Fast flashing LED...

[HSV-Paul]

I swapped the rear right cluster on my car and then got the fast flashing indicator. I'd had this before and thought it might need a resistor. Went and got a 6 ohm 25w resistor and put it across the + and - of the cluster and made no difference. Tried a few variations and at one point the indicator was steady. Can't recall what triggered it as was playing about with the front as well as the rear wires but when switched off and back on it still goes fast. Well, first 1 or 2 flashes are normal then it goes double the speed!

Now for the headfu*k... swapped old cluster and still flashing fast!

I'd read that the LED draws such little current the ECM thinks its blown and why you get the fast flash.

Fix 1. Resistor across + and -.... Don't work!

Fix 2. Put an incandescent bulb in line... which seems stupid, but that don't even work...

Swapped this for other side...

Still fast Flash.

Disconnected this...

No difference...

Hazzard lights - all flash correct speed.

Left indicator - fine.

Any pointers much appreciated.

 

[HSV-Paul]

Oh well, remove the fast flash relay from the other side and just have fast flashing indicators.

Cheers!

 

[Skylarking]

Seems like it’s a old known problem and there seemed to be a discussion of the solution on the HSV forum but the following link gets redirected to carexperts

http: // www.hsvforum.com.au/ showthread.php?10575-I-found-the-fix-for-fast-flashing-HSV-blinker&highlight=fast+indicator+flash

The solution depended on the model year but it seemed to be an update to the wiring loom (or not) and a new HSV flasher module. Many owners had this done fixed under their factory warranty (and I’d guess under good will which we know means ACL statutory warranty when outside factory warranty). Supposedly it was related to dead leds and/or resistance issues and/or cold weather but yje reality is just poor design and implementation (but those lights do look cool).

The following thread mentions the wiring loom update and a new revised HSV flasher module.

VE GTS Blinker problem??? [Archive] - Australian LS1 and Holden Forums

I started having a problem with my left blinker flasher. It just started blinking fast intermittently. Took it to Holden and the said its a problem with the flasher unit which will take over a month to fix Anyone else had the same problem?

www.ls1.com.au

and of course there are JC threads on the matter.

https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/indicator-blinking-fast.121491/

https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/ve-gts-e1-flasher-unit-location.196865/

https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/hsv-tail-light-swap-into-a-g8-fast-flash-confusion.233227/

https://forums.justcommodores.com.au/threads/ve-hsv-indicator-flashing-fast.284169/

Maybe you need to talk to your selling dealer/HSV and convince them that it should be fixed under statutory warranty rights (but that’s only relevant if you bought the car from a dealer, if private sale you're SOL)…

 

[07GTS]

there is a return voltage wire within the lights and i only assume its something to do with the sensing of the leds when they fail to let the controller know to fast flash, this wire has a trimpot on it so it can be adjusted as to its output so maby raise the level to get away from the trigger voltage, or the trimpot is playing up as most of the soldiering for the whole circuit board is garbage as i went all over mine and fixed them up,

now i wasnt going to say much about these tail lights as they are an absolute PITA to take apart and i dont recommend it so if someone can fix the leds to get it going for a couple hundred busks i say jump on it, i mentioned the return voltage as a thought to test the good side and see what it is returning and then test the bad side see what its returning if its different then thats possibly ur issue triggering the fast flash but i havnt been able to test it to be 100% thats what its for, if the good side voltage is lower then try take the pin out of the bad side see what it does but if the good side is higher voltage then u cant test it without putting a voltage into it maby run wire from good side to bad side to see if it fixes it so then u know that that is the trigger causing it then u just have to fix the leds or adjust the trimpot inside, but the effort to get to the trim pot u may as well just fix all the leds and c/b for soldier issues

 

[Skylarking]

It's a pet hate of mine that the manufacturers have made the head lamps and tail lamp assemblies so difficult to open up for repair. Really, it just needed the polycarbonate covers to be designed slightly differently so they would use an o-ring to seal the assemblies with bolts/screws to hold them to the main body... Such would make it especially easy to remove the foggy head lamp cover and grind off the failing coating to shoot a new two pack uv resistant clear coat over it and/or replace the internal bits with more modern parts...

The lack of easy repairability is going to bite all us commodore owners (either via more effort to fix or more costly to fix or both) but that's the case with all modern designs where obsolescence is guaranteed.

In the case of the HSV tail-lamps, better quality of manufacture would have made repair unnecessary but a slightly different design would have made any needed repair much easier.

(As a side note, that trim pot is a naff idea as it looks to be an acknowledgement that the manufacturing parameters are poorly specified and too variable thus one need to trim things to work... As a guessed, I'd have thought this was cheaper than getting into the vehicles (BCM?) calibration software to adjust the parameters that controls when the system flags lamp faults have occurred, else HSV just wanted some special parts to sell at stupid prices.... Interestingly changing parameters is something easily done by modders on some VW's when owners install led lamps in the place of bulbs and don't want bulb warnings on vehicle start... )

 

[HSV-Paul]

Thanks for the advice but it turns out the light I bought is faulty. Move the cable from the left side to the right light and flashes mad. Put back into other left side and all good. So basically wiring from both sides working fine with my left side light, but plug any into the right and it flashes fast. Tried the resistor across and online but does nothing so lighting board is rooted...

On the plus side wiggling my old light got 2 of the dead LEDs back working so now just the one dead, which is hardly noticeable...

 

[Skylarking]

Thanks for the advice but it turns out the light I bought is faulty. Move the cable from the left side to the right light and flashes mad. Put back into other left side and all good. So basically wiring from both sides working fine with my left side light, but plug any into the right and it flashes fast. Tried the resistor across and online but does nothing so lighting board is rooted...

On the plus side wiggling my old light got 2 of the dead LEDs back working so now just the one dead, which is hardly noticeable...

Never having opend a HSV tail lamp, I'd still expect these are simple dumb designs that are just hard to get apart to work on them. I'd expect simple circuit board with no complex components on it to be rooted as such, just poorly done cold solder joints that break connection to the LEDs...

And from what i've read, it sound like the adage that if it hasn't failed yet, just wait is something to bank on

Also, from what @07GTS said above, it seems the problem has a simple solution which is difficult to execute. Solder joints break and take LEDs out of the loop which i'd speculate throws off the vehicle's faulty lamp detection systems which flashes are a quicker rate to warn the driver...?

The fix as mentioned is to disassemble the tail lamp which sounds like its a royal PITA from whats posted but once apart I'd expect it's a relatively simple taks to resolder the poor joints (and maybe twiddle with the trim pot within while the assembly is connected to the car?) and all should work again.

Surprised there is no detailed how-to with pictures on any forum i've seen...

 

[07GTS]

here are some cracks u can see in the soldier, the trimpot within and just the look at all the soldier joints that go all round the board, main reason i took them apart was to re paint the faded reflector and to go over the soldier, they are screwed together and also sikaflex'd together which is the PITA, i had thought about doing a writeup on it but i wont as just the thought of going thru it again makes me cringe, i think other people use a heat gun which is prob quicker but i didnt want to risk anything as it also has to seal back together again so i used silicone which can be removed much easier and still seals good

 

[Skylarking]

Looks sort of cheaply made with a rather simple voltage regulator circuit… and I’ve never liked seeing unclamped wires soldered directly to a circuit board since solder joints aren’t designed for strain relief

I also wonder if there was any issue a bad capacitor which was a rather common problem in the naughtiest… and it’s probably 105C rated capacitor which may not be the best to have in a tail lamp that sits in the sun all day..

And I still like gaskets or o-rings and screws rather than some adhesive…

An old incandescent globe seems so much more reliable in comparison

 

[07GTS]

Looks sort of cheaply made with a rather simple voltage regulator circuit… and I’ve never liked seeing unclamped wires soldered directly to a circuit board since solder joints aren’t designed for strain relief

I also wonder if there was any issue a bad capacitor which was a rather common problem in the naughtiest… and it’s probably 105C rated capacitor which may not be the best to have in a tail lamp that sits in the sun all day..

And I still like gaskets or o-rings and screws rather than some adhesive…

An old incandescent globe seems so much more reliable in comparison

that was cutting edge technology in 2007