, could you switch the wires (at the bulb holders) so that the larger bulb (currently turn signal) would be on all the time and the 194 bulb (running light/parking light) would blink? Or would that screw it up?

 

The circuit diagram in the Haynes manual shows each of 4 bulbs connected to separate outputs from the BC1. It is probably sensing each of the bulbs independently, so I would guess 4 load equalizers would be needed. On the 3 series I'm sure the same computer would handle front and rear. They wouldn't be connected together, just separate lines controlled by one computer.

My guess is that an incandescent 194 bulb would provide enough load to work as a turn signal. Using a large bulb for the running light may also work if the circuit is robust enough to handle 21 watts vs the 5 watts it was intended for. It is a big jump in wattage so there is some risk.

 

Is there any way to test?

 

I don't know. This involves the BC1 so the stakes may be high if it fails. Someone like Ian Cull (GBMINI) may be able to give you a more informed opinion.

 

Any opinion on the best place to mount the load equalizer rkw? i know it can get as hot as the bulb so it would have to be a hidden metal surface. Would 3m style mounting tape (the foam kind) be sufficent you think?

 

I don't know -- do they make mounting tapes resistant to high temperature? Vendors sell load equalizer kits that have the resistor in a heat sink with mounting holes for screws or bolts. I think if you use a u-shaped mounting bracket to stand off the heat sink from the attachment surface, you can probably attach it anywhere, even on plastic.

I'm not sure what resistor value you can use. 6 ohm would match the load of the turn bulb and would work, but if you can get away with using higher ohm values, it would use less power and run cooler. It depends on what threshold the BC1 uses to decide that the bulb is burned out. The strategy is to use the highest ohm value that works (but too high and the BC1 will decide that the bulb is burned out).