17 replies to this topic

[KevinS]

Hi, I have a 1990 Mini Racing Green. When the indicators flash, they flash at inconsistent speed due to the design / operation of the round flasher unit. To overcome this issue, has anyone replaced the old round indicator flasher unit with a modern flasher unit / relay. If so please could you provide information as to the new relay type with information to explain how to wire it in.

Many thanks all. Kevin S

[Icey]

I'll see if I can find a diagram but its a very, very simple swap. The only extra wire you may need is a -ve ('ground') which in previous Minis I've attached to the dash bracket. However, even this is dependant on the relay you use, there are some that are direct replacements that require no extra wiring.

[AVV IT]

I'm not sure if this helps or not, but I believe that Rover fitted a yellow relay as standard in place of the round flasher unit on slightly later models to yours (carb & SPi models '91+).

[cal844]

My 2 spi's have the yellow flasher relays... They've never given any hassle

[KevinS]

Many thanks for all your replies and if you could find a wiring diagram Icey, much appreciated.

[tiger99]

Inconsistent flashing rate is usually not due to which type of flasher you are using, but almost always due to erractic circuit resistance caused by corrosion in the bullet connectors or light units, and voltage change due to a weak battery and/or alternator. Doubtless it varies with engine revs, which is normal, and the MOT testers are aware of the issue and always check the flash rate with the engine running. It affects very many cars, even modern ones. The old type of flasher was perfectly capable of working properly when everything else was ok.

 

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Rule number 1 of engineering.

 

Not that you should be discouraged from fitting a modern flasher of course, it is perfectly ok, but is not necessary nor will it necessarily fix the problem. But spares may be easier to obtain in the future, or hopefully may be cheaper.

[Alex_B]

It can be a worthwhile upgrade, the flasher units on the market atm for the mini aren't the most reliable I have found, I have gone through two in a very short space of time and I am planning to swap the indicator one for a relay soon, but I agree not worth doing till you need to!

[Ethel]

You can literally just replace the original, with the addition of an earth for the 3rd terminal on the electronic flasher, Rover replaced the 2 flasher units with one plus a relay to turn off your indicators with the ignition.

 

I'm with Tiger on this, you can think of old style flashers as having built in fault finding, with an electronic flasher you could be blissfully unaware of blown bulbs etc.

[Icey]

Sorry, I couldn't find the diagram so just took a picture of mine instead!

 

 

 

The relay came from Polevault look for part #74438. (I use these guys for everything car electrical, never failed me).

[KevinS]

Once again, many thanks for all replies / posts.

[Dave K]

The relay has only got two connections on it so fitting an earth isn't an option. I removed the flasher unit from my E-Type (it's a cylinder type with three pins) to try it and it worked OK although it was only for a short period.  I may fit one of those and earth the spare pin to see if it cures the problem.

 

Dave

[KevinS]

So have fitted the relay, a 3 pin Durite 12v Flasher Unit, part No. 074422. Terminal 31 to earth, Terminal 49 to Light Green with Brown Tracer and Terminal 49a to Green. What an improvement! An must upgrade for all mini owners in my opinion who have the old bi-metal flasher unit fitted.

[Ethel]

The underlying problem remains though, so beware that it may deteriorate and leave you with no indicators all of a sudden.

 

Dave K, some old style flasher units have a 3rd terminal to power the cockpit tell-tale bulb. Earthing one of those is likely to just kill it. The photo is of an electronic flasher unit packaged to fit a standard relay socket, note how it's rated for both 2x21 & 4x21 watts - i.e. indicator & hazard functions.

[tiger99]

And that takes us back to another recent thread where someone liked the very nice old-style indicator switch, with the green light on the end, which needed the old-style flasher with the output for the lamp. You could still use one of these, but would need two wires in the stalk, not an earth return, one to each of left and right indicator circuits. But it would still not detect a failed bulb, using a relay that can flash 2 or 4.

 

It seems that we need a modern thing with individual current sensors for each lamp, and a microprocessor. Not difficult, except that they are usually integrated into a heap of other things that have no possible use on a Mini, and you can't just use the indicator part by itself.

 

I will have a think about this, and have a look around later, as I feel sure that there "should" be a solution available somewhere.

[Icey]

The flasher unit I have (and posted above) has an output for a warning lamp - it's the unused connector.

 

As for a digital flasher unit that's load agnostic, that's pretty easy. If you look my build thread you will see I am using a bistable 555 circuit for powering on/off relays with a momentary switch, it would be trivial to convert that to an output only astable circuit (the TIP31 transistors I've used can switch 3a as well, one for each side would be enough and give some reliance).