On Wed, 31 Oct 2007 22:03:29 -1000, Rick Frazier
wrote:

Larry Jaques wrote:

On 28 Oct 2007 03:34:20 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm,
(DoN. Nichols) quickly quoth:


I don't really *know*, but if you will accept a *guess*, I would
guess that it is a turn signal flasher.


Yeah, prolly a flasher or relay.



The old ones were a thermal relay which changed speed when one
of the lamps was burnt out. The electronic ones like this are stable in
flash rate even when a lamp is burnt out.


Probably to the enjoyment of the law enforcement communities. Now you
don't know you have a burnt out bulb until you're pulled over and
ticketed.

--
We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small
worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.
-- Etty Hillesum
Actually, most recent vintage japanese and american cars and trucks have
flasher circuits that are designed to blink faster when there is a bulb
out. This is often the only way you'll know you have a bulb out, as
most people never walk around their cars. As you might imagine, a fast
flashing turn signal will nearly always get you a "courtesy stop" if a
cop sees you, which can result in a bonus for them if you happen to have
any problems outstanding.

The old thermal flashers were of two types, one a simple two-prong
device about as tall as it's diameter with a thermal disc that was
heated by the current flowing through it. It would "pop" over and break
the circuit after a bit of time, then cool and reset the circuit. This
type would stop blinking, or blink really slowly when a bulb was out.
using one of these and connecting a trailer (additional bulb(s)) would
result in a really fast blinking... The second type was usually two to
three times diameter and often with three terminals actually contained a
timer of sorts and relay, and was often sold for "trailering" where
there were more bulb. These typically had a relatively constant rate
that didn't depend on the load, as long as at least one bulb was
working. This type was bad because you couldn't tell if a bulb ws out,
but was good because you didn't need to swap the flasher when you hooked
up the trailer...

--Rick
A little further OT, I was following an old geezer ( I'm one too) one
day when he stopped at a light and, even though he had a couple 8"
dia. lights in his back window ( I had mounted cheap "clearance"
lights in mine - this was just after the birth of "eye level brake
lights, and I had an older vehicle) there was not a sign of brake
light. I walked up and mentioned this deficiency to him and his reply
was "Damned fuse must have blown again!" Apparently he didn't
comprehend the fact that his wonderful, super large, eye level brake
lights might draw a lot more power than the original equipment.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada