# LED bulb switchover...do i need resisters and flashers??



## giantsnation (Oct 11, 2012)

Turn signals, brakes, interior lights - no.


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## elykoj (Nov 1, 2013)

Really? Dont need those for anything on the car?


giantsnation said:


> turn signals, brakes, interior lights - no.


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## daktah (Mar 17, 2013)

i have every single light on my car, inside and out aside from the headlights, switched over to leds and the only issue* i have is the turn signals hyperflash. other than that everything works perfectly including cruise control.

*others might consider this an issue but i really dont care about it especially since it IS NOT ILLEGAL. a popup appears on the dic telling you to check your turn lights but it goes away right after you turn the signals off and never shows when going faster than about 10 mph.


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

If it hyper flashes then yes you need a resistor. 

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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

*What Zach.k said. You will need resistors to prevent hyper flashing. Hyper flashing occurs when the cars computer tell you a bulb is out. Even though you are putting in LED's that use less power, the computer in the car doesn't know that, so by getting a resistor, it slows down the BCM's circuit, and it prevents it from creating a hyper flash. You don't really "splice it into other wires" because your not cutting any wires installing them. All your doing is taking one end of the exposed wire on the resistor and inserting it into the T tap that has a dead end on it, taking your turn signal positive wire and sticking it into the open end on the t tap, and while holding both wires in there, you clamp down on the little metal type connector tee with some needle nose and it joins the wires together. All it does is makes two small slits in the rubber coating on the wire in the turn signal wires. It doesn't actually cut the wire in half or anything. Its doing half of a wire stripper..basically. *


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## 7becker7 (Apr 2, 2013)

I changed all me rear tail lights. The rear turn signals require resistors that need to be spliced in.
Otherwise your dashboard will say "check rear turn bulb" every time you use them and it gets really annoying.
It will also flash faster and can add stress to the led. I personally think it is foolish not to add resistors but that is my two cents.


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## SneakerFix (Jul 28, 2013)

You can buy the LEDs bulbs that won't cause this issue


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

SneakerFix said:


> You can buy the LEDs bulbs that won't cause this issue


No guarantee on board resistors will always function and if one goes bad the whole bulb has to get replaced.

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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

It's best to buy the bulbs and resistors by themselves. It's better that way. An on board resistor most likely won't work like it should. 

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## SneakerFix (Jul 28, 2013)

Zach.K said:


> No guarantee on board resistors will always function and if one goes bad the whole bulb has to get replaced.
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


i have not had an issue with the ones ive had in both cars. got them from ijdmstore.com


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## ALBERTA (Mar 29, 2014)

I thought that the point of LED flashers was so that resistors were not necessary in-line. Am I mistaken? I was planning on swapping out the bulbs soon and I thought all I would need was the LED flasher. Good to know this in advance. :blink:


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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

ALBERTA said:


> I thought that the point of LED flashers was so that resistors were not necessary in-line. Am I mistaken? I was planning on swapping out the bulbs soon and I thought all I would need was the LED flasher. Good to know this in advance. :blink:


Depends if you can find vehicle specific ones or not. The flasher prevents needing resistor but if no flasher then you need resistors. 

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## Zach.K (Apr 17, 2014)

http://www.diodedynamics.com/store/accessories/led-accessories/led-turn-signal-flashers.html

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## rayray718 (Oct 14, 2013)

Which of the flashers are appropriate for our car? Are there separate ones for the front and back turn signals? 

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## iTz SADISTIK (Apr 6, 2014)

rayray718 said:


> Which of the flashers are appropriate for our car? Are there separate ones for the front and back turn signals?
> 
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


If you're not sure, shoot Diode Dynamics a PM on here. They are a vendor and produce an excellent fix for the flash


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

What directional signal flasher like a separate entity that vehicles used since turn signals were introduced in the late 40's. Cruze uses the BCM with a separate wire for each turn signal bulb, with the same scheme used for each brake and parking lamp. Load power is detected, if incorrect, a B39XX-XX trouble code will be generated. For turn signals, has to be in the 25W range.

Substituting a much lower power LED will set a code, unless the load equals that of an incandescent bulb, the lamp the Cruze was designed for. So resistors have to be added to emulate this load to prevent a code from being set. One thing for sure, no power savings will be noted. Unless you can get your hands on the source code to modify this power rating.

Greatest enemy to LED's is heat, burns out the passavation protective layer leaving the chip exposed to impurities. This will instantly burn out the LED chip, so unless designed properly, a challenge for sure for proper heat dissipation, LED life would be extremely short. Sums up to neither a power saving modification nor a reliability factor. 

Did look at some Cruze LED substituions that claim compatibility with a price tag about ten times as great as an incandescent bulb. But since the average life for me at least eight years, cost wise the payback break even point would be about 80 years. Not a very wise investment, plus already know the incandescent meet DOT requirements.

Just another risk you are taking with insurance companies if you make this modification, surer than heck, will blame the LED's for this and you assume the liability for making this change. 

I don't make the laws.


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