i bought a set of switch backs for my turn signals and they came with no wiring instructions. does anyone know where i would wire in the load resistor?

 

LEDs use less power than regular bulbs so flasher will blink rapidly or not at all.

Resistors are used to make the LEDs "look like" regular bulbs to the Flasher.

So the resistors go on each of the LEDs wires, one resistor PER LED bulb

Picture here: 21_zpsl7c5xydq.gif gif by nikolebay | Photobucket

I believe there are also LED flashers now, but if you have separate 4-way and Turn flashers you have to replace both, no resistors required then
Flashers listed here: https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/...oad-resistors/

 

im glad you replyed back with that link. thanks for the info

 

EP-27 flasher should allow you to eliminate the load resister, right Ron?

 

how well do switch backs work?

 

As to what flasher you use.........would depend on what setup your model Ranger uses

They are lights, as long as they light up they work fine.

I am old and if the vehicle runs good I am happy, I want the lights to work but don't really care what they look like, lol.
As far as power consumption.............vehicles generate their own power, this ain't a "green thing"
If you were driving an all electric vehicle then it would matter.

 

i ordered led bulbs for my tail lights would i have to run a load resistor or an led flasher for the rear turn signals?

 

I replaced all my bulbs with LED units... not switchbacks, just plain LED bulbs. I also installed an EP-27 flasher and that is all I had to do. They work great and look good too.

 

You could use either.

A flasher uses load to flash
Say 2 regular bulbs(front and back turn signal) draw 100watts when activated, the flasher uses that load to open and close the 12volt connection so the bulbs go off and on.
If a bulb burns out there is now only a 50watt load, on some vehicle this will cause the turn signal to come on but not flash, so you know you have a burned out bulb.
On other vehicles it may cause faster flashing, hyper flashing, either way you known there is a problem.

Installing lower wattage LED bulbs is the same thing to flasher, 100watts is gone and 50watts is there so either no flashing or hyper flashing occurs.

Adding the 50watt resistors to each LED bulb lets the stock flasher see the higher wattage it expects.

Or you change the flasher to one that doesn't need/expect 100watts.

Now these types of flasher are fairly new, no long term history on them, I am sure they are fine, but no history.
If one of these did fail you may not find one easily at every parts store.
Stock Ford flasher would be available.

So which do you do, flasher or resistors?

Don't know, your call

The 100watts and 50watts are just numbers I made up for the example, if you need to know exact wattage's then you can look them up
I just got my first LED flash light as a xmas gift, other than that I have no reason to have that info, lol

 

As far as power consumption or turn-signal-suitability goes, it makes no difference if it's a switchback or not.

You only need to run load resistors on the turn signals IF you choose to reuse your standard flasher unit. I don't recommend this, personally.

LED flashers, as the name implies (Which RonD covered), remove this problem entirely.


A switchback, like a normal two-mode led lamp, has two seperate circuits inside. There's Major, Minor, and Ground.

Ground connects to the negative side of the truck's circuitry, or chassis ground.

Major is the brightest possible output of the bulb, which would be used for braking and turn signals.

Minor is the lower intensity, which would be used for the parking light circuit.

In your usual bulbs, both of these modes are one color. Red, white, blue, orange, you name it.


On the other hand, in switchbacks, the Major of the bulb will be one color (Orange for example) when the turn signal is activated while the Minor side (if it was on prior to signalling) turns off and allows the Major to shine unaffected.

Here's an example. I'm driving my truck at night and I have orange/white switchbacks installed. Since it's night time I have my headlights on and therefor my parking light circuit is on too. Right now they're shining white, acting as extra driving lights or marking lamps. Now let's say I make a left turn.

All the bulbs in my front left turn signal turn orange and begin to flash, no white light at all as I make and complete my turn. I straighten the wheel and the stalk swings back to it's center position. At this point the turn signals are now off, and the front turn signals resume being white.

Basic switchback theory in a nutshell. How well they work all comes down to who made them. If an underpaid worker in a factory is making them in China then they'll likely be more useful as shotgun slugs. Conversely, if a well known manufacturer makes them (say, Samsung for example) then they'll likely be the cat's meow, so to speak.

 

since i hit a deer with my truck i had to replace all the the lights. i went with LED head lights and fog lights led switch back turn signals while i was click happy with the mouse and had the wifes credit card i ordered all LED lights for the rear of the truck also