LED resistors - getting a bit TOO warm

Tim

Tim

Administrator
Staff member
So...


I'm running LED signals, and have installed the requisite resistors to make things work, and they work perfectly.


However, riding home from work today, I noticed a whiff of smoke coming from the headlight bucket. Don't know why I suspected the signals but I did, and stopped using them for the last 5 mins of my run home.


Popped the bucked open and sure enough, one of the resistors, where it had been sitting against a bit of rubber on the backside of my headlight bucket, had gotten hot enough to actually melt the plastic coating of the resistor pack away and melted a bit of the rubber.


I'm going to try another set of resistors, but these are specifically for this purpose.


Anyone else ever have resistors get too hot? May move them to a more ventilated spot, as I have them inside my headlight bucket.
 
Get a set of resistors with the same ohm rating, but higher wattage and you should be OK.
 
Like the looks of that - contacting the seller. $14 to ship within Canada seems high.
 
Yeah that does seem high for shipping. I remember it showing up via canada post in a small envelope. The whole unit is actually smaller than a typical load resistor too.
 
Yeah, until you factor in the cost of me going out to buy the right sized resistor, not to mention I can't solder worth shit.

I'm still not sure why I got all the excess heat, when these resistors were made for this application.
 
It's just what resistors do, basic conservation of energy ;)
I would get the cheaper eBay flasher, (CF13JL02) it works fine on my '360', so good I've bough a couple more ready for the next two bikes

PJ
 
There,s a chart you can go by to figure which resistor you need. If I find it I'll post it up. I got some resistors from DCC I'm gonna try on my GT. I'm hoping they work. 10W 2 OHM. Do you have the numbers on the ones your using?
 
I heard CRD[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif] (Constant Current Diode) are good to use. They replace the resistor, smaller in size, and easier to use. They're like 50 cents a piece though.[/font]
 
Sonreir said:
I have a spare LED flasher if you want, as well.
Click to expand...

You mean like the CF13JL02 one pj mentioned? (good find - going to see if I can find one locally)
 
I think I'm going to get something like that.

I think it was the combination of these rather large resistors (Dime City Cycle supplied) being crammed into my headlight bucket. The left one got stuck against the backside of the headlight bucket right where my integrated LED signals are (they're built into the headlight shell itself - will have to post a pic - it's pretty slick). I think oddly enough the LED blinkers were getting hot, and the resistor was hot, and all smushed together.

The right side had no problem, but the left burned through the 125 degree celsius heat shrink covering the resistor, so it was getting pretty hot.

I always thought LED's burned cool, but maybe when there are 17 of them all in a line, sitting snug up against the resistor, it just got too hot.
 
Yup - tracking one down locally tomorrow, from the resident LED expert (Noel knows him - you should see all the LED crap on Noel's bikes. He changes colors with a remote control).
 
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