One of these contacts is connected directly to battery power without going through the ‘thermal circuit breaker’ first. If it touches any grounded metal, it will create a direct short circuit that won’t be broken until the wires melt. (Not just the insulation around the wires – the wires themselves.)
It’s a big risk of fucking up the car’s electrical system much worse than it already is, and could even end up starting a fire that burns the whole car if wires near the melting point of copper touch anything flammable.
Come on, OP. It’s just a little electrical tape. You can do that.
(And a fuse is still a good idea. What if your ‘thermal circuit breaker’ fails – like the previous one did – and gets stuck in the on position? Your car had a fuse on the blinker circuit for a reason. Permanently bypassing it without a replacement is a bad idea.)
I thought I was pretty clear on that: a dead short heats the wiring until the wires melt, the molten metal catches some plastic part on fire, the whole car burns down. For total worst case scenario, let’s say this happens on the highway during the middle of a family road trip, several states away from home.
This literally cannot touch any ground points. It’s impossible. I made damn sure of that.
You know what could make really sure of that? A $1 roll of electrical tape.
Yes, I’m well aware of how electricity works, and I’m aware of the potential dangers.
Look at the fuse block we inherited, almost every single fuse was bumped up to a 30 amp. The flasher circuit only calls for a 15 amp fuse, so if anything, I trust my rigup more than the overrated 30 amp fuse that was in there. At least the function of a flasher module is to break the circuit.
Also, to flash or not to flash…
Police and ICE agents have tasers that deliver like 30KV or so, so you know what, I’ll take my success with this ~12 volt rigup.
If I ever do find the OG flasher module, well I’ll just replace that and drop in a proper 15 amp fuse where my rigup is currently installed.
Look at the fuse block we inherited, almost every single fuse was bumped up to a 30 amp.
Okay, that’s also highly concerning, but it doesn’t make what you’ve done any better.
I trust my rigup more than the overrated 30 amp fuse that was in there. At least the function of a flasher module is to break the circuit.
You really don’t seem to be understanding the issue that one of these bare, unprotected contacts is connected directly to the battery without going through the flasher. If grounded metal touches that contact, you have a dead short, and there’s nothing the flasher module can do about it. Power doesn’t have to flow through the flasher at all to complete that circuit.
Police and ICE agents have tasers that deliver like 30KV or so, so you know what, I’ll take my success with this ~12 volt rigup.
Yeah … I’m starting to doubt your earlier ‘aware of how electricity works’ comment. The voltage isn’t an issue here. The problem in a dead short circuit is uncontrolled amperage. A short circuit with no load would pull the full available amperage of your battery (several hundred amps) through a blinker circuit with thin wires rated for a maximum of 15 amps. Wires will melt if this thing shorts … and whether those melted wires start a fire or not is mostly just down to luck.
If I ever do find the OG flasher module, well I’ll just replace that and drop in a proper 15 amp fuse where my rigup is currently installed.
Well, if that’s what it takes for you to fix this fire hazard, I hope you find it.
Until then, please just add some electrical tape (and maybe an inline fuse) like everybody in this entire thread is telling you to do. If you’re going to DIY electrical stuff, please use a bit of proper safety. Insulation and fuse protection is very basic stuff. It’s not expensive or difficult, either – I don’t know why you’re so against doing it.
Don’t need to. Even if the wires somehow short out, then that’s just back to the original problem, flashers stuck on…
It works and flashes fine, and the electrodes will never touch each other.
Touching each other is not the problem, if either of those touch any part of the body you will have a ground fault failure.
It’s literally a thermal circuit breaker. It works perfectly in circuit.
One of these contacts is connected directly to battery power without going through the ‘thermal circuit breaker’ first. If it touches any grounded metal, it will create a direct short circuit that won’t be broken until the wires melt. (Not just the insulation around the wires – the wires themselves.)
It’s a big risk of fucking up the car’s electrical system much worse than it already is, and could even end up starting a fire that burns the whole car if wires near the melting point of copper touch anything flammable.
Come on, OP. It’s just a little electrical tape. You can do that.
(And a fuse is still a good idea. What if your ‘thermal circuit breaker’ fails – like the previous one did – and gets stuck in the on position? Your car had a fuse on the blinker circuit for a reason. Permanently bypassing it without a replacement is a bad idea.)
This literally cannot touch any ground points. It’s impossible. I made damn sure of that.
And even if it somehow does fail someday, what’s the worst that’s gonna happen?
Back to the original problem, blinkers don’t flash, just stuck on.
This fix works fine though.
I thought I was pretty clear on that: a dead short heats the wiring until the wires melt, the molten metal catches some plastic part on fire, the whole car burns down. For total worst case scenario, let’s say this happens on the highway during the middle of a family road trip, several states away from home.
You know what could make really sure of that? A $1 roll of electrical tape.
Yes, I’m well aware of how electricity works, and I’m aware of the potential dangers.
Look at the fuse block we inherited, almost every single fuse was bumped up to a 30 amp. The flasher circuit only calls for a 15 amp fuse, so if anything, I trust my rigup more than the overrated 30 amp fuse that was in there. At least the function of a flasher module is to break the circuit.
Also, to flash or not to flash…
Police and ICE agents have tasers that deliver like 30KV or so, so you know what, I’ll take my success with this ~12 volt rigup.
If I ever do find the OG flasher module, well I’ll just replace that and drop in a proper 15 amp fuse where my rigup is currently installed.
Okay, that’s also highly concerning, but it doesn’t make what you’ve done any better.
You really don’t seem to be understanding the issue that one of these bare, unprotected contacts is connected directly to the battery without going through the flasher. If grounded metal touches that contact, you have a dead short, and there’s nothing the flasher module can do about it. Power doesn’t have to flow through the flasher at all to complete that circuit.
Yeah … I’m starting to doubt your earlier ‘aware of how electricity works’ comment. The voltage isn’t an issue here. The problem in a dead short circuit is uncontrolled amperage. A short circuit with no load would pull the full available amperage of your battery (several hundred amps) through a blinker circuit with thin wires rated for a maximum of 15 amps. Wires will melt if this thing shorts … and whether those melted wires start a fire or not is mostly just down to luck.
Well, if that’s what it takes for you to fix this fire hazard, I hope you find it.
Until then, please just add some electrical tape (and maybe an inline fuse) like everybody in this entire thread is telling you to do. If you’re going to DIY electrical stuff, please use a bit of proper safety. Insulation and fuse protection is very basic stuff. It’s not expensive or difficult, either – I don’t know why you’re so against doing it.
Good point.