96 Front Side Marker Lamp LED Challenge

[Loebotomy]

First, I must say, this LED bulb problem has nothing to do with

• thermal/electronic flasher
• load resistors
• bulb polarity (kinda)

I installed LEDs in my 96' XJ, all front and rear signals along with an electronic flasher module. Everything works great with one exception. When the parking lights are on, the front turn signals don't behave properly.

Here's the problem. Other than the Front Side Marker Lamps, every bulb has one side that goes to ground and the other side is fed 12V when it is supposed to be on. The circuits are very simple and if you need to flip an LED to get the polarity correct, it's easy.

The Front Side Marker Lamps, on the other hand, are wired differently and the polarity across it will reverse, depending on whether it is acting like a static parking light or as a turn indicator. This can be seen from page 8W-50-5 of the FSM. I'll try to include that page here:

https://loebotomy.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/1996-xj-wiring-8w-50-5.jpg

Does anyone know of a solution for this one bulb? I can imagine a circuit that will correct the polarity when it is flipped. I suspect that this circuit would require it's own 12V supply and couldn't be integrated into the bulb.

 

[Loebotomy]

Water_Dog came up with a circuit to solve this problem:

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f210/t...lling-leds-as-side-marker-lights-1163153.html

 

[N8N_99xj]

^what he said. I was going to try to explain how to do it with a mess o' diodes to make it work, but I see someone's already done it for me.

Edit: that mod will make it work like the lights in the front, dim park, bright indicator.

To restore original function you could do it with just diodes, if you give me a min. I can figure that out too as an option.

 

[XJI6191]

I like that & have saved it for future reference.

However, I was surprised that the factory install is as described (European ones only have a reflector in that position, so never seen one working). However, my latest XJ has had side markers fitted but not connected to the flashers - at the moment!

 

[N8N_99xj]

Well, in europe you have repeaters farther back on the fenders yes? We don't have those here.

 

[Loebotomy]

I completed the mod using Diodes and Resistors this weekend. The instructions are pretty clear. Hardest part was finding a convenient ground.

I did consider installing something like a repeater. I decided against it so I could just get it all done, but my reasoning was it would provide much clearer turn signal indication. The stock setup has 2 issues.

1) The stock side marker is weakly let
2) The front turn signal, since it is wired in series with the side marker, never turns off if you have the headlights on and the turn signal active. It does flash between bright and medium bright, but it never turns off.

By moving the side flasher to a separate bulb, one could wire it so that all the bulbs were more visible when flashing, whether the headlights are on or off.

An alternative to the repeater would be to fit the side markers with a dual filament bulb. I didn't look into finding a dual filament fixture that would fit the stock side marker lens.