Sorted: DIY DRLs flick off and on every 30 seconds or so

[davidv10]

I recently got a ‘15 Nismo front bumper, and have now installed some leds to make my own DRLs.

 

I tried them with a master on off switch, but kept blowing a fuse, so in the end i scrapped that, and just have then come on automatically with the ignition. I have hooked the power up to the cigarette lighter in the passenger footwell. They have a relay/fuse installed as well.

 

I am finding that every 20-30 seconds or so the LEDs go off and then a second later come back on again.

 

Anyone any ideas why this is happening??

 

I have in total 10 ‘eagle eye’ LEDs coming off the cigarette lighter power source. I wouldnt have thought that was too much and overloading it...?? Or the cigarette lighter just doesnt have enough power to properly power them all?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

These are the LEDs i got. And then below is them installed.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2019 by davidv10

[Kryptek49]

I'm no LED expert but just had a quick look into it for you - there seem to be 2 options

 

1 - Cheap LED's.  I replaced my sidelights a while ago with cheap ebay LED's, and after a week they were flickering on and off constantly, or completely dead.  I bought a set of Osram's LED's at about £10 each and they've been perfect since. I went through about 10 ebay LED's before giving up on the cheap stuff.

 

2 - To much voltage to the LED's,  you may need to install load resistors: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Install-Load-Resistors-for-LED-Turn-Signal-/

Although load resistors are normally require when the LED's are constantly flashing on & off, I haven't heard of flashing off every 30 seconds.

[davidv10]

I mean im no LED expert either 
 

This did cross my mind, however all the 10 separate LEDs are going on and off together, making me thing its something once all the LED wires have become one  The wiring for each side basically goes from 5 separate wires, to all into 1 wire. Then the 1 wire from each side goes into 1 final wire in the engine bay, and then that 1 wire runs up into the cabin to the resistor and fuse, and then to the cigarette lighter power wire (and the earth is earthed in side of the footwell).

 

This is a diagram to show the wiring setup.



I do have a resistor in the setup, so is it maybe faulty? Or just not powerful enough?

Or is it possibly the wire itself, as its not particularly thick, its just normal red black wire. Maybe having 10 LEDs running through it is just too much for it?

[Kryptek49]

Have you tried disconnecting one side then to see how it behaves? 

[davidv10]

2 hours ago, Kryptek49 said:

Have you tried disconnecting one side then to see how it behaves? 

 

Ah, thats a good idea  That will then rule out the overloading/not enough current if it still does it with only half.

[davidv10]

So it turns out it was the relay causing the issue...

 

I have now replaced it and everything seems fine.