Re: turn signal

[Jerry Hester <jhester@MTU.EDU>]

It is true that this may be a burned out bulb, but it may also be a
short in the wiring.  In most vehicles, the interior light just doesn't
operate if the bulb is burned out.  The flasher which makes the light
blink depends on the resistance in the circuit.  A lower resistance
generally equals a faster blink rate.

Carl E. Mungan wrote:

> As of this morning, my left turn signal (1996 Toyota RAV4) is
> blinking about twice as fast as normal, about double the rate of the
> right turn signal. I've checked again just now after the car was idle
> a few hours and it's still doing it. Ambient temperatures and
> humidity have been pretty normal for the past day.
>
> So my questions are:
> 1. Is it a bad resistor, capacitor, chip, or what that might be doing
> this and any guesses about what might have caused it?
> 2. Is it something to worry about or, as long as I don't mind a
> double-speed blink, can I just ignore it?
>
> Thanks for any insights and I'd be happy to poke around under the
> hood with a multimeter if someone gave me a hint about what to try.
> Carl
> --
> Carl E. Mungan, Asst. Prof. of Physics  410-293-6680 (O) -3729 (F)
>       U.S. Naval Academy, Stop 9C, Annapolis, MD 21402-5040
> mailto:mungan@usna.edu       http://usna.edu/Users/physics/mungan/

--
Jerry Hester
Jhester@mtu.edu
Laboratory/Lecture Demonstrations Coordinator
Department of Physics
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Drive
Houghton, MI 49931-1295
Phone:  (906) 487-2273
Fax:    (906) 487-2933