I was having trouble seeing the turn signal indicator in my 1979 Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce. Though I am relatively old if you’re young, I didn’t want to look that way driving down 101 with my turn signals on.
When the original thermal turn signal flasher gave up, I replaced it with an electronic flasher. With the engine off I can hear it clicking very clearly – I can’t hear it while the engine is running unless the fuse box is open and I stick my head next to it – not a good driving position since the fuse box is just above the floor.
Probably 40 years ago, I made a turn signal amplifier using a 555 integrated circuit and a Mallory Sonalert. It was annoying, sort of like the beepers that some vehicles have when they’re backing up.
I started looking for a brighter lamp for the turn signal indicator that is mounted below the tachometer. The OEM lamp is a 74 Miniature Indicator Lamp – 14 Volt – T1-3/4 Sub Mini Wedge Base. In bright sunlight, it’s difficult to see if the OEM lamp is flashing. I found an LED replacement lamp that is essentially a SMT LED stuck on the end of a plastic tube with a diode and resistor to drop the voltage. It had the necessary wedge base. I had to file the sides down a little so it would fit in the lamp holder, but it was worth the $5.50. It’s bright enough to see in direct sunlight, but not so bright that it’s too annoying at night.
I bought them on eBay. superbrightleds.com has them too, complete with specs. I wouldn’t pay more than $2-3 for them. You also have to remember that you can not control the brightness of the LEDs like regular lamps.
Do you have the part number or source for these lights?
I’m too lazy to do something like that. I forgot about the Forrest Mims books. They were a great resource. Some of them are on Google Books. Thanks for reminding me.
Sounds pretty gnarly. Hopefully you might put together a hobbyist/
gadgeteer notebook of this and other projects, kind of like a Forrest
Mims type notebook that people can buy to guide them into building
and modifying tech devices, kind’ve a Nerd’s cookbook. All of my
“mods” seem to involve duct tape and serial visits to the Wally,
their brief lives ending in debris fields and expletives.