[Shotimes] how do flashers work?

[Zach Leahy]

I prefer the humble glow stick to the LED flashlight.  I keep one in
my tool roll on the bike and one in the SHO.

Murphy's law statws if you have tools and a light source, your
car/motorcycle will never break down in the dark.  I learned that
becasue I didn't have a light source, but tools, so my M/C waited til
dark a couple times to break on me.

Z

On 7/7/05, bjshov8 <bjshov8@comcast.net> wrote:
> This is the answer- bulbs can be designed to operate at various voltages,
> however the average LED will only operate at relatively low voltages.  If
> you give it more voltage you will naturally get more current and more light,
> but you will reduce the life of the LED.  Too much voltage and it will flash
> just like light bulbs can do.
> 
> I've fooled around a little with LED flashlights and it seems that for the
> same light output, and LED only needs roughly 1/2 to 1/3 as much current.
> The LED tailights that I have seen have a lot of little LED's in there,
> probably wired in parallel but if they wired groups of them in series that
> could solve the voltage issue.  Nevertheless unless they are much brighter
> than the stock bulb then they probalby will draw significantly less current
> and have some resulting affect on the operation of the flasher.
> 
> BTW, an LED flashlight is a good thing to carry in your SHO for emergency
> situations, because it does not have a bulb to fail due to age or vibration.
> 
> > A typical LED has a forward drop, Vf of around 2V.  Blue LEDs can go as
> high
> > as 5V, IIRC.  So the resistor is calculated to drop the remaining voltage
> > from the source, 13V in the case of automotive applications, based upon
> the
> > desired amperage.
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