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Red flashing LED


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Having no electronic security on The Beastie I had wondered about fitting a dummy flashing red LED. There is a hole to the right of the steering wheel that looks about the right size to take one.

Got one from VWP today and it has a red wire and a black wire.

Umm

How can I wire it so that it flashes when the ignition is turned off??? I am sure it cannot be rocket science but then I am not a rocket scientist!!!

Any thoughts would be most appreciated.

Thanks

Malcy

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The basic solution is to wire the red wire to +12v and the black wire to the ignition switched live, LED's draw so little current (<100ma) that it will ground itself through the stuff that's on the -ve side (EG fuel stop solenoid) without letting enough current past to actually switch anything on.

The belt'n'braces approach would be a 5-pin relay that switches on with ignition live, and connect the LED to the normally closed contact so it only gets power when the relay is "off".

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A relay is probably the simplest, most robust solution, especially if you find a relay that only has a small coil current (i've got some micro-relays somewhere that draw a lot less than an auto relay) , not that it particularly matters as it's only energised whilst the engine is on.

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I'm going to have a play at work tomorrow making a circuit that turns the LED on when the ignition is turned off

that would be useful, then I could use it to make the red led in my electronic [td5] speedo flash when my 110 is parked up.

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Thanks for ideas

The LED is 12v. It is LED607 from Vehicle Wiring Products in the flashing red configuration.

I presume the relay is a 5 pin one? Also what sort of wire thickness should I use? Preumably the wires on 85 and 86 need to be a bit more substantial whereas the others can be normal?

Also is the triangle with two arrows earth or the LED, or does the LED go on 87?

Sorry if this is all obvious to everyone else!!

Best wishes

Malcy

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The relay must be a 5 pin relay, i.e. it must have both an 87 (NO) and 87a (NC) pin.

The wires for the LED can be as small as is practical in a landrover, it draws so little current. The coil also draws little current, something of the order of 1.0mm^2 will be fine.

The triangle, Line and arrows is the symbol for an LED, the cathode (negative) is the flat line at the point of the arrow.

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The relay is a 5-pin type, make sure you get the "changeover" type (as pictured) rather than the "double make" 5-pin type where the 5th pin is just connected to the 87 pin and is "on" when the relay is on.

Wire thickness, it's rare I'll say this of any automotive wiring but doorbell wire would be fine for the whole thing - the coil of the relay draws less than an amp and unless it's brighter than the sun the LED probably draws maybe 0.05 of an amp. 0.5mmsq wire will be fine, thicker won't hurt anything but will be overkill and harder to tuck in.

The triangle with the arrows is the LED, the triangle end is the +ve (red wire) and the line end is the -ve (black wire).

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