Flasher Relay

[Pump233ca]

Has anyody every upgraded their Flasher Relays...I will be towing a Tent Trailer this summer and need to upgrade my relay.

[ragingfish]

Not sure why you'd need to upgrade the relay.I know others on here have towed trailers without relay upgrades.

[engine1]

You already have a 'heavy duty' relay controling your lights. Don't worry about it! That is a worry from the old days when electronic flashers were very primitive. Most now use some sort of mechanical switching, the sound you hear when the signal is on is a little metal switch moving on and off a contact within the relay. Tough as nails. Will usually accomodate up to 40amps but some as high as 100. Not sure what ours is but be confident that as long as you don't have more than 8 extra bulbs on the trailer you should be just fine.

[engine1]

How much does the trailer weigh btw? Toungue weight?

[ragingfish]

Curious, I pulled the relay out. Here's what it says on it:TOYOTA81980-02030TN066500-5060T:21(23)Wx2+(0-8)W,27Wx2H:27W MAX,4BULBSFM257X DOTNot totally sure how to interpret that, but seems to say it can't handle as much as we'd thought?

Attached files

[ragingfish]

Update:Noticed writing on top too:FLASHERDENSO12.8V 85/minGuess that doesn't tell us much either. *shrug*

Attached files

[bus driver]

How many prongs on it? Will round one fit? Got all kinds of them, Bus flashers don't seem to last long and they're electronic

[ragingfish]

It's an 8-pin rectangular relay. Prolly proprietary design.

[Jahntassa]

Best way to do this, I would think...get two automotive grade relays from AutoZone/PepBoys/wherever... Run +12 from the battery to the rear of the car, wire the two relays in with the rear blinkers, and use the new relays to drive the trailer. Mike is correct, the flasher relay itself is probably proprietary.Adding small relays to the existing blinker circuit shouldn't affect them, I don't believe relays themselves have much of a resistance to mess things up.

[engine1]

Yeah seems a bit weak. What does the dealer say?

[98ex]

Holy thread resurrectionI know, i know, this is a VERY OLD thread, but I need to ask. I am from matrixowners.com and someone there suggested I come here to ask. This is the only thread I could find that mentioned ANYTHING about the flasher relay. I am upgrading my 2003 Matrix XR from standard bulbs to LED bulbs. I know that some cars won't recognize LED bulbs correctly due to their lower draw of power. Here is the thing, I found a site that sells relays specifically designed just for this, and they specifically have a Toyota relay. I see above that ragingfist mentions it is an 8-pin, and so is the replacement one. THe thing is the part number on the replacement is slightly different than the one he shows. I am just wondering if anyone knows if the 03 Matrix used an 8 pin relay? Here is teh link to the sitehttp://frickinbrite.com/catalo...d=296Pic of replacemnet relayAlso side note, it looks like the replacement one is rated at a higher wattage.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by 98ex »Holy thread resurrection Really, took me a minute to figure out what was going on, reading from the top, ragingfish talking about pulling his out (he traded for a Pontiac G6 a while ago) I'm cheap. If the LEDs take less power than the bulbs, then I'd be inclined to hook it up and see if it works before spending money on a replacement relay. I'd expect the circuit is designed so that a fuse would blow before you'd pull enough current to damage the relay. Fuses are cheap. But disclaimer, if I am wrong, I won't pay for damages

[98ex]

Oh I know about that, what I am worried about is if the relay does not recognize the LED's due to the lower draw of power causing a fast blink like a burnt out bulb.

[joatmon]

OK, I get it now. I didn't know that the relay would do that, but just checked by pulling out a rear turn signal bulb, it did speed up the relay quite a bit. I guess it's a burnt bulb signal to the driver, could be useful, except for you. you could still try it with the LEDs to see what happens