Headlight "Load Equalizers"

Bob Johnson

Bob Johnson

Well-known member
There have been several references to "Load Equalizers" used to prevent flickering of LED headlights. What are "load equalizers"? How are they installed? How do they work ? Are they just a resistor hooked up in series or parallel with the bulb? Are they some sort of active device that controls the current or the voltage. Curious minds want to know.


Bob
 
Bob, The load equalizers are nothing more than a resistor that is used to fool the flasher, or computer in a more modern car, into thinking there is an incandescent bulb instead of an LED. They are wired in parallel with the LED bulb. As far as I know they are not used for flickering headlights but can be used for LED headlight bulb replacements to fool the computer, which otherwise will report that a headlight bulb is burned out. It may be that some computers in modern cars will cause the LED headlight bulbs to flicker but I don't know. In any case, if the LED headlight bulbs in a Model A are flickering then there is something wrong with the bulbs because the only computer in a Model A is under your hat.
 
My LED headlights can flicker, but my situation is somewhat unique.

My electrical system is 12V, with a stock Model A generator and a Fun Projects voltage regulator. I never drive at night, but I use my headlights as daytime running lights for safety, so I changed the head light and tail bulbs to LED to reduce stress on the generator.

My speedster has the fuel tank behind the seat, and when the gas level gets low it is below the level of the carburetor inlet, so I have an electric fuel pump that I can switch on when needed. When pump is running I have noticed a slight flicker of the headlights; I assume the it happens because the regulator can't keep up with the rapid changes in the current draw so the voltage sags.
 
Sparky, that is a good point. I have LED's in my house and when I am running my heat gun at about 250 degrees, the lights flicker. The heat gun regulates the temperature by rapidly turning off and on and creates voltage variations that make the LED's flicker.
 
I emailed LogoLites asking about my flickering LED bulbs. They said that "load equalizers" are not the solution. In their reply, the representative said that any increased resistance to ground (like a high beam indicator) would cause the light bulb to flicker to high beam. He also said that they have a new negative ground bulb and are working on a new positive ground bulb.
 
GeneBob, Some electronics that are sensitive to voltage variation use a filter on the AC line. This is nothing more than an inductive choke. You can make your own by winding some wire around a low-carbon bolt or running some wire multiple times through an iron or steel ring. Might be worth a try.
 
nkaminar, Would this be on the wires going to the headlights, or on the main leads coming off of the alternator?
Thanks,
Gene
 
Since the alternator is suspect, I would try it there. It can just be a temporary change to see if it works first, and if it does work, then something mounted down on the frame. The idea is to dampen out any voltage fluctuations.
 
I received 2 of the new/updated LogoLites LED headlight bulbs +ground last
Saturday. NO FLICKERING! That made my day. NO load equalizers necessary.
I also have LED tail/brake lights. No turn signals or cowl lights.
Logolites is waiting on a shipment but had not received a date from manufacturer.
 
I've had no issues with LEDs in any vehicle that I'm aware of. But household LEDs I've had flicker, couldn't find any problem, so I got rid of them.

Resistors added to any steady light such as a headlight makes no sense to me.
 
Patrick, I had the same problem with household LED's and traced it to my heat gun that was regulating the temperature by rapidly turning the heating coils on and off. You could try to turn off things in your house until you find the source.
 
nkaminar said:
Patrick, I had the same problem with household LED's and traced it to my heat gun that was regulating the temperature by rapidly turning the heating coils on and off. You could try to turn off things in your house until you find the source.
Click to expand...




My problem was/ were the bulbs. Certain bulbs would flicker while they were the only things turned on. Swapping them around did nothing to improve the problem. I'm not a big fan of LEDs, the cheap ones anyway. The more expensive ones seem to be OK, I've always said you get what you pay for so I needed to take my own advice.
 
Has anyone found a LED dual filament parking light bulb that fits in the cowl lamps?

The ones I tried are too long.
 
The cowl lamp conversion kits mount the double contact sockets off-center so the taller bulbs fit behind the lens at an angle. The included reflectors are cut away to allow this. I'm not a fan of this approach.
 
Bob Johnson said:
There have been several references to "Load Equalizers" used to prevent flickering of LED headlights. What are "load equalizers"? How are they installed? How do they work ? Are they just a resistor hooked up in series or parallel with the bulb? Are they some sort of active device that controls the current or the voltage. Curious minds want to know.


Bob
Click to expand...

If we are discussing "flicker" and not "blinking", then the device that fills the gaps in current and voltage is a capacitor. First, however, there needs to be proof and testing of circuit integrity of wiring and bulbs being tight. And if that is all OK, and the charging circuit is OK and just fluctuating, then a 1000 MFD capacitor 25 volt, placed in parallel with the headlight LED's should solve the flickering. Amazon has 1000 MFD 25 volt capacitors in bulk for under $5.00 with free shipping if you are Prime person. They would need to soldered in somehow in parallel with each LED that is flickering. 5 bucks is probably not too much to waste.
 
Last edited:
Bob Johnson said:
There have been several references to "Load Equalizers" used to prevent flickering of LED headlights. What are "load equalizers"? How are they installed? How do they work ? Are they just a resistor hooked up in series or parallel with the bulb? Are they some sort of active device that controls the current or the voltage. Curious minds want to know.


Bob
Click to expand...

If we are discussing "flicker" and not "blinking", then the device that fills the gaps in current and voltage is a capacitor. First, however, there needs to be proof and testing of circuit integrity of wiring and bulbs being tight. And if that is all OK, and the charging circuit is OK and just fluctuating, then a 1000 MFD capacitor 25 volt, placed in parallel with the headlight LED's should solve the flickering. Amazon has 1000 MFD 25 volt capacitors in bulk for under $5.00 with free shipping if you are Prime person. I selected 25 volt as they cover both 6 volt and 12 volt systems with a bit of safety margin. They would need to be soldered in somehow in parallel with each LED that is flickering. 5 bucks is probably not too much to waste.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top