I've run strobe lights in my 1st gen before, but they kept on blowing up. Although my car is 12v normally, when it's in idle, the power easily jumps up to 14v. I'm assuming that this is the cause of my problems.

What advice do you tech guys have? I'm thinking maybe some sort of resistor or voltage regulator might help? What do you think? :confused: So far I've been going around in circles :nuts: The electrical store dudes tell me to go to the auto dudes and the auto dudes tell me to go to the electrical dudes, but no one so far either has them or even know what they are :mad: . I'm thinking of heading to Jaycar to see what they have.

If anyone out there has some advice, please post up and let me know :D

did you ever fuse it?

well you car should be sitting at 14v when the car is going so maybe either add a resistor to the strobes but you should have added a fuse thats what there for the stop blowing things up and setting the car on fire

The difference in voltage will not necessarily be the problem. (12V - 14V)

It sounds like you are overloading the circuit you are running the strobes on.

Where have you connected them, the cigarette lighter?

You could try a voltage reg like a 7812 or something - but chances are, it may be the duty cycle (ie. how long you run them for) that is the problem...

Cheers
Heath Young

I'm not an electrical type of person, so forgive me if my comments aren't accurate or if it seems like I'm on the wrong track. :confused:

The strobes are running off the cigarette lighter, which is fused, so that wouldn't be the problem.

Out of the strobes that I used to have in there, the best lasted for 9 days and the worst lasted for about 1 minute, but they were never used much at all.

In regards to overloading, yes, that is a possibility. What can I do about it? It's got me and a lot of "professionals" clueless, so I'm trying the option of a voltage regulator.

HELP ME PLEASE! The only strobe lights that work in my car are battery powered LED's :mad:

And thanks, for the help too :D

are you running anything else off the ciggy lighter as well? because a fuse will not protect them if they are getting a lack of current.

Yeah, I'm running other stuff off it :shifty:

I did a bit of searching and have found a voltage regulator, which might do the job.

Thanks.

It might be a relay problem.

i had a problem with a neon in my girlfriends car too :mad: connected it off the amp so it would go with the bass :badgrin: worked alright while the volume was low, turned it up and the light got brighter, turned it up a bit more and it was VERY bright, then just stopped :rant:

im not real worried cos i dont like neons much :bowrofl:

I won't have time to install the regulator and strobes until the weekend, so I won't be able to confirm if the regulator works or not until then. I'll let you all know...

Thanks guy's

I won't have time to install the regulator and strobes until the weekend, so I won't be able to confirm if the regulator works or not until then. I'll let you all know...

Thanks guy's

If you have any hassles i would be more then happy to make a regulator circuit up for you. Sing out if i can help...