HOW TO: Trans Am DRL Switchbacks
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From: Diamond Bar, CA
The ONLY led bulbs I have on the car are the switchbacks. All other bulbs are stock/incandescent.
The flashers are electromagnetic so they work with both LED and incandescent bulbs.
The flashers are electromagnetic so they work with both LED and incandescent bulbs.
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UPDATE:
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
My question was more from the standpoint of me trying to do this with LEDs front and rear - with the electromechanical flashers, I had problems with the turn signals with the DRLs on - only the back would flash, and the front would stay steady (even though the indicator said that they were blinking). The only fix I could find was to go to a solid state flasher, but then it didn't click, so you had no audible signal that your turn signals were working.
I'd be curious to know the bulb life with the LEDs acting as DRLs...I know every manufacturer I went to said they would not warranty the LEDs in a GM DRL application. I just gave up and went with regular bulbs
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From: Diamond Bar, CA
Brian @ BLSolutions has been running autoluminations switchbacks for years in his LT1 without any problems.
UPDATE:
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
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Verdad Gallardo UPDATE:
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
Do the LT1s use the turn signals as DRLs? I can't remember...either way, from the reading I did, the circuit GM uses for these apparently is known to be very hard on even regular (incandescent bulbs), and is why LED people won't warranty them in this application (at least not any of the ones I ordered in the past).
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From: Diamond Bar, CA
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It should...the flashers referenced are just electromechanical versions of the stock flashers (which are thermal)...it just simply breaks the connection at regular time intervals to create the flashing effect.
My question was more from the standpoint of me trying to do this with LEDs front and rear - with the electromechanical flashers, I had problems with the turn signals with the DRLs on - only the back would flash, and the front would stay steady (even though the indicator said that they were blinking). The only fix I could find was to go to a solid state flasher, but then it didn't click, so you had no audible signal that your turn signals were working.
I'd be curious to know the bulb life with the LEDs acting as DRLs...I know every manufacturer I went to said they would not warranty the LEDs in a GM DRL application. I just gave up and went with regular bulbs
My question was more from the standpoint of me trying to do this with LEDs front and rear - with the electromechanical flashers, I had problems with the turn signals with the DRLs on - only the back would flash, and the front would stay steady (even though the indicator said that they were blinking). The only fix I could find was to go to a solid state flasher, but then it didn't click, so you had no audible signal that your turn signals were working.
I'd be curious to know the bulb life with the LEDs acting as DRLs...I know every manufacturer I went to said they would not warranty the LEDs in a GM DRL application. I just gave up and went with regular bulbs
This is because many current GM cars use a PWM signal for the DRLs, making the "effective" voltage lower (so they aren't full brightness) but it is a rapid pulsing which is hard on the bulbs (hard on the standard bulbs too, they blow more often). Our cars however don't have any PWM signals for the DRLs, it is just full steady voltage so there should be no problem using LEDs.
UPDATE:
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
My driver side switchback started acting up yesterday as I was leaving work. The white portion wasn't activating with the headlights on and the amber wasn't flashing with the headlights off. On the drive home, my gauge cluster fuse blew and the turn signals/drls were acting all kinds of weird. I'm pretty sure the driver side switchback is causing the problems. I have emailed autolumination to send replacements. I have not received a response yet but I'll be sure to keep everyone updated when I hear back from them.
Do the LT1s use the turn signals as DRLs? I can't remember...either way, from the reading I did, the circuit GM uses for these apparently is known to be very hard on even regular (incandescent bulbs), and is why LED people won't warranty them in this application (at least not any of the ones I ordered in the past).
I will pop my news ones in maybe this weekend and do some testing.
This is because many current GM cars use a PWM signal for the DRLs, making the "effective" voltage lower (so they aren't full brightness) but it is a rapid pulsing which is hard on the bulbs (hard on the standard bulbs too, they blow more often). Our cars however don't have any PWM signals for the DRLs, it is just full steady voltage so there should be no problem using LEDs.
