Hi! If you think this video is long, well I’ll have you know I cut two entire sections from it! Including this bit about hyperflashing: When I was setting this demo up, I was surprised to learn that the thermal flasher doesn’t change speed depending on how many lamps are in-circuit. I thought that this was just a thing all flashers have always done. But once I worked out how this particular flasher functioned, I realized that of course it doesn’t hyperflash with a bulb out because that’s just not possible with its design. Same goes for the capacitor-based model shown here. I had honestly been assuming the Figaro had a thermal flasher, and finding out that it has a more-complicated flasher than the LED-compatible electronic one was quite the discovery! There probably are some thermal designs out there which will change speed based on the current flowing through them, but I don’t know the particulars. If you do, let us know!
I was wondering about hyperflashing the whole time too - if anything, it seems like a lamp out would run the flasher slower, since less current would be available for the heater (or at least adjust the duty cycle.) I wonder if any flasher modules used neon relaxation oscillators. Maybe it's just wishful linking, those neon bulbs are just so damn cool.
Yeah, the 35 year old flasher in my project truck was fucked and I swapped it without giving a thought to what had made it work in the first place and why it wasn't working now. Nice to learn why on both counts. (Also cool to see that A.C. watches T.C. too.)
I have been working on cars for 50 years, and next year I am an electric engineer for 40 years. I know the thermal flasher all too well. But I never saw the capacitor/relay flasher. One is never too old too learn. You run a very informative channel.
But you know you can make a relay oscillator without any components but the relay itself? Just wire the relay coil through normally closed contacts and it will turn itself off when energized, then on again because there is no current through the coil now, and so on. You will even produce some high voltage across the contacts because of the inductive kickback.. The capacitor is just delaying this cycle so it is not zzzzzzz but something like 0.5 hz lol
No joke - this question and observation has been stuck in my head ever since I was a kid and noticed it. And I CAN NOT BELIEVE, 15+ years later I’ve finally found a TH-camr that answered my question with a 37 minutes long video. Cheers to you!
. Yeah! I didn't think it anyone else paid attention to this or tried to sync up theirs. I have been staring at turn signals since I was a kid too. (I'm 32 now) Since I never talked about it and never heard anyone else talk about it, I thought it was just another random, insignificant thing that my ADHD liked to pay attention to. It's super cool to know that I'm not the only one that's thought about this way more than just once or twice. Maybe I'm not so strange after all! haha But then again, "normal" is relative and entirely subjective.
@@Simoneister I'll give him a pass on that one, because he clarified that it was a pair of pairs, which is just the miracle of buying two of two of them. The odd number is harder to forgive. ;)
With over 9 and a half THOUSAND comments, I'm mostly leaving this comment for my own sense of justice. THANK GOD FOR THIS CHANNEL AND VIDEOS LIKE THIS ONE! I sometimes think I'm the only person who thinks about topics like this and details like these. I love the fact that I'm not alone... and almost two million people have watched this!!! I feel validated. Thank you for this outstanding piece of research.
I know it gets said a lot, but I genuinely don't understand how you make seemingly dull topics so exciting and engaging even with lengthy videos. Cheers!
I was actually able to abandon this one... as it's the very firstest of first world problems...something I probably gave 90 seconds of thought when I was a kid... But I'm sure I'll revisit it next time I'm stuck on the throne.
"For fun I've tried to see if BMW used the same flash frequency as GM, but I've literally never had an opportunity to check for some reason." Fantastic BMW driver joke.
Do you know what is really funny? My BMW was recalled to have all the exterior lights replaced for some reason. Yeah, they replaced them with cheap, aftermarket LED bulbs.
Now imagine this: since cars these days are always connected to the internet and have pretty accurate clocks, a manufacturer could make all of their cars flash their turn signals completely in sync. All the time.
@Tim Forget the manufacturer, a clever enough hacker could simply take control of a lot of your cars features like signals, radio or even switch the motor off.
@@KitOkunari Like the GPS functionality on aircraft warning lights (used on high buildings) - they can be set to flash in sync without having a physical connection between them!
Or use beat detection on the audio system and make them flash some even fraction or multiple of the BPM between 60-120 flashes, so it’ll sync up with your music!
I love this channel, you discuss seemingly mundane concepts that everyone has wondered about at one point but never cared to research, but you explain them in an interesting and easy to understand manner and I also love how you delve into the history of the technologies at play. This is the pinnacle of youtube, being interested in a 40 minute educational video about turn signals
I admire how a seemingly trivial question is rewarded with lots of clever engineering solutions and historic details. This really is the essence of the greatness of this channel!
Lukas Pfeifenberger This is not clever engineering, just do it as cheap as you can! You sell Germans cars in the US, frankenstein levels of green cars, DIESEL fuckers, LOL!
By analysing the laws around vehicle lights over here in Belgium I actually found out that rear indicators are allowed to be red, just like in the US, but the front indicators are actually allowed to be white. So I got held up during my yearly car inspection for over an hour because the people inspecting the car didn't want to accept it was actually allowed. They eventually let me go and I felt happy with my victory :) only to switch them back to amber because everyone got confused by the weird white flashing light on my car
Another fun indicator-related oddity: for a few years, it was legal in Australia to have no reversing (reverse gear) lights. The reasoning was to make imports from the US, which did not have space for separate turn signal bulbs, easier by allowing the reversing light spot to be fitted with amber bulbs for turn signals instead.
"look, I'm going down this rabbit hole so you don't have to." most understanding and considerate thing I've ever heard in a youtube video. I feel seen.
33:55 Being able to adjust the volume of warning sounds is such a nice feature! I have sensitive ears, and I rarely drive at highway speeds, so loud alerts can be so startling that it worsens my reaction time. I will definitely be testing whether the volume of the turn signals is impacted by that setting.
I'm quite the opposite, it'd be nice to make the generic "SOMETHING IS BROKEN" chime on my mid 00s Ford louder. And turn signal click, if it could be made speed-variable anyway (not a quiet car on the highway). Though the "hey gramps, you've had your turn signal on for over a mile" dinger works.
Update: our Honda (made within the last 5 years) does *not* change the turn signal noise when changing the system sound. The turn signals still click when the car is off. Also, there’s a separate option for “do you want the volume to increase as speed increases?” on a scale of 0 to 4, where 0 is “no, don’t do that” and 4 is “make it comparatively much louder as speed increases”. Mine was already set to 3, which explains why I didn’t have any issue on the rare times I drive at highway speeds. Shoutout to the designers for caring about these little details so much that I never even noticed them until Technology Connections brought it up.
@@scout8145 Seems like it's either, "you'll like this thoughtful design choice that's satisfying," or, "this is as cheap as possible and barely works in a way I want it to."
I think the reason your videos are so soothing is because they're effectively elaborate grounding methods: they focus on some small part of our physical environment and go into as much depth as possible.
As a German, I was completely speechless when you made that BMW joke. It’s a really well-known stereotype over here: BMW drivers hardly use their turn signals. But I had no idea it made its way to the USA! What is it about these BMWs?!
from my experience its worse in the US compared to europe/germany. and the reason is simple: bmw driver are superior. you dont have to see the blinker, you already know where the bmw driver is going.
Brit here: I drove an F30 BMW 3-Series a few years ago; BMW turn signals are (were?) shite. When you move the stalk it doesn't lock into position and always returns to centre. To have the indicator remain _on_ you need press and hold the stalk up or down for a second; to cancel it you push the stalk up or down again. Of course, they also have lane switching lights (the three flashes). People either don't bother using the turn signal because it's unintuitive and clunky, OR they think it's active when in reality they've only activated the lane switching light.
I'm binge watching this channel, so far I haven't seen one I didn't like yet. You have a gift to explain away complexity in a way that makes the most mundane subjects interesting. Thank you for the content!
I was just thinking that Doug once wondered why the sound of the door opened was overwriting the sound of the blinker. He even said: "maybe Ford thought this was priority" or something like that.
Jays2001, I'm a BMW owner/driver and it made even me chuckle a bit... But I'm worried that there's something seriously wrong with me, cause I actually use my indicators... 🤣
@@kevinjokipii4260 please tell your coworkers that having the signal stalks return to their neutral position even after the turn signal has been fully activated is a STUPID idea.
“I’ve tried to see if bmw might use the same flash frequency as GM but I’ve literally never had an opportunity to check for some reason”. Oh that’s gold
I was at a stoplight today, noticed the person in front of me was synced with mine, and started thinking about everything in this video, even was at the light long enough to notice is drift out of sync. Then the next time I opened TH-cam a few minutes later, This Video was in my recommended feed!!!! I know your phones listen to you, but now it's reading my mind too!!
Another reason turn signals were so imprecise in the past was because of the refinement level of the fluid used in them. Blinker fluid used to be a natural product that was roughly based on mineral oil, and the formulation wasn't consistent. However, in the early '90s, Valvoline patented a synthetic blinker fluid that was incredibly consistent batch-to-batch. They began supplying it to OEMs, and the rest was history. That's the main reason why BMW drivers never use their turn signals: because their blinker fluid is usually dried up.
TC: "I'd like a steering wheel with the stalks, 2 front light units, 2 rear light units, 3 flasher units, oh and some wire and stuff." Car breaker: "Hmm, sounds like your car has got a few issues" TC: "Oh no, I don't get out much and just want to play with this stuff in the house."
@Tip Toe "A car breaker yard is another term for a scrapyard. It’s where old, broken or end-of-life cars and vans are collected, stripped, resold, broken down or, in some cases, destroyed."
"the longevity of the turn signal flasher is at the forefront of every driver's mind!" No joke my grandfather (who was an electrical engineer) refused to use his turn signals because it would wear them out. I'm not sure why it mattered if he wasn't using them in the first place, but he was adamant.
@@MCarrick-ss7xc no joke, using the engine to brake is extremely important if you're trying to go slow downhill. Your brakes will overheat and turn into butter
Honestly the most impressive portion of this video is that he managed to make a 37 minute video on turn signals and refrained from making a bmw joke for 30 of those minutes
I guess this is why I like Alec - there's always logic and reasoning behind his suggestions, rather than a blind "always do x" that might miss corner cases like this
@@williamreynolds6132 I did, so now I will check it out (been subscribed for less than a year, and only discovered him from the more popular videos like how vhs and CRT televisions work).
But the question still remains. Why did he not bring up the stupidity of how so many carmakers in 2021 still use incandescent bulbs to begin with? OEM LEDs don't suffer from the light distribution problems that aftermarket bulb replacements have and yet so many manufacturers refuse to use them
as an electronics technician, professionally, i absolutely love this deep dive into turn signal circuits. go ahead and laugh, i'm used to it. also, years and years ago when i learned what the hyperflash meant in my old VW GTI, i was kind of impressed with that bit of simple but effective design. anyway, love the videos. cheers! edit: omg, that BMW driver snark was just beautiful..well played.
Someone I worked with once told me: "Yeah, I use turn signals when others are around. But when there is no one around, why should I?" I never understood that mentality - just always wiggle the finger to make a turn signal, and you never have to worry or think about it anymore, since it's just automatic
You're not wrong, but some of us get bored with going through the motions of driving and so coming up with little tricks to keep the mind focused on driving is important for safety. After all, distracted driving is a strong contender with drunk driving for causing accidents; even if distracted accidents tend to be less disastrous. By paying attention to if there are cars around, that is one more thing that causes the driver to focus on driving. And even better if you can remember what cars are in what position around you, and the possible intent that each driver is making. And of course, the answer is yes you always need to use turn signals even when there are not apparent cars around. Because what if you're wrong about there being vehicles around? People seem to have trouble seeing motorcycles sometimes for one.
For 40 years, I have been wondering about that... And here is the man that I trust to provide us with the explanation. 37 mins is nothing compared with how many years I have been wondering about...
On the other hand: It seems that syncing the indicators on the dashboard with the sound and the turn signals is not done. While the CAN bus is a real time system, it does not have that kind of synchronization I guess.
It has literally never occurred to me to do this, and I've been driving for fifty years. OTOH, my current vehicle is an '07, so it probably has an independent flasher control anyway...
Here in Germany, you have to do exactly that in order to pass the regular car safety test. And a policemen or similar person can stop your car and set it out of order until you fixed that.
@@ShenLong991 Unfortunately, the Cro-Magnons that we call politicians and policy makers that run the US aren't/weren't smart enough to have made a law that requires road vehicles to be checked for compliance on a regular schedule.
@@acywei You have to get your car inspected every year in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I couldn't believe I didn't need an inspection when I moved to Colorado a couple years ago.
I came here to say that. Thank you. There is currently crackdown on LED lamps where I live, especially "angel eyes" BMW's and loud exhausts. It seems that government doesn't realize, that "angel eyes" isn't a priority, and those who do have them mounted on their cars, most likely have everything else in check, as lamps isn't usually top item on BMW owners to-do list, meanwhile a gray civic with a rusted out floor is acceptable. Also, for those who think they don't need new headlight assembly when switching to LED, you're missing out. Might as well stay with incandescent bulbs.
@@MrC0MPUT3R here in North Carolina there’s a dude downtown Brevard that will pass your vehicle no matter what, ain’t got a working horn? No problem! Seatbelts get stuck? No problem! Seriously it’s nice but kinda bad at the same time…
For many years, I found it interesting when flashers would synchronize for a short while. I had a pretty good idea why it didn't last. What I didn't know is that they now can stay synchronized, AND I know why. Once again learning just to learn and nothing more. Sometimes it's fun and you've got a knack for making it so.
People with early Teslas complained about the out of sync blinkers, blinker sound, and blinker indicators to the point where Tesla pushed an OTA update to force everything into sync
And they still haven't fixed how a drone can hack your whole car over wifi, even after we sent them the source code for the exploit. But then again you can hack his rockets with a $50 ham radio so what do I expect
Only change one bulb first... You give THE BEST life pro tips! The bit about how to use the pre-rinse feature in one of your dishwasher videos changed me life. I am humbled by your common sense and ingenuity! 🤩
I've come to inform this thread (as much as it pains me to do this) of the following search query: Blinker type beat. You're welcome, and I'm sorry on behalf of all type beat producers that the end results aren't better 🤣
On older vehicles that used the old-style flashers, you had to install a heavy-duty flasher (especially on pickup trucks) when you were towing a trailer due to the extra load from the trailer lights. If you did not install the heavy duty one, your turn signals would flash very fast. Similar to what you see when a bulb burns out.
Pretty much every modern vehicle has some sort of speed sensitive volume. It's an absolutely awful feature, but a funny way of trying to compensate for poor sound deadening.
My understanding of subaru drivers in UK is that they are generally going flat out and never use their turn signals. I suspect any of them that read your comment will be momentarily surprised
reading the title I thought "how is he going to talk about the transition from relays to microprocessors for over 30 minutes?" and yet you still managed to make it entertaining and sneak in new information.
28:13 Fun fact: in a 1990s volvo v40 (mine is a 98) the warning light for the driver seatbelt icon uses the turn signal flasher as audio and visual que to put your seatbelt on. It does so at hyperflashing speed. If turn signals are then used the warning light slows down to normal turn signal speeds. Moreover, the locking and unlocking of the car via key fob also activates the green arrows and click noises in the car. Would love to see the frankenstein circuit they designed there. :)
I used to "tune" the turn signals in my truck by using "heavier" switches. I always hated "fast" signals, they sound like they're powered by caffeinated Jack Russell terriers.
More often than not these days, it seems like at least half the cars on the road must have “like new condition” or “totally broken” turn signal arrays because so many drivers apparently view them as optional equipment. My husband occasionally likes to remind me that despite over 30 years of marriage, he still can’t read my mind. Unfortunately, far too many drivers seem to be under the faulty impression that I can read their minds.
@@tanya5322 Quite popular is also the good old “I’ll start signaling once I’m already turning/switching lanes” move. Thanks, I actually could tell that you were switching lanes because you are already are halfway in mine. But go ahead, start signaling now and not beforehand.
@@JustJustSid That's just being considerate. I literally saw someone stop and then turn into a side road yesterday, with no signalling, and THEN turn on the indicator as they were straightening up to go down the new road to, you know, inform the world of the maneuver they just performed.
@@JustJustSid I think most people do that because they are afraid you'll cut them off. I swear, most people don't understand that you're supposed to be courteous to other drivers.
I wonder what your neighbours think of you sometimes. This time he's driving his car back and forth. The other time he's filming he's airconditioning in the middle of winter snow.
Alec you scared the shit out of me. I was barely falling asleep and then i wake up staring at a zoomed up man saying “you should never ever ever put aftermarket LED replacement bulbs in your car don’t do that it’s bad” imma just binge your vids bc I can’t sleep. Thx.
I've been watching this channel for quite a while now and it still mesmerizes me how his videos can keep me entretained for thirty plus minutes on the most seem-boring topics... hands down one of the best channels I follow...
My fave joke is "If you think you have a meaningless job, just remember there is some guy fitting turn signals to BMWs". It is good to see you have the problem with BMWs as we do in the UK
I'll have you know I've used the indicators on my BMW so much that I burned out the controller. Clearly BMW didn't anticipate them being used twice in the same month.
@@naamadossantossilva4736 They're expensive and have status. I don't consider myself a douchebag, I just wanted an affordable used 400hp toy. I put way more miles on my grandpa car daily driver though.
I daily drive a 95 bmw 4cyl with over 200k miles on it. Parts are cheap and repairs are easy, though I can't give accolade to their power window systems in the 90's cars(e36). Enthusiasts like them because of the way it FEELS to drive! Can't say I'm into new models however, just like any car these days, they are just glorified computers.
I would love to see a connextras following this video: - I appreciate the warning about lights being too dim but since you were talking about aftermarket lighting, it is worth mentioning that it can be too bright too. Some pillocks install xenon lamps in their cars thus blinding oncoming traffic. This, if not as bad, is worse than signalling lights being too dim! In Russia they can even deprive you of your driving license if you are using incorrect aftermarket lights - Some might be wondering how blinkers automatically disengage once the turn is complete (i.e. steering wheel is straight again). Again, a slightly different topic and a completely different mechanism but it's interesting to see how one action is performed thanks to the harmony of two unrelated mechanisms. And you've got the magic of not having to buy extra props since you already have them!
Automatically disengaging turn signals: my guess is a sort of rachet mechanism. As you turn the wheel you hear a click at certain points where the signal turns off when you turn back from that point.
Older turn signal switches are actually very complicated devices, especially once you add the headlight switch, hazard lights that need non-interruptable power, and trailer lights that are also used as brake lights. Source: Spent a few hours trying to reverse engineer the turn signal switch from a 99 Ford.
The problem with aftermarket led headlights is that many of them don't get the leds in the right position to simulate the original filament, and so the reflector doesn't get it focused into a nice beam. The led design needs to be different between a projector headlight and a reflector headlight, and each headlight housing has a slightly different design. If you don't get the correct match then you will blind everyone. I needed to upgrade my semi truck to leds (halogen was too dim for safety, and I got tired of paying for the short lived and expensive High Brightness Krypton ones, so I decided to go with led). It took me quite a while looking at articles and reviews and TH-cam video reviews showing the beam patterns of different brand leds in different headlight housings before I finally settled on a couple of brands that looked like they might work, and then I pulled my truck up to a white dock wall and used a sharpie to mark the outline of the beam pattern with the halogen bulb. Then I put an led in one side and compared the beam pattern etc, and then tried the other brand. I found one of them matched every point on my markings EXACTLY, while the other one was a bit wonky. So I put the good one in the low beams, and put the one with poor beam control in the high beams where it won't effect anyone, and I am happy with the results. I also carefully re aimed the headlights afterwards, and parked on a level street and walked to the other end of the block to check for glare, etc, and I never have anyone flash me in complaint lol But most people don't go to that much work, and don't even know there is a difference, and so blind everyone.
Yeah, I really hate that. If I can't see your turn signals or brake lights very clearly, I'll most likely still figure out what you're doing. If I can't _see_, well, that's a much bigger problem.
It is much easier to upgrade for those who drive cars with round headlights - Jeep Wrangler, Land Rover Defender (older one), Lada Niva, UAZ Hunter etc. There are aftermarket LED headlights that replace entire assembly.
I know this is bordering on necroposting, but there is a little tidbit that I have discovered on our older ambulance; Some lamps are backup safeties. When there is some sort of overcurrent or fault, the bulb blows. Sounds less than ideal, but when it's a 9 dollar bulb or a $350K emergency vehicle... Just saying, I'll take changing the bulb and doing a little troubleshooting on electrical system. On second thought, maybe letting it burn would be less frustrating....
@@andy02q I've noticed that in small towns a very large number of residents don't use the blinkers. It could be because in small towns the pace of everything is very slow and so they mostly also drive too slowly that they can fail to use the blinkers and not run a high risk of being rear-ended
@@hydrolifetech7911 It's partly because of the same thing that causes people to end up in accidents closer to home; they're comfortable so they let their guard down.
I saw the title and thumbnail of this video like a year ago but didn't click on it and then whenever I thought that 2 cars had their blinkers synced I remembered this video. Finnaly I got recomended this again and now here I am.
Re: Turn signal noises - My EV, a Renault Zoe, has three different clicking noises to choose from! Weirdly, it’s also linked to what style of display you want on the dashboard. Unfortunately, the best turn signal noises are paired to the ugliest dashboard display.
Or (presumably) any other left side driving country who (presumably) also get their Japanese imports unmodified. (Subaru-driving Brits/Toyota-driving Indians/Honda-driving Thai/Nissan-driving South Africans/Daihatsu-driving Surinamese want to weigh in?)
I think the real eccentric is when European/US cars (Except UK) comes to Aussie, Singapore, Japan or UK, they shifted the driver position but not the position of the signal/wiper stock. We have to struggle between indicating signals while trying to gear shift.
I understand your pain. I'm in Sydney. I drive a European built Ford I bought in 2017. It has the stalks in the correct position i.e. indicators on right and wipers on left so no problems. However, the previous car I had was a different model European Ford and they didn't bother with changing them over, so indicators on left. That was different to every other car in the household and most of the rentals I drove for work. I got sick of using the wipers to signal turns the first time I changed cars. It is good that Ford finally made the change for RHD market. Fun fact, the Ford Mustang in Australia has RHD stalks and so did those USA made Holdens that no one bought.
My biggest annoyance about modern cars and indicators etc, at least in Australia, is you cant see half of them because they dont use the coloured housing, they coat the bulb in film but unless you are directly head on you cant see the inticator, a real PITA on roundabouts etc. I wish the ADR (Australian Design Rules) would ban clear Indicator housings and mandata visibility of each inicator to a much wider angle, or at least enforce it because it seems to have given way to "fashion over function"
Haha quality Makes some sense when you imagine there is a duty cycle for the voltage being applied to the cap. It never gets the chance to charge above probably 13 volt before being discharged.
Given the drop across the coil you could easily design that to stay inside the rating of a 10v cap, only time it'll ever se the full (potentially 14.4v) voltage of the charging battery is if the relay jams or contacts cease making through corrosion or contamination, in which case it's dead anyway & the cap failing won't make it any deader.
@@sparqqling compared to the thermal flashers they were replacing, they must certainly WERE long life! Lol They also could handle trucks lots of lights, trailers, etc, unlike the thermal style.
Doesn't it automatically click off when the wheel is turned straight? The only way I imagine that to occur is if they deliberately keep holding the stock half way.
@@weirdofromhalo It gets worse: oftentimes I need to maneuver and keep my blinker on, but it keeps turning off as I work my steering wheel in various directions.
@@weirdofromhalo: You say that as if it were two different things. It's one and the same; lane changes just don't take much of a turn of the steering wheel.
Hi! If you think this video is long, well I’ll have you know I cut two entire sections from it! Including this bit about hyperflashing:
When I was setting this demo up, I was surprised to learn that the thermal flasher doesn’t change speed depending on how many lamps are in-circuit. I thought that this was just a thing all flashers have always done. But once I worked out how this particular flasher functioned, I realized that of course it doesn’t hyperflash with a bulb out because that’s just not possible with its design. Same goes for the capacitor-based model shown here. I had honestly been assuming the Figaro had a thermal flasher, and finding out that it has a more-complicated flasher than the LED-compatible electronic one was quite the discovery!
There probably are some thermal designs out there which will change speed based on the current flowing through them, but I don’t know the particulars. If you do, let us know!
no, its not long enough, now i gotta wait forever for the next video :(
Oh man I would have liked to see that bit. I’d watch a whole 25-minute video just on hyperflashing.
Dig the hair bro
We want longer videos, 3 days long at a maximum.
I was wondering about hyperflashing the whole time too - if anything, it seems like a lamp out would run the flasher slower, since less current would be available for the heater (or at least adjust the duty cycle.)
I wonder if any flasher modules used neon relaxation oscillators. Maybe it's just wishful linking, those neon bulbs are just so damn cool.
37 minute video about turn signals; Time well spent.
Yeah I didn’t expect it to be that long about turn signals. Still need to finish it later lol.
Yeah, the 35 year old flasher in my project truck was fucked and I swapped it without giving a thought to what had made it work in the first place and why it wasn't working now. Nice to learn why on both counts.
(Also cool to see that A.C. watches T.C. too.)
Yay, Andrew, …….go watch his channel guys, it’s great 👍
This video was lit….
This man can make the most mundane subjects fascinating. I love it.
I for one am thankful the engineers worked so hard to satisfy my deep internal need for blinker synchronization.
It is a primal need shared by all of humanity.
So am I!
I love your videos, by the way :-)
Blink-ronization for short.
No, it's kind of dumb. Why should they synchronize?
Cool to see you in the comments, I love your videos!
"I'm going down this rabbit hole so you don't have to" should be the motto of the channel.
21:51 And we appreciate him for doing so. These videos are addicting.
I felt that in the dishwasher episode when he showed what happens when you use dish soap instead of detergent
I have been working on cars for 50 years, and next year I am an electric engineer for 40 years. I know the thermal flasher all too well. But I never saw the capacitor/relay flasher. One is never too old too learn. You run a very informative channel.
But you know you can make a relay oscillator without any components but the relay itself? Just wire the relay coil through normally closed contacts and it will turn itself off when energized, then on again because there is no current through the coil now, and so on. You will even produce some high voltage across the contacts because of the inductive kickback.. The capacitor is just delaying this cycle so it is not zzzzzzz but something like 0.5 hz lol
you're 90?
@@petterlarsson7257 They can be 2 things concurrently.
No joke - this question and observation has been stuck in my head ever since I was a kid and noticed it. And I CAN NOT BELIEVE, 15+ years later I’ve finally found a TH-camr that answered my question with a 37 minutes long video. Cheers to you!
My sentiment precisely. Thanks for writing it out. And thank you Alec
Exactly!
. Yeah! I didn't think it anyone else paid attention to this or tried to sync up theirs. I have been staring at turn signals since I was a kid too. (I'm 32 now) Since I never talked about it and never heard anyone else talk about it, I thought it was just another random, insignificant thing that my ADHD liked to pay attention to.
It's super cool to know that I'm not the only one that's thought about this way more than just once or twice. Maybe I'm not so strange after all! haha But then again, "normal" is relative and entirely subjective.
Same!
At this point it feels like there's a TH-cam video for every obscure question I had but no one knows the answer to.
"The magic of buying…three of them"
You've betrayed me
"Through the magic of buying…four more of them"
You continue to weather my already weakened trust
@@Simoneister I'll give him a pass on that one, because he clarified that it was a pair of pairs, which is just the miracle of buying two of two of them. The odd number is harder to forgive. ;)
@@ZGryphon IT'S MAGIC! IT'S FRIGGIN MAGIC! NEVER SAW IT COMING! MIND = *BLOWN*
nooo, you spoiled the moment for me! :(
As soon as I saw two completely assembled flashers I knew the magic of buying three of them was coming. Love it!
Technology Connections: "Turns out there's a very simple explanation"
Me: *Looks at the length of the video*
Simple is a relative term.
It is just one video.
@@forgiveman one so far....although we can say it's a sequel of the brake/turns combo ran-...video....do i smell a new series 🤔
Ah, the attention span of our modern world (myself absolutely included) means 40 minutes to explain something is too long to qualify as "simple".
I don't need sleep, I need answers!
With over 9 and a half THOUSAND comments, I'm mostly leaving this comment for my own sense of justice. THANK GOD FOR THIS CHANNEL AND VIDEOS LIKE THIS ONE! I sometimes think I'm the only person who thinks about topics like this and details like these. I love the fact that I'm not alone... and almost two million people have watched this!!! I feel validated. Thank you for this outstanding piece of research.
Its interesting to read what people feel like somtimes.
I felt the exact same way! I feel a little less weird today
Jesus loves you alot trust in His death 4 salvation and be saved from eternal hell
I love that at 43 years old I can still listen to an educator give a lesson about something I learned about 25 years ago
I know it gets said a lot, but I genuinely don't understand how you make seemingly dull topics so exciting and engaging even with lengthy videos. Cheers!
I genuinely don't understand how you get so interested in it.
Nevermind. I'm getting sucked in and I just can't muster the will power to leave. Its so damn hypnotic!
It's the acerbic wit
I was actually able to abandon this one... as it's the very firstest of first world problems...something I probably gave 90 seconds of thought when I was a kid... But I'm sure I'll revisit it next time I'm stuck on the throne.
@@control_the_pet_population sitting on the throne for 37min? You might need more fiber in your diet.
"For fun I've tried to see if BMW used the same flash frequency as GM, but I've literally never had an opportunity to check for some reason."
Fantastic BMW driver joke.
I instantly thought, 'What are the odds of him never once being behind a BMW using their turning indicat--' before I got the joke, haha.
Do you know what is really funny? My BMW was recalled to have all the exterior lights replaced for some reason. Yeah, they replaced them with cheap, aftermarket LED bulbs.
It's interesting that this jokes exists in the US as well, not just in Germany :D
I didn't get the joke until I read this comment. I don't drive in Chicagoland anymore and the trauma has faded.
It took me a second but it was fantastic once it clicked
-Unlike a BMW's blinker-
This is like the highway equivalent of waiting for the DVD screensaver to perfectly bounce off the corner of the screen.
Did we just become best friends?
@@Anonymous-mx9dh Yep! Do you wanna go do karate in the garage?
Oh man I fell my age but reminisce on the good old days
If that happened, I'd just have to follow them to see if I can make it happen again.
I think that went pretty well.
Today I learned that NOT all things that act like timing relays, are relays.
Now imagine this: since cars these days are always connected to the internet and have pretty accurate clocks, a manufacturer could make all of their cars flash their turn signals completely in sync. All the time.
They could also use a radio receiver to synchronize the clocks without internet.
@Tim Forget the manufacturer, a clever enough hacker could simply take control of a lot of your cars features like signals, radio or even switch the motor off.
@@KitOkunari Like the GPS functionality on aircraft warning lights (used on high buildings) - they can be set to flash in sync without having a physical connection between them!
Or use beat detection on the audio system and make them flash some even fraction or multiple of the BPM between 60-120 flashes, so it’ll sync up with your music!
It might be real if cars were using GPS. GPS is built into every modern car and it provides really precise clock.
I love this channel, you discuss seemingly mundane concepts that everyone has wondered about at one point but never cared to research, but you explain them in an interesting and easy to understand manner and I also love how you delve into the history of the technologies at play. This is the pinnacle of youtube, being interested in a 40 minute educational video about turn signals
Amen
I admire how a seemingly trivial question is rewarded with lots of clever engineering solutions and historic details. This really is the essence of the greatness of this channel!
Lukas Pfeifenberger
This is not clever engineering, just do it as cheap as you can!
You sell Germans cars in the US, frankenstein levels of green cars, DIESEL fuckers, LOL!
By analysing the laws around vehicle lights over here in Belgium I actually found out that rear indicators are allowed to be red, just like in the US, but the front indicators are actually allowed to be white. So I got held up during my yearly car inspection for over an hour because the people inspecting the car didn't want to accept it was actually allowed. They eventually let me go and I felt happy with my victory :) only to switch them back to amber because everyone got confused by the weird white flashing light on my car
Another fun indicator-related oddity: for a few years, it was legal in Australia to have no reversing (reverse gear) lights. The reasoning was to make imports from the US, which did not have space for separate turn signal bulbs, easier by allowing the reversing light spot to be fitted with amber bulbs for turn signals instead.
"I wanted to see if I could sink my flasher to a BMW; but have literally never had the opportunity" had me lmfao
Best gag of the episode
I guess I don't understand that joke. And isn't it written "synched"?
Edit: Oh, now I get it. :}
@@kryzethplays because BMW drivers don’t use blinkers.
i spit out my drink on that
BMW drivers will not get this joke. They are entirely too important to bother with humor, or listening, or learning things.
"There is no way I can be interested in a video about turn signals for 37 minutes"
(37 minutes later) "Well, I'll be damned."
I confess to fast-forwarding a bit through the PSA, as someone with no desire to replace my lamp bulbs
@@cloudkitt I usually replace them when they're out of service, as I don't have the funds to replace the car every time that happens. 😉
You must be new here lol
"look, I'm going down this rabbit hole so you don't have to."
most understanding and considerate thing I've ever heard in a youtube video. I feel seen.
33:55 Being able to adjust the volume of warning sounds is such a nice feature! I have sensitive ears, and I rarely drive at highway speeds, so loud alerts can be so startling that it worsens my reaction time. I will definitely be testing whether the volume of the turn signals is impacted by that setting.
skill issue
I'm quite the opposite, it'd be nice to make the generic "SOMETHING IS BROKEN" chime on my mid 00s Ford louder. And turn signal click, if it could be made speed-variable anyway (not a quiet car on the highway).
Though the "hey gramps, you've had your turn signal on for over a mile" dinger works.
@@jpassa9093 lmao
Update: our Honda (made within the last 5 years) does *not* change the turn signal noise when changing the system sound. The turn signals still click when the car is off.
Also, there’s a separate option for “do you want the volume to increase as speed increases?” on a scale of 0 to 4, where 0 is “no, don’t do that” and 4 is “make it comparatively much louder as speed increases”. Mine was already set to 3, which explains why I didn’t have any issue on the rare times I drive at highway speeds.
Shoutout to the designers for caring about these little details so much that I never even noticed them until Technology Connections brought it up.
@@scout8145 Seems like it's either, "you'll like this thoughtful design choice that's satisfying," or, "this is as cheap as possible and barely works in a way I want it to."
I think the reason your videos are so soothing is because they're effectively elaborate grounding methods: they focus on some small part of our physical environment and go into as much depth as possible.
tako je
As a German, I was completely speechless when you made that BMW joke. It’s a really well-known stereotype over here: BMW drivers hardly use their turn signals. But I had no idea it made its way to the USA! What is it about these BMWs?!
BMW are marketed to ✨ specific ✨ type of humans xD
from my experience its worse in the US compared to europe/germany. and the reason is simple: bmw driver are superior. you dont have to see the blinker, you already know where the bmw driver is going.
Brit here: I drove an F30 BMW 3-Series a few years ago; BMW turn signals are (were?) shite. When you move the stalk it doesn't lock into position and always returns to centre. To have the indicator remain _on_ you need press and hold the stalk up or down for a second; to cancel it you push the stalk up or down again. Of course, they also have lane switching lights (the three flashes). People either don't bother using the turn signal because it's unintuitive and clunky, OR they think it's active when in reality they've only activated the lane switching light.
What's the difference between BMW's and porcupines? Porcupines have pricks on the outside!
Bmws turn signals are a pain to use really so people dont bother
"a quirk only Doug could appreciate"
I appreciated that
but you're sean not doug
@@leaf9974 maybe "a quirk only Doug and his 4M followers could appreciate" ?
Same here.
This wasn't a Doug-less Quirk :)
Who is Doug?
I'm binge watching this channel, so far I haven't seen one I didn't like yet. You have a gift to explain away complexity in a way that makes the most mundane subjects interesting. Thank you for the content!
Same! More bingeable than many tv shows
“A quirk only Doug could appreciate” lol
I was just thinking that Doug once wondered why the sound of the door opened was overwriting the sound of the blinker. He even said: "maybe Ford thought this was priority" or something like that.
Is Doug now required to mention blinks per minute?
Wonderful...! Many thanks to all who use my name!
I hope Doug sees this video
Who is this Doug you speak of?
The BWM joke made my day, all this time I thought indicators were an optional extra on European BMWs but it turns out it's global!
Jays2001, I'm a BMW owner/driver and it made even me chuckle a bit... But I'm worried that there's something seriously wrong with me, cause I actually use my indicators... 🤣
Came to the comments looking for the BMW joke appreciation, was not disappointed.
@@TheTronder007 I have coworkers who design the blinker switches for BMWs so they'll be glad to hear SOMEone is using them.
Savage. Brutal. Rekt. And I loved every second of it.
@@kevinjokipii4260 please tell your coworkers that having the signal stalks return to their neutral position even after the turn signal has been fully activated is a STUPID idea.
“I’ve tried to see if bmw might use the same flash frequency as GM but I’ve literally never had an opportunity to check for some reason”. Oh that’s gold
I was at a stoplight today, noticed the person in front of me was synced with mine, and started thinking about everything in this video, even was at the light long enough to notice is drift out of sync.
Then the next time I opened TH-cam a few minutes later, This Video was in my recommended feed!!!!
I know your phones listen to you, but now it's reading my mind too!!
Another reason turn signals were so imprecise in the past was because of the refinement level of the fluid used in them. Blinker fluid used to be a natural product that was roughly based on mineral oil, and the formulation wasn't consistent. However, in the early '90s, Valvoline patented a synthetic blinker fluid that was incredibly consistent batch-to-batch. They began supplying it to OEMs, and the rest was history.
That's the main reason why BMW drivers never use their turn signals: because their blinker fluid is usually dried up.
I can't 😂😂😂
Yes bmws are vastly known for blinker fluid leaks
They miss out on other key maintenance features as well, unless it's the grocery getter and they regularly service it (rare for a beamer).
Don't forget BMW requires a special blinker fluid replacement tool to access the blinker fluid reservoir and that costs extra money!
Jesus loves you alot trust in His death 4 salvation and be saved from eternal hell
TC: "I'd like a steering wheel with the stalks, 2 front light units, 2 rear light units, 3 flasher units, oh and some wire and stuff."
Car breaker: "Hmm, sounds like your car has got a few issues"
TC: "Oh no, I don't get out much and just want to play with this stuff in the house."
Ever since TH-cam was created this is not even the weirdest thing by a long shot.
@Tip Toe
"A car breaker yard is another term for a scrapyard. It’s where old, broken or end-of-life cars and vans are collected, stripped, resold, broken down or, in some cases, destroyed."
TC: "Could I also get 3 hurricane lamps, 1 traffic light and two dishwashers?"
@@lanswipe While we're at it, give me please that stylish chrome toaster there! I have two of those already but it's never too much!
@@matthew8153 I remember a time Linus went to a junkyard and took an old Heater core to use as a PC radiator in a custom liquid cooling loop lol
"I'm going down this rabbit hole so you don't have to." - Alec's mission statement in a nutshell
How can I delegate my rabbit hole spelunking??
Pretty sure his real name is Alice.
"a quirk only Doug can appreciate"
We will now be shown the quirks and features of modern turn signals!
I don't get it. (Really, I don't need to.) (I think.)
Doug DeMuro is a car reviewer here on TH-cam. You can tell he's rather popular from the number of TH-cam Poops cs188 has made featuring him.
_This_ is a turn signal relay
"the longevity of the turn signal flasher is at the forefront of every driver's mind!" No joke my grandfather (who was an electrical engineer) refused to use his turn signals because it would wear them out. I'm not sure why it mattered if he wasn't using them in the first place, but he was adamant.
The flasher in my '90s Ford Fiesta (probably one of the electronic types shown) failed after about 10 years
Yep this is why I never use my brakes.
@@MCarrick-ss7xc no joke, using the engine to brake is extremely important if you're trying to go slow downhill. Your brakes will overheat and turn into butter
@@AvenDonn and then your car will hit something at great speed and turn into a sandwich. Yum!
@@AvenDonn no brakes no engine no dethottle.
Honestly the most impressive portion of this video is that he managed to make a 37 minute video on turn signals and refrained from making a bmw joke for 30 of those minutes
He implied it once 👀
He did though!
@@leaf3002 He’s saying not throughout the whole video, but for at least 30 minutes straight
I never thought I'd see the day when technology connects would say "use an incandescent bulb instead of an led bulb," but here we are.
You must have missed his rants about the Christmas lights.
It's for a good reason...
I guess this is why I like Alec - there's always logic and reasoning behind his suggestions, rather than a blind "always do x" that might miss corner cases like this
@@williamreynolds6132 I did, so now I will check it out (been subscribed for less than a year, and only discovered him from the more popular videos like how vhs and CRT televisions work).
But the question still remains. Why did he not bring up the stupidity of how so many carmakers in 2021 still use incandescent bulbs to begin with? OEM LEDs don't suffer from the light distribution problems that aftermarket bulb replacements have and yet so many manufacturers refuse to use them
as an electronics technician, professionally, i absolutely love this deep dive into turn signal circuits. go ahead and laugh, i'm used to it.
also, years and years ago when i learned what the hyperflash meant in my old VW GTI, i was kind of impressed with that bit of simple but effective design.
anyway, love the videos. cheers!
edit: omg, that BMW driver snark was just beautiful..well played.
Someone I worked with once told me: "Yeah, I use turn signals when others are around. But when there is no one around, why should I?"
I never understood that mentality - just always wiggle the finger to make a turn signal, and you never have to worry or think about it anymore, since it's just automatic
That's some next level laziness
You're not wrong, but some of us get bored with going through the motions of driving and so coming up with little tricks to keep the mind focused on driving is important for safety. After all, distracted driving is a strong contender with drunk driving for causing accidents; even if distracted accidents tend to be less disastrous.
By paying attention to if there are cars around, that is one more thing that causes the driver to focus on driving. And even better if you can remember what cars are in what position around you, and the possible intent that each driver is making.
And of course, the answer is yes you always need to use turn signals even when there are not apparent cars around. Because what if you're wrong about there being vehicles around? People seem to have trouble seeing motorcycles sometimes for one.
@@TheTheninjagummybear you know what they say about lazyness
I typically answer: I'd rather forget that I'm alone than forget I'm not, so it's better to get used to using them without thinking about it.
Also: pedestrians are road users and you can't always see them. That's why you should always use them.
The "Ambiguity of American Turn Signals" - or whatever it's called - was my introduction to Technology Connections, so thank you!
Have you seen the fully mechanical jukebox video? That one got me hooked, tho I don't think it was the first I ever watched, that was a while ago.
I’ve always seen his obsession over this as his falling victim to the dangers of “but sometimes”
"The US Electrical System is Not 120 V" is a masterpiece
The SENSELESS Ambiguity of North American Turn Signals
@@catfish552 😂 Yeah, I left out an important keyword!!!
"I've literally never had the opportunity to check for some reason."
Damn, that shade was darker than the lights from a tinted taillight.
Master ruseman, hard at work
Got a chuckle out of me. Could have been audi drivers too
It took me a second to get it, lol
@@jmacd8817 I feel stupid, but I still don’t get it.
@@1dareu2mov3 BMW drivers don't use turn signals.
For 40 years, I have been wondering about that... And here is the man that I trust to provide us with the explanation. 37 mins is nothing compared with how many years I have been wondering about...
"Turns out there's a very simple explanation for why you can't get two indicators to flash in sync"
*37 minute video*
Edit: I am not complaining btw
Simple and Time-Efficient don't always correlate
Sure, but the actual explanation is just 2 minutes.
You just made me toot. For 37 minutes. But I told you in two. Twooot. If you read slowly. So read slowly smarty farty panties
snyc
It's simple but his explanation isn't.
My favorite magic system is "buying n+1 of them, where n = however many you've shown so far"
his bank transaction ledger must be full of "+1"
An interesting addition to the Technology Connections Bimetallic Strip Cinematic Universe.
What is this, a crossover episode?
A driver of 19 years, I’ve only ever had this happen once and the signals matched up exactly. Great information, thanks for sharing!
Being able to sync your flasher with the car in front:
- probably the most obscure and least appreciated advantage of putting microprocessors in cars
not syncing the audio track to the video:
probably the most obscure and most infuriating things to do in editing
On the other hand:
It seems that syncing the indicators on the dashboard with the sound and the turn signals is not done.
While the CAN bus is a real time system, it does not have that kind of synchronization I guess.
It has literally never occurred to me to do this, and I've been driving for fifty years. OTOH, my current vehicle is an '07, so it probably has an independent flasher control anyway...
TC really has the market cornered on questions I’ve secretly had since I was a child.
I can’t tell if you spend your childhood inseparable from _How it Works_ by David Macaulay or if I’m about to blow your mind.
@@bertilhatt I’m the first one for sure.
I'm still waiting for him to explain quicksand.
I can't wait for him to explain "how they get the streetlights to turn on remotely"...
@@scythal Light detector. Street light light up when it's dark enough.
If you want to replace your incandescents with LEDs, also replace the lamp assemblies with ones designed to magnify the LEDs correctly.
Here in Germany, you have to do exactly that in order to pass the regular car safety test. And a policemen or similar person can stop your car and set it out of order until you fixed that.
@@ShenLong991 Unfortunately, the Cro-Magnons that we call politicians and policy makers that run the US aren't/weren't smart enough to have made a law that requires road vehicles to be checked for compliance on a regular schedule.
@@acywei You have to get your car inspected every year in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I couldn't believe I didn't need an inspection when I moved to Colorado a couple years ago.
I came here to say that. Thank you. There is currently crackdown on LED lamps where I live, especially "angel eyes" BMW's and loud exhausts. It seems that government doesn't realize, that "angel eyes" isn't a priority, and those who do have them mounted on their cars, most likely have everything else in check, as lamps isn't usually top item on BMW owners to-do list, meanwhile a gray civic with a rusted out floor is acceptable. Also, for those who think they don't need new headlight assembly when switching to LED, you're missing out. Might as well stay with incandescent bulbs.
@@MrC0MPUT3R here in North Carolina there’s a dude downtown Brevard that will pass your vehicle no matter what, ain’t got a working horn? No problem! Seatbelts get stuck? No problem! Seriously it’s nice but kinda bad at the same time…
For many years, I found it interesting when flashers would synchronize for a short while. I had a pretty good idea why it didn't last. What I didn't know is that they now can stay synchronized, AND I know why. Once again learning just to learn and nothing more. Sometimes it's fun and you've got a knack for making it so.
This guy would make a great comedy villain lol. He's just the right level of clever and sarcastic
I can just see his Volt exploding, leaving a huge mass of amber muscle behind shouting:
BLINKY TURNY FLASHY NO LINE UP ARRRRRGH SMAAAAAASH!!!!!!!!!!
This guy is the Riddler's secret identity, through the magic of buying two of them.
His plans would definitely be very thought-out.
"oh, you think you have me bested, mr. bond?"
"well, through the magic of buying two of them.. I expect you to die!"
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 Very thought out in the most seemingly mundane but surprisingly devastating ways
People with early Teslas complained about the out of sync blinkers, blinker sound, and blinker indicators to the point where Tesla pushed an OTA update to force everything into sync
the best thing elon told his engineers to do
That's kind of awesome that Twitter complaints can turn into car improvements lol
@Les Agreed.
And they still haven't fixed how a drone can hack your whole car over wifi, even after we sent them the source code for the exploit. But then again you can hack his rockets with a $50 ham radio so what do I expect
@@alakani Do elaborate? Got a cve?
Only change one bulb first... You give THE BEST life pro tips! The bit about how to use the pre-rinse feature in one of your dishwasher videos changed me life. I am humbled by your common sense and ingenuity! 🤩
The blinker bulbs are the ‘resistor’ part of the RC timer circuit. Hence, when one of the blinker bulbs burn out, the blink rate increases.
Also why you need to add a resistor when "upgrading" to LEDs.
just add some blinker fluid and it will be fine
@@WillThat well, or just replace the blinker relay to a load-free one
Ahhh, how about that
@@WillThat Or use a full electronic blinker relay, that doesn't care about load and lasts several car's lifetimes.
Here in Tucson we have this joke: Do you know the biggest difference between a BMW and a cactus? The cactus has its pricks on the outside.
You ever feel useless? Think about the guy testing the indicators in the BMW factory and you should feel better.
They are also pricks in Europe.
WHEN I get my new custom sissy-bar, I'm going to have it decorated to display PROUDLY "30 HP"... JUST so every BMW I pass gets to see it. ;o)
my mom drives a BMW D:
I've usually heard this joke with porcupine in lieu of the cactus.
No channel manages to make me watch, rapt, such long videos about such useless things
ahh i see that you're a BMW driver... ;)
Oh look, two cool youtubers interacting. It makes me feel like this is some sort of extended universe.
Your channel already looks cringe. Let me guess, you believe in the virus?
@@robertkiestov3734 Lol, you're calling people cringe and then you randomly bring this shit up? Get some self reflection.
@@sandearcubus9299 Sneed
This man is incredibly good at making me think I'm about to watch a boring video, then proving me wrong.
The clicking sound of blinkers is absolutely lovely and one of the best sounds in life.
It would be a good base line for a Hardstyle remix
I've come to inform this thread (as much as it pains me to do this) of the following search query:
Blinker type beat.
You're welcome, and I'm sorry on behalf of all type beat producers that the end results aren't better 🤣
It's funny how people say that love the clicking sound of blinkers, yet finds it annoying after awhile.
@@automation7295 I know people who will drive for miles down the express way with their blinkers turned on because they tune it out.
"I need to borrow your car"
"Oh, you're going somewhere?"
"...Yes."
Lol
On a tangent :-)
"By the magic of...uh....'appropriating' three of them..."
you know it's gonna be a good one when the question is answered 7 minutes into a 35 minute video
On older vehicles that used the old-style flashers, you had to install a heavy-duty flasher (especially on pickup trucks) when you were towing a trailer due to the extra load from the trailer lights. If you did not install the heavy duty one, your turn signals would flash very fast. Similar to what you see when a bulb burns out.
On the topic of the clicking sound: Our 2019 Subaru will vary its volume based on vehicle speed. I thought that was a nice touch.
meh bmw did that earlier
Pretty much every modern vehicle has some sort of speed sensitive volume. It's an absolutely awful feature, but a funny way of trying to compensate for poor sound deadening.
@@Pavlov_is_the_Devil thats cancer and youre propagating it.
My understanding of subaru drivers in UK is that they are generally going flat out and never use their turn signals. I suspect any of them that read your comment will be momentarily surprised
@@Hawk7886 on some cars at least... Mine being one that adaptive volume is adjustable including being able to turn it off.
reading the title I thought "how is he going to talk about the transition from relays to microprocessors for over 30 minutes?"
and yet you still managed to make it entertaining and sneak in new information.
"By the magic of buying X of them" is legitemately one of your best lines, love the videos!
Legitimately
28:13 Fun fact: in a 1990s volvo v40 (mine is a 98) the warning light for the driver seatbelt icon uses the turn signal flasher as audio and visual que to put your seatbelt on. It does so at hyperflashing speed. If turn signals are then used the warning light slows down to normal turn signal speeds. Moreover, the locking and unlocking of the car via key fob also activates the green arrows and click noises in the car. Would love to see the frankenstein circuit they designed there. :)
I used to "tune" the turn signals in my truck by using "heavier" switches.
I always hated "fast" signals, they sound like they're powered by caffeinated Jack Russell terriers.
Remember, if your turn signal bulb is burned out, simply "borrow" one from a BMW. They always seem to be in like new to unused condition.
More often than not these days, it seems like at least half the cars on the road must have “like new condition” or “totally broken” turn signal arrays because so many drivers apparently view them as optional equipment.
My husband occasionally likes to remind me that despite over 30 years of marriage, he still can’t read my mind. Unfortunately, far too many drivers seem to be under the faulty impression that I can read their minds.
@@tanya5322 Quite popular is also the good old “I’ll start signaling once I’m already turning/switching lanes” move. Thanks, I actually could tell that you were switching lanes because you are already are halfway in mine. But go ahead, start signaling now and not beforehand.
@@JustJustSid That's just being considerate. I literally saw someone stop and then turn into a side road yesterday, with no signalling, and THEN turn on the indicator as they were straightening up to go down the new road to, you know, inform the world of the maneuver they just performed.
@@JustJustSid I think most people do that because they are afraid you'll cut them off. I swear, most people don't understand that you're supposed to be courteous to other drivers.
@@annihilator247x This is exactly it.
I wonder what your neighbours think of you sometimes. This time he's driving his car back and forth. The other time he's filming he's airconditioning in the middle of winter snow.
I don't know what you mean. Having three cars in your driveway with their left indicator flashing in sync for about half an hour is completely normal.
Alec you scared the shit out of me. I was barely falling asleep and then i wake up staring at a zoomed up man saying “you should never ever ever put aftermarket LED replacement bulbs in your car don’t do that it’s bad” imma just binge your vids bc I can’t sleep. Thx.
I've been watching this channel for quite a while now and it still mesmerizes me how his videos can keep me entretained for thirty plus minutes on the most seem-boring topics... hands down one of the best channels I follow...
You couldn’t have described the feeling any better. 😅
Someone: what are you up to today?
Me: watching a 37 minute video about turn signals.
Someone: ...
He "deep dives" into SEEMINGLY boring topics and we find out.....It's not REALLY boring at all.
This video is gold, you even managed to sneak in a few BMW turn signal jokes!
My fave joke is "If you think you have a meaningless job, just remember there is some guy fitting turn signals to BMWs". It is good to see you have the problem with BMWs as we do in the UK
I'll have you know I've used the indicators on my BMW so much that I burned out the controller.
Clearly BMW didn't anticipate them being used twice in the same month.
Kek.good one.What is with german car brands and douchebags?
@@naamadossantossilva4736 Probably all that "ubermenschen" nonsense
@@naamadossantossilva4736 They're expensive and have status. I don't consider myself a douchebag, I just wanted an affordable used 400hp toy. I put way more miles on my grandpa car daily driver though.
I daily drive a 95 bmw 4cyl with over 200k miles on it. Parts are cheap and repairs are easy, though I can't give accolade to their power window systems in the 90's cars(e36). Enthusiasts like them because of the way it FEELS to drive!
Can't say I'm into new models however, just like any car these days, they are just glorified computers.
They do. They are required to tell people to move over on the Autobahn.
One time I saw two Ford Fusions, bith white, both the same year, blinking in sync. That was an incredible moment.
"the thermal flasher" sounds like a very strange comic book villian
Going around in the winter looking for thermal cameras and throwing open my coat to expose the warm interior.
his willie is so white-hot that when he flashes someone they go blind from literal eye damage
Sounds like a nickname the local news in Iceland would give to a serial sex offender on the loose.
He's on a few watchlist and not allowed near schools or ice cream stands.
HPPP: “What is that mysterious ticking noise?”
Alec: “That’s a great question! It all starts with the bi-metallic strip….”
The bimetallic strip, in conjunction with latent heat and the refrigeration cycle......
Wow, a HPPP reference is not something I expected to see, but I'm glad it's here
hppp?
I didn’t realize pipe bobs could be detonated that way
@@Xfade81 (Harry) Potter Puppet Pals
I would love to see a connextras following this video:
- I appreciate the warning about lights being too dim but since you were talking about aftermarket lighting, it is worth mentioning that it can be too bright too. Some pillocks install xenon lamps in their cars thus blinding oncoming traffic. This, if not as bad, is worse than signalling lights being too dim! In Russia they can even deprive you of your driving license if you are using incorrect aftermarket lights
- Some might be wondering how blinkers automatically disengage once the turn is complete (i.e. steering wheel is straight again). Again, a slightly different topic and a completely different mechanism but it's interesting to see how one action is performed thanks to the harmony of two unrelated mechanisms.
And you've got the magic of not having to buy extra props since you already have them!
Automatically disengaging turn signals: my guess is a sort of rachet mechanism. As you turn the wheel you hear a click at certain points where the signal turns off when you turn back from that point.
Older turn signal switches are actually very complicated devices, especially once you add the headlight switch, hazard lights that need non-interruptable power, and trailer lights that are also used as brake lights.
Source: Spent a few hours trying to reverse engineer the turn signal switch from a 99 Ford.
The problem with aftermarket led headlights is that many of them don't get the leds in the right position to simulate the original filament, and so the reflector doesn't get it focused into a nice beam.
The led design needs to be different between a projector headlight and a reflector headlight, and each headlight housing has a slightly different design.
If you don't get the correct match then you will blind everyone.
I needed to upgrade my semi truck to leds (halogen was too dim for safety, and I got tired of paying for the short lived and expensive High Brightness Krypton ones, so I decided to go with led).
It took me quite a while looking at articles and reviews and TH-cam video reviews showing the beam patterns of different brand leds in different headlight housings before I finally settled on a couple of brands that looked like they might work, and then I pulled my truck up to a white dock wall and used a sharpie to mark the outline of the beam pattern with the halogen bulb.
Then I put an led in one side and compared the beam pattern etc, and then tried the other brand.
I found one of them matched every point on my markings EXACTLY, while the other one was a bit wonky.
So I put the good one in the low beams, and put the one with poor beam control in the high beams where it won't effect anyone, and I am happy with the results.
I also carefully re aimed the headlights afterwards, and parked on a level street and walked to the other end of the block to check for glare, etc, and I never have anyone flash me in complaint lol
But most people don't go to that much work, and don't even know there is a difference, and so blind everyone.
Yeah, I really hate that. If I can't see your turn signals or brake lights very clearly, I'll most likely still figure out what you're doing. If I can't _see_, well, that's a much bigger problem.
It is much easier to upgrade for those who drive cars with round headlights - Jeep Wrangler, Land Rover Defender (older one), Lada Niva, UAZ Hunter etc. There are aftermarket LED headlights that replace entire assembly.
I know this is bordering on necroposting, but there is a little tidbit that I have discovered on our older ambulance; Some lamps are backup safeties. When there is some sort of overcurrent or fault, the bulb blows. Sounds less than ideal, but when it's a 9 dollar bulb or a $350K emergency vehicle... Just saying, I'll take changing the bulb and doing a little troubleshooting on electrical system.
On second thought, maybe letting it burn would be less frustrating....
I love how you push proper driving etiquette! It almost feels like a forgotten knowledge and a lost art.
Great videos.
I recently moved to Oberursel and the divers here are hyper nice and patient with cyclists (which I like) but damn do they rarely use the blinker...
@@andy02q I've noticed that in small towns a very large number of residents don't use the blinkers. It could be because in small towns the pace of everything is very slow and so they mostly also drive too slowly that they can fail to use the blinkers and not run a high risk of being rear-ended
@@hydrolifetech7911 It's partly because of the same thing that causes people to end up in accidents closer to home; they're comfortable so they let their guard down.
I've always found it soothing to watch the cars signals in front of me, fade into and out of, synchronicity.
Me too, and I am soo elated to see I'm not alone!
many miles away there's a shadow on a door of a cottage on the shore of a dark Scottish lake.
@@madbradmadbrad 3 thumbs for most meaningless meaningful reference 👍👍👍
@@madbradmadbrad Nessie?
I'm the exact opposite. Watching lights go in and out of sync makes me acutely uncomfortable and I have to look somewhere else.
“A quirk only Doug could appreciate” and the features!
Looks like August is turn signal month 22:39
I saw the title and thumbnail of this video like a year ago but didn't click on it and then whenever I thought that 2 cars had their blinkers synced I remembered this video. Finnaly I got recomended this again and now here I am.
"For a quirk only Doug would appreciate" Love it.
Yes!! LOL a Doug Demuro/Technology Connections crossover moment!
TTHIISSSS is the
But before you dive down this rabbit hole, be sure to visit CARS and BIDS!!!! 😸
@@andykphoto haha yes!
Technology Connections levelled up!
Learned new spell: Buy Three of Them!
Learned new spell: Buy Four of Them!
The problem with the Plutoturge magic class is that the resource pool used for spells is excludable and rivalrous.
He's levelled up to the point where he can cast "buy three of them" on cars.
26:30 “a quirk only Doug could appreciate”
Now we just need Doug to review the Volt and mention this 😁 The ‘circuit’ of life would be complete.
I'm glad someone else got that hidden gem
a 37 minute video about something I used to wonder as a kid in the passenger seat? stupendous.
"The magic of buying..."
Me: "Two of them, yeah"
"Three of them"
Me: "Upgraded spell!?"
Trying to keep up with Cathode Ray Dude, I suppose.
The magic of buying n + 1 doesn't have the same ring to it.
And then, buying FOUR of them.
Yeah, I know. Crazy, right?
Re: Turn signal noises - My EV, a Renault Zoe, has three different clicking noises to choose from! Weirdly, it’s also linked to what style of display you want on the dashboard. Unfortunately, the best turn signal noises are paired to the ugliest dashboard display.
On the Outlander PHEV I have a choice between two different sounds. My wife couldn't almost drive when I switched it 🤭
Phones have had custom ring tones for years. Why can't we load custom flasher sounds into our cars yet?
I want this as my turn signal noise: th-cam.com/video/dQw4w9WgXcQ/w-d-xo.html
@@TiberentenTV Cant fool us with that XcQ
it happens to be a renault, sooo... would you expect anything else ?
“Did you really think I could turn it around that fast?”
Honestly Alec… yes. Yes you could
Could or would?
@@reginaldsafety6090 both
I am watching a video about car turn signal lamps at 2 am
"...like some sort of eccentric person"
Cries in Australian.
Or (presumably) any other left side driving country who (presumably) also get their Japanese imports unmodified. (Subaru-driving Brits/Toyota-driving Indians/Honda-driving Thai/Nissan-driving South Africans/Daihatsu-driving Surinamese want to weigh in?)
I think the real eccentric is when European/US cars (Except UK) comes to Aussie, Singapore, Japan or UK, they shifted the driver position but not the position of the signal/wiper stock.
We have to struggle between indicating signals while trying to gear shift.
fellow australian here,
we have 2 cars, both with the indicator switch on a different side
I understand your pain. I'm in Sydney. I drive a European built Ford I bought in 2017. It has the stalks in the correct position i.e. indicators on right and wipers on left so no problems. However, the previous car I had was a different model European Ford and they didn't bother with changing them over, so indicators on left. That was different to every other car in the household and most of the rentals I drove for work. I got sick of using the wipers to signal turns the first time I changed cars. It is good that Ford finally made the change for RHD market.
Fun fact, the Ford Mustang in Australia has RHD stalks and so did those USA made Holdens that no one bought.
Chevy SS. What a sad scene when these Aussie V8 have so much potential.
The "BMW owners never use blinkers" joke was hidden so well I almost missed it hahah
I literally took several seconds AFTER he was done talking, to realize he was doing that joke and not just saying he had never pulled up behind a BMW.
The best moments are when your signals match the BPM of the music you've got playing on the audio system.
This should be a feature you can enable
@@jscott1000yep
My biggest annoyance about modern cars and indicators etc, at least in Australia, is you cant see half of them because they dont use the coloured housing, they coat the bulb in film but unless you are directly head on you cant see the inticator, a real PITA on roundabouts etc. I wish the ADR (Australian Design Rules) would ban clear Indicator housings and mandata visibility of each inicator to a much wider angle, or at least enforce it because it seems to have given way to "fashion over function"
"These are your stalks. Like corn, but plastic!"
Please don't ever stop being snarky.
Physically impossible, he's a medwisterner
"Long Life" flashers using 13V rated electrolytic capacitors on a 13,8V+ circuit, very good.
Haha quality
Makes some sense when you imagine there is a duty cycle for the voltage being applied to the cap. It never gets the chance to charge above probably 13 volt before being discharged.
I've never seen a 13V rating on an electrolytic capacitor. All my junkbox capacitors in that range are either 10V or 16V.
As soon a product has printed "Long Life" or 'Heavy Duty" on it, you can expect crap.
Given the drop across the coil you could easily design that to stay inside the rating of a 10v cap, only time it'll ever se the full (potentially 14.4v) voltage of the charging battery is if the relay jams or contacts cease making through corrosion or contamination, in which case it's dead anyway & the cap failing won't make it any deader.
@@sparqqling compared to the thermal flashers they were replacing, they must certainly WERE long life! Lol
They also could handle trucks lots of lights, trailers, etc, unlike the thermal style.
"This will repeat endlessly until you TURN OFF YOUR BLINKER" - something that senior citizens seem to forget.
Doesn't it automatically click off when the wheel is turned straight? The only way I imagine that to occur is if they deliberately keep holding the stock half way.
@@TheEmeraldSword04 Lane changes won't turn off your blinker, and if you don't turn your wheel enough, it won't automatically shut off either.
@@weirdofromhalo It gets worse: oftentimes I need to maneuver and keep my blinker on, but it keeps turning off as I work my steering wheel in various directions.
@@weirdofromhalo: You say that as if it were two different things. It's one and the same; lane changes just don't take much of a turn of the steering wheel.
...or a kid with a thumping stereo.
Thank you for your strong message to NOT use LED. YES! YES! YES! You nailed it!
Alec could do a whole video on "Why a light switch clicks", and I'd STILL watch it.
Oh, wait...
"Like corn, but plastic." Love it!
These days we could manufacture them from corn based PLA
@@ZTK-RC the circle is now complete
"some sort of eccentric person, or I guess you live in Japan"
- Hey, I'm both of those!
Hideo Kojima is that you?
impossibru!
Everyone in Japan is eccentric XD
Automotive Electrical Engineer (Auto Electrician) here, I knew all this, and still watched all the way through, great content mate!