troublesome Indicators

[james.ed]

little problem.. before christmas my indicators decided they'd rather not flash, and just became normal yellow non flashing lights. just when i thought about looking for help they decided to begin flashing again. no more problem until this week. my lights are fine for a few hours and then they become static, and then back again. guessing a dodgy flasher unit but not knowing where the flasher unit is or how it works i'm not sure!

it did happen over summer but my garage picked it up as a duff bulb. change of bulb.. problem gone. all the bulbs seem to be working (i think.. i'll double check next time i head out).

[Alec]

Hello James,

if both sides are on and not flashing and both front and rear lamps are lit, then it could be the flasher unit. It is mounted on the bulkhead to the left of the battery box. Its an aluminium 'can' with three green wires connectd to it. Do make sure that you know which is which and where they go on the flasher unit when you change it.

Alec

[mike.perry]

Non flashing or rapidly flashing indicators can be a sign that a bulb is faulty. A standard 2x21W flasher requires 42W resistance from 2 bulbs for it to operate correctly. If all the bulbs are lighting but not flashing then the flasher is faulty

[james.ed]

thanks.. i'll check out all the light when the rain stops. if it is the flasher unit is there any chance halfords would have the replacement. I'm a fair distance from any morris specialist and it would be amazing manually flashing my indicators!

[Alec]

Hello James,

unfortunately they are not that common, so you may be better going mail order to a Morris or electrical specialist. Swapping for a 'standard' flasher relay would lose the indicator stalk tell tale lamp, but would get your indicators working.

Older flasher relays are simple devices, they have a bi metal strip which has a heating coil wound around it. The current for the indicators flows through this coil, which heats the strip and it bends breaking the contact. Doing so stops the heating and the strip reverts to it's cold state making the contact again and so the cycle goes on. That is why the wattage of the lamps is important, if too low the strip won't heat enough and doesn't break the circuit giving solidly lit lamps, too high and the flash rate is too fast. This is a two terminal rely; the Minor has a third terminal with a separate supply to the stalk tell tale.

Alec

[james.ed]

amazing - and with no microchips! god bless the old ways. I'm quite sure it something to do with the flasher unit. I've checked all my lights are shiny bright. I've pushed the contacts in firmly and given the unit a hit and all seems to work now. I'll give it a run around and if it goes wrong again i'll be mail ordering a new one.

thanks for the help