resistor mounting

[jeffrey1990]

were have you guys put the resistor for the rear turn signal, I also don't want to take the rear bumper off to find a good spot.

[sleepyalero]

Make it small enough to where it just sits against the tail light. Thats what fisdad did.

[RalphP]

What Fisdad did may be good enough, but do consider it's a nice heating element against the plastic tail light assembly *EEK!!*

Do also consider that you don't have to mount it AT the tail light itself ... just on the wiring to it.

I'd still mount it securely to the metal of the body and put some heat sink compound between it and the metal. But I'm an olde phart 'tronicist, and can't stand a heat producing element that's there to waste voltage and current sitting by such a massive heat sink without USING said heat sink *grins*

RwP

[jeffrey1990]

well they they have built in heat sinks on them but what kind of compound were you thinking of sounds easier than drilling and tapping also im kind of leaning towards putting them in the trunk now that I look at it?

[RalphP]

You'd still have to drill and tap to physically mount them, unless you used some heat sink adhesive .. NOT recommended IMO.

In the trunk is a great idea.

BTW - You can use self-drilling self-tapping screws, chuck'em into a socket on the end of your power drill and drill/tap away.

The heat sink compound I use is the good old white stuff ... http://www.newark.com/jsp/search/productdetail.jsp?SKU=31C4127&CMP=KNC-GPLA&mckv=|pcrid|20115735021|plid| . There's several other places that sell it, that was just the first with a picture in Google.

Far as that's concerned, RatShack usually sells the white stuff, Arctic Silver, and Arctic Silver's Ceramique (the adhesive kind).

RwP

[jeffrey1990]

I c

[sleepyalero]

I dont think its up against the tail light but it is within the wiring and just sits there.

[fisdad]

I have a resistor on all 4 corners of my car. They do get hot, and til a few weeks ago I had just spliced them in and they were dangling wherever. I zip tied them neatly to the wire loom and put electrical tape around the front two. The rears are tucked behind the tails and after years of running this way, heat has never been a problem.

[jeffrey1990]

are they the Orange ones with the heat sink fins on em?

[RalphP]

If they have the fins, then the thermal rating presumes free air around those fins, not taped into a harness. Taping into a harness has two drawbacks that may not show up immediately (read: We're fighting crap like that NOW on these just-barely-teenaged cars). 1) It can degrade the insulation of the wiring it's taped to, 2) It can overheat because there's not enough air around to keep the resistor cool enough.

The Alero has intelligent tail lights. Ask a Malibu or Cutlass owner about the circuit boards and how the lamps melt the taillamp assemblies to where you can't get the bulbs in and out (!!!) Or check some of the older center high mount tail lights - for instance, in my Cougar, in the yard, about 75% will have melted housings due to the heat from the lamps. And then consider the reason you use the resistor is to waste the extra current that the LED's don't use ... so you're producing about the same heat as the original bulb did! (Might as well go incandescent IMO for that, for a DD. Again, for show cars, different story.)

But anyway - just things to keep in mind. There's a LOT of things you CAN do, but the recommended way would be to mount the resistors to the chassis.

(Actually, the RECOMMENDED way would be to replace the turn signal flasher with one that's LED compatible ... but that's quite a pain in the gluteus maximus due to how the flasher and hazard switch are integrated in these cars. Le sigh.)

RwP

[fisdad]

are they the Orange ones with the heat sink fins on em?

Yes they are. And I meant that I put electrical tape around the wiring only. The resistor itself is just zip tied so it won't just dangle.

If they have the fins, then the thermal rating presumes free air around those fins, not taped into a harness. Taping into a harness has two drawbacks that may not show up immediately (read: We're fighting crap like that NOW on these just-barely-teenaged cars). 1) It can degrade the insulation of the wiring it's taped to, 2) It can overheat because there's not enough air around to keep the resistor cool enough.

The Alero has intelligent tail lights. Ask a Malibu or Cutlass owner about the circuit boards and how the lamps melt the taillamp assemblies to where you can't get the bulbs in and out (!!!) Or check some of the older center high mount tail lights - for instance, in my Cougar, in the yard, about 75% will have melted housings due to the heat from the lamps. And then consider the reason you use the resistor is to waste the extra current that the LED's don't use ... so you're producing about the same heat as the original bulb did! (Might as well go incandescent IMO for that, for a DD. Again, for show cars, different story.)

But anyway - just things to keep in mind. There's a LOT of things you CAN do, but the recommended way would be to mount the resistors to the chassis.

(Actually, the RECOMMENDED way would be to replace the turn signal flasher with one that's LED compatible ... but that's quite a pain in the gluteus maximus due to how the flasher and hazard switch are integrated in these cars. Le sigh.)

RwP

Mine is a DD. I've had these resistors in and driving for around 20,000 miles now without issue. Not that what you are saying doesn't make sense or is inaccurate, but my experience has been different. Also, lights are cheap if they start to melt or warp I will just buy new ones again... That's my two cents.

[aleros_eat_rice]

(Actually, the RECOMMENDED way would be to replace the turn signal flasher with one that's LED compatible ... but that's quite a pain in the gluteus maximus due to how the flasher and hazard switch are integrated in these cars. Le sigh.)

RwP
Is there a diagram or something to go by? Wanted to led my lights, and would like to go with the flasher replace instead of putting in resistors or buying the hyperflash corrector harness.

[Papa Rad17]

This has all been covered before. There is even a thread with pictures! I will toss in my 2 cents while I'm here. I went LED once for the main lighting on the tails, once you buy some quality dual voltage bulbs and wire in your resistors so everything works right, then stand back and look at the riced out crap lighting you have its not worth it. The way the incandescent bulbs reflect around inside the housing and 'layer' the look of the background looks tons better then a bunch of little led's tossing around direct bits of light. and just shining strait out at you.