WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.781 --> 00:00:02.924 ♫ music ♫ 00:00:05.601 --> 00:00:08.096 If you’re among the folks who drive a car to get around, 00:00:08.096 --> 00:00:11.361 and you’re a good egg who uses turn signals like you should vote — 00:00:11.361 --> 00:00:12.746 early and often 00:00:12.746 --> 00:00:15.066 — you’ll probably have been in this situation; 00:00:15.066 --> 00:00:17.459 You’re sitting in a turning lane, with your signal on 00:00:17.459 --> 00:00:19.350 because again you’re a good egg, 00:00:19.350 --> 00:00:23.128 and despite all the projection of good vibes you can muster, 00:00:23.128 --> 00:00:26.838 you just can’t get your turn signal to sync up with the car in front of you. 00:00:27.434 --> 00:00:28.690 Why? 00:00:28.690 --> 00:00:30.713 You’d think this wouldn’t be so difficult, 00:00:30.713 --> 00:00:33.090 after all it’s just a blinking light, 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:36.658 but try as you might even if you appear to get it synced 00:00:36.658 --> 00:00:39.908 eventually one signal drifts away from the other. 00:00:39.908 --> 00:00:45.712 Turns out there’s a very simple explanation for why you can’t get two indicators to flash in sync. 00:00:45.712 --> 00:00:49.219 It has to do with how turn signal circuits function. 00:00:49.219 --> 00:00:51.344 Except, these days? 00:00:51.344 --> 00:00:53.612 Those circuits don’t work like they used to, 00:00:53.612 --> 00:00:56.008 and, with the right car in front of you, 00:00:56.008 --> 00:00:59.070 you absolutely can sync yours up. 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:01.254 There’s no trickery going on here. 00:01:01.254 --> 00:01:05.024 These are three different completely unmodified cars, 00:01:05.024 --> 00:01:08.211 all different model-years, made 4 years apart, 00:01:08.211 --> 00:01:12.205 but their indicators stay in lockstep with one another. 00:01:12.205 --> 00:01:13.777 What’s going on here? 00:01:13.777 --> 00:01:15.249 Computers! 00:01:15.249 --> 00:01:19.586 But let’s step back in time and look at how turn signal circuits used to work. 00:01:19.586 --> 00:01:23.788 Cars have needed blinky lights on them for communicating your intent to those around you 00:01:23.788 --> 00:01:25.181 for many decades, 00:01:25.181 --> 00:01:29.736 long before the word "microcontroller" ever left an auto executive’s mouth. 00:01:29.736 --> 00:01:33.301 Although we experimented with goofy ideas like trafficators 00:01:33.301 --> 00:01:36.401 or delightfully quaint displays like these, 00:01:36.401 --> 00:01:38.598 eventually we settled on flashing lights 00:01:38.598 --> 00:01:40.624 — the flashing helps to get your attention — 00:01:40.624 --> 00:01:43.090 placed at the corners of vehicles. 00:01:43.090 --> 00:01:48.687 Most of the world has decided you need to have amber-colored lighting at all four corners for indicators, 00:01:48.687 --> 00:01:52.980 but for some reason this continent thinks red is OK on the rear 00:01:52.980 --> 00:02:01.620 and even worse we’re just fine with combining the functions of the stop lamp and the turn indicator into one lamp! 00:02:01.620 --> 00:02:04.146 It’s really not great for several reasons, 00:02:04.146 --> 00:02:06.366 but that’s an old video of mine. 00:02:06.366 --> 00:02:07.706 Now, as you may imagine, 00:02:07.706 --> 00:02:11.772 if turn signals haven’t fundamentally changed since the 1950’s, 00:02:11.772 --> 00:02:15.427 the circuit which makes them possible is probably pretty simple. 00:02:15.427 --> 00:02:17.175 And in fact it is! 00:02:17.175 --> 00:02:23.114 It would be really great if we had an old-fashioned turn signal circuit we could take a look at. 00:02:23.114 --> 00:02:24.405 Luckily... 00:02:25.734 --> 00:02:27.106 I have one 00:02:27.106 --> 00:02:27.867 right 00:02:27.867 --> 00:02:29.114 here! 00:02:29.114 --> 00:02:33.408 And yes, I know the headlights are facing backwards if the steering wheel is facing you, 00:02:33.408 --> 00:02:35.392 but, look, this is just a demonstration. 00:02:35.392 --> 00:02:36.659 Deal with it. 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:42.334 This is a steering wheel and (truncated) column assembly out of a late ‘80s Honda. 00:02:42.334 --> 00:02:47.096 It was important that it be that old, and you’ll understand why by the end of this video. 00:02:47.096 --> 00:02:49.288 These are your stalks. 00:02:49.288 --> 00:02:51.189 Like corn, but plastic! 00:02:51.189 --> 00:02:55.415 In this car, these control wipers and all exterior lighting. 00:02:55.415 --> 00:02:58.602 To the left is the turn signal stalk and headlight switch. 00:02:58.602 --> 00:03:00.757 And to the right is the wiper stalk. 00:03:00.757 --> 00:03:04.537 These are all real, current-carrying switches. 00:03:04.537 --> 00:03:08.670 You can see on the connector for the headlight switch some rather beefy pins, 00:03:08.670 --> 00:03:14.316 and that’s because all of the current for the headlights and whatnot traveled through this thing. 00:03:14.316 --> 00:03:20.196 And being a 12V electrical system, even though the headlights may only consume 120 watts or so, 00:03:20.196 --> 00:03:21.823 that’s 10 amps. 00:03:21.823 --> 00:03:26.901 Though, for safety’s sake, each headlight is usually on its own fused circuit. 00:03:26.901 --> 00:03:31.535 It's better to not lose both at the same time should there be a fault. 00:03:31.629 --> 00:03:34.400 The switch we’re interested in is this guy. 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:40.000 I’ve always admired these for how many functions they manage to make work on a single control. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:45.370 In this car, twist the end to engage the parking lights and headlights. 00:03:45.370 --> 00:03:48.260 Pull it towards you to flash the high-beams. 00:03:48.260 --> 00:03:51.583 Pull it until it clicks to engage the high-beams 00:03:51.583 --> 00:03:54.874 (though in many cars you actually push it away for the same). 00:03:54.874 --> 00:03:57.870 Or if it's old enough it could be a switch on the floor. 00:03:57.870 --> 00:04:02.863 And then push it down or pull it up to engage the turn signals. 00:04:02.863 --> 00:04:07.168 By the way, if you’ve never realized this (and I know people who haven’t) 00:04:07.168 --> 00:04:10.335 you push it in the direction that you will turn the wheel. 00:04:10.335 --> 00:04:17.730 So to signal left, you push it down because the left side of the wheel moves down when you turn left. 00:04:17.730 --> 00:04:23.014 And if for some reason you have a Japanese domestic market car like some sort of eccentric person 00:04:23.704 --> 00:04:25.324 (or I suppose, if you live in Japan) 00:04:25.324 --> 00:04:32.049 the stalk is on the other side so the direction you push it is reversed, but the idea remains the same. 00:04:32.049 --> 00:04:35.717 You shouldn’t have to think about which direction to push the stalk, 00:04:35.717 --> 00:04:40.158 and if you were taught to memorize up is right and down is left, 00:04:40.158 --> 00:04:44.046 well I’m sorry. It’s deliberately quite intuitive. 00:04:44.046 --> 00:04:48.183 So anyway, the three smallest contacts are for the turn signals. 00:04:48.183 --> 00:04:54.260 One is common, and the other two are for the right side of the vehicle and the left side of the vehicle. 00:04:54.260 --> 00:04:58.887 Engaging the stalk simply bridges the common pin to one of the other two, 00:04:58.887 --> 00:05:03.208 so if we build a circuit where 12V is present on the common pin, 00:05:03.208 --> 00:05:08.820 it will send 12V out on one of the other pins when we engage the turn signal. 00:05:08.820 --> 00:05:14.472 Then, all we need to do is send that 12V to a couple of lamps and voila! 00:05:14.472 --> 00:05:15.668 Turn signals. 00:05:15.668 --> 00:05:16.476 See? 00:05:16.476 --> 00:05:19.034 Push down and we light up the left side. 00:05:19.034 --> 00:05:21.480 Push up and we light up the right. 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:22.820 Job done! 00:05:22.820 --> 00:05:27.014 Except, eagle-eyed viewers will notice it’s not flashing. 00:05:28.238 --> 00:05:30.490 Ah, yes, that complication. 00:05:30.490 --> 00:05:34.864 So, how do we get the light to stop being so… steady 00:05:34.864 --> 00:05:36.799 and start gettin' all blinky? 00:05:36.799 --> 00:05:39.487 Why, with one of these things! 00:05:39.487 --> 00:05:42.008 This is a turn signal flasher. 00:05:42.008 --> 00:05:45.203 Some people call this a flasher relay which, 00:05:45.203 --> 00:05:48.801 ehh... sure but, uh, it's not a relay. 00:05:48.801 --> 00:05:53.516 It’s just a clever way to repeatedly interrupt and reconnect a circuit. 00:05:53.516 --> 00:05:58.264 If I put this in series with the 12V supply for the lights 00:05:58.264 --> 00:05:59.942 take a look at what happens. 00:06:02.264 --> 00:06:04.342 That is a proper turn signal! 00:06:04.342 --> 00:06:06.436 It’s even making the noise and everything. 00:06:06.436 --> 00:06:08.243 [faint clicking] 00:06:08.243 --> 00:06:12.951 Yeah, this is what makes - or at least, made that clicking sound. 00:06:12.951 --> 00:06:18.602 Now if you’ve been watching this channel for a while you’ll probably have guessed that where there’s a click, 00:06:18.602 --> 00:06:21.504 there’s a switch, and you’re right. 00:06:21.504 --> 00:06:24.928 But even better, making that switch do its switching thing 00:06:24.928 --> 00:06:28.221 is our old pal the bimetallic strip! 00:06:28.221 --> 00:06:31.795 Yes, the same technology that toasts bread to perfection, 00:06:31.795 --> 00:06:35.001 regulates your home’s temperature or even just tells you what it is, 00:06:35.001 --> 00:06:37.858 and makes your Christmas lights flash 00:06:37.858 --> 00:06:39.921 makes your turn signals flash. 00:06:39.921 --> 00:06:43.416 And if you’ve ever put a flasher bulb in a set of Christmas lights, 00:06:43.416 --> 00:06:49.159 you’re probably well on your way to understanding why getting your car to sync up with another one 00:06:49.159 --> 00:06:52.051 has historically been so hard. 00:06:52.634 --> 00:06:53.586 Look. 00:06:55.437 --> 00:06:59.531 This is a different flasher, but it’s the same exact model. 00:07:00.912 --> 00:07:03.189 That is a very different flash. 00:07:03.189 --> 00:07:08.527 Not only is it a different speed, but the on and off time aren’t quite the same. 00:07:08.527 --> 00:07:10.680 Yet nothing else changed. 00:07:11.904 --> 00:07:13.377 Hmm... 00:07:13.377 --> 00:07:15.430 So what is in these things? 00:07:15.430 --> 00:07:18.773 If you pick them up you'll notice that they are very, very light. 00:07:18.773 --> 00:07:22.266 It feels like there’s almost nothing inside them at all. 00:07:22.266 --> 00:07:25.648 And indeed, there’s hardly anything in there at all. 00:07:25.648 --> 00:07:26.992 Shall we open one? 00:07:26.992 --> 00:07:29.639 Heh, no need, the Magic of Buying… 00:07:29.639 --> 00:07:32.238 Three of them has us taken care of already. 00:07:32.238 --> 00:07:34.925 Now this mechanism is a little confusing, 00:07:34.925 --> 00:07:39.000 mainly because of this paper insulator that’s pretty easy to miss. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:43.400 Right now, the two pins aren’t exactly bridged together. 00:07:43.400 --> 00:07:47.868 Measure the resistance across them and you get about 37 ohms. 00:07:47.868 --> 00:07:51.886 At 12 volts that’ll pass about a third of an amp, or 4 watts. 00:07:51.886 --> 00:07:55.800 When you first turn on the signal, nothing happens. 00:07:55.800 --> 00:08:00.145 However, a complete circuit is actually made right here. 00:08:00.145 --> 00:08:03.956 Current is flowing through the filaments of the lamps themselves, 00:08:03.956 --> 00:08:05.520 in fact about a third of an amp, 00:08:05.520 --> 00:08:11.679 but this thing is preventing the lamps from actually glowing because that’s just not enough power. 00:08:11.679 --> 00:08:14.945 It’s essentially behaving as a choke point in the circuit, 00:08:14.945 --> 00:08:17.032 being the point of highest resistance. 00:08:17.032 --> 00:08:23.378 That resistance is coming from this tiny little wire which will get quite hot pretty quickly. 00:08:23.378 --> 00:08:26.101 And now the bimetallic effect comes in. 00:08:26.101 --> 00:08:29.073 The wire wraps around and around this strip of metal, 00:08:29.073 --> 00:08:32.452 and the 4 watts it’s dissipating quickly heats that up. 00:08:32.452 --> 00:08:36.116 Once it's hot enough, this piece will snap to the left, 00:08:36.116 --> 00:08:39.841 and these switch contacts are now closed. 00:08:39.841 --> 00:08:43.016 At this point, the resistance of the flasher is negligible, 00:08:43.016 --> 00:08:46.928 so current easily flows through it and lights the lamps. 00:08:46.928 --> 00:08:49.847 However, when those contacts are closed, 00:08:49.847 --> 00:08:54.460 well now the path of least resistance is around that little heater wire. 00:08:54.460 --> 00:09:00.506 No current will flow through it so long as these two contacts touch, so what happens? 00:09:00.506 --> 00:09:03.966 Well, it stops being a heater, and the metal strip cools down. 00:09:03.966 --> 00:09:07.555 So after a brief period of being closed and lighting the lamps, 00:09:07.555 --> 00:09:10.928 the metal strip pulls the switch contacts apart. 00:09:10.928 --> 00:09:14.833 But of course now that heater’s back in action, so just as quickly as it cooled, 00:09:14.833 --> 00:09:19.022 it’s hot again and the switch contacts are pulled back together. 00:09:19.022 --> 00:09:23.654 And this will repeat endlessly, until ya shut of yer blinker. 00:09:24.313 --> 00:09:25.465 Pretty clever, huh? 00:09:25.465 --> 00:09:29.360 That’s how turn signal flashers worked for many, many years 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:31.314 and it was perfectly effective. 00:09:31.314 --> 00:09:34.445 However, it was very inconsistent. 00:09:34.445 --> 00:09:40.075 If you pay close attention you can even tell that the speed is drifting quite a bit. 00:09:40.075 --> 00:09:44.734 And that of course means… synchronization is impossible. 00:09:44.734 --> 00:09:47.724 Look, here’s all three flashers together. 00:09:47.724 --> 00:09:49.936 Despite being the same model of flasher, 00:09:49.936 --> 00:09:52.645 with the same lamps, and connected to the same battery, 00:09:52.645 --> 00:09:55.378 they quickly drift apart. 00:09:55.378 --> 00:09:56.984 Oh but it gets worse. 00:09:56.984 --> 00:10:03.316 Thermal flashers like these will also speed up and slow down depending on the voltage they receive. 00:10:03.316 --> 00:10:09.117 Look. I've swap this power supply for the battery, and as I increase the voltage 00:10:09.117 --> 00:10:13.214 the flashing speeds up and also changes a little bit. 00:10:13.214 --> 00:10:18.453 Now, if you weren’t aware, once a car’s engine is running and the alternator is producing voltage, 00:10:18.453 --> 00:10:21.570 the system voltage goes up to around 14 volts, 00:10:21.570 --> 00:10:24.880 and it can dip when there are loads on the system. 00:10:24.880 --> 00:10:30.420 So even if you have two flashers that miraculously stay in sync with one another, 00:10:30.420 --> 00:10:34.155 if your car’s cooling fan, for example, comes on, 00:10:34.155 --> 00:10:38.787 well the resulting voltage drop is gonna quickly wreck that synchronization. 00:10:38.787 --> 00:10:41.462 But, there’s something we’re overlooking. 00:10:41.462 --> 00:10:47.577 Thermal flashers are pretty rare and as far as I can tell have been for quite a while now. 00:10:47.577 --> 00:10:50.502 Notice how quiet this thing is. 00:10:50.502 --> 00:10:51.705 [it's very quiet] 00:10:51.705 --> 00:10:55.751 You barely hear a click at all when the light goes out. 00:10:55.751 --> 00:11:00.852 And also - the fact that there’s that substantial delay between hitting the switch 00:11:02.327 --> 00:11:06.645 and it actually starting to flash - well that seems odd, doesn’t it? 00:11:06.645 --> 00:11:10.342 I can’t recall that happening in any car I personally remember, 00:11:10.342 --> 00:11:14.976 and in fact in my 1991 Sillymobile that’s not how it works. 00:11:15.572 --> 00:11:17.864 Yes, to those that don’t already know, 00:11:17.864 --> 00:11:19.405 I bought this silly thing. 00:11:19.405 --> 00:11:22.057 Aging Wheels made a video about it if you want to check it out. 00:11:22.057 --> 00:11:27.142 But anyway, its turn signals don’t change speed depending on whether the engine is running or not, 00:11:27.142 --> 00:11:30.106 and the pace of the flash is very consistent. 00:11:30.106 --> 00:11:32.393 Plus the click is proper loud. 00:11:32.393 --> 00:11:34.346 [a proper loud clicking] 00:11:34.346 --> 00:11:38.930 I’m beginning to suspect this fella has an electronic flasher of some sort. 00:11:38.930 --> 00:11:41.342 Hold that thought, we’ll get back to it. 00:11:41.342 --> 00:11:44.579 OK, so now, let’s look at some more modern flashers. 00:11:44.579 --> 00:11:46.458 Through the Magic of Buying… 00:11:46.458 --> 00:11:49.150 Four More of Them, two identical pairs, 00:11:49.150 --> 00:11:50.844 we can explore this further. 00:11:51.221 --> 00:11:55.912 First, here are two “long life” flashers. 00:11:55.912 --> 00:12:01.298 Because, you know, the longevity of the turn signal flasher is at the forefront of every driver’s mind. 00:12:02.553 --> 00:12:07.141 Anyway, these ones are way heavier - there’s definitely stuff in ‘em, for sure. 00:12:07.141 --> 00:12:08.854 And, that stuff? 00:12:09.858 --> 00:12:12.817 Well, it’s a relay coil and a capacitor ... 00:12:12.817 --> 00:12:14.538 and I think that’s it, actually. 00:12:14.538 --> 00:12:19.825 This style of circuit often contains a resistor in there, too, but I don’t see one here. 00:12:19.825 --> 00:12:24.382 The theory of operation here is actually quite similar to the thermal flasher, 00:12:24.382 --> 00:12:28.477 but rather than using a fluctuating temperature to open and close a switch, 00:12:28.477 --> 00:12:30.450 we use a fluctuating voltage. 00:12:30.450 --> 00:12:33.034 Again, this is normally open. 00:12:33.034 --> 00:12:34.628 But not exactly. 00:12:34.628 --> 00:12:37.394 There’s a measurable resistance across it. 00:12:37.394 --> 00:12:42.682 A small amount of current has to pass through this and thus the lamps in order for it to work, 00:12:42.682 --> 00:12:44.574 just like the thermal flasher. 00:12:44.574 --> 00:12:47.584 But here, when that initial current passes through, 00:12:47.584 --> 00:12:54.363 it’s not heating a wire but instead traveling through the coil and charging the capacitor. 00:12:54.363 --> 00:12:58.820 As the capacitor initially charges, the voltage on the coil rises 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:03.942 which in turn means that the strength of the magnetic field it produces does, as well. 00:13:03.942 --> 00:13:07.486 Eventually it becomes strong enough to pull this little tab down, 00:13:07.486 --> 00:13:12.540 which closes the switch contact, therefore shorts the two pins together. 00:13:12.540 --> 00:13:16.363 That sends the full current out to the turn signal lamps. 00:13:16.363 --> 00:13:21.470 The stored charge in the capacitor is able to hold the contacts closed for a brief period, 00:13:21.470 --> 00:13:25.929 but it quickly discharges through the coil winding itself. 00:13:25.929 --> 00:13:30.576 See I think in this application the coil is the resistor, but I could be wrong. 00:13:30.576 --> 00:13:34.120 In any case, once the coil is too weak to hold on, 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:40.127 the switch opens again and, wouldn’t ya know it, now the capacitor is starting to charge back up. 00:13:40.127 --> 00:13:43.155 Eventually the voltage is enough to pull the switch closed, 00:13:44.253 --> 00:13:46.852 rinse and repeat. [louder ticking] 00:13:46.852 --> 00:13:53.068 Here, the speed and timing of the flash will be determined both by the value of the capacitor 00:13:53.068 --> 00:13:59.651 and the resistance in the coil winding (or the thus far elusive discharge resistor if there is one). 00:13:59.651 --> 00:14:03.056 So, could we get two of these to stay in sync? 00:14:03.369 --> 00:14:05.430 In theory, yes. 00:14:05.430 --> 00:14:07.800 In practice, no. 00:14:07.800 --> 00:14:12.391 This is an entirely analog circuit and the thing about electronic components 00:14:12.391 --> 00:14:16.113 is they’re built to within tolerances. 00:14:16.113 --> 00:14:19.856 This may claim to be a 1600 microfarad capacitor, 00:14:19.856 --> 00:14:23.899 but it’s really that plus or minus maybe 10%. 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:28.606 Similarly, the resistance of the coil isn’t exactly the same from coil to coil, 00:14:28.606 --> 00:14:32.580 so you’re never going to have two of these behave exactly identically. 00:14:32.580 --> 00:14:35.501 And sure enough, these don’t. 00:14:35.501 --> 00:14:37.290 I mean, it’s not even close at all! 00:14:37.290 --> 00:14:40.585 In one of them the on time is longer than the off time, 00:14:40.585 --> 00:14:44.460 and in any case the rate of flash is substantially different. 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:46.400 Plus, as you may have already guessed, 00:14:46.400 --> 00:14:49.519 system voltage affects their speed, too. 00:14:49.519 --> 00:14:52.915 A higher voltage will cause the capacitor to charge more quickly, 00:14:52.915 --> 00:14:56.580 so the amount of time it spends off gets shorter. 00:14:56.580 --> 00:14:59.555 It doesn’t have as much of an effect on the on time, though, 00:14:59.555 --> 00:15:03.836 as that’s mainly influenced by the time it takes the capacitor to discharge. 00:15:03.836 --> 00:15:07.827 Now, there’s a problem with the two flashers we’ve looked at so far. 00:15:07.827 --> 00:15:14.001 They rely on being able to pass some current through the filaments of the signal lamps themselves 00:15:14.001 --> 00:15:19.547 to either charge their capacitors or heat their bimetallic strips. 00:15:20.457 --> 00:15:26.072 Because not all lights have filaments these days, this has become a problem. 00:15:26.072 --> 00:15:33.410 So, you can now buy “electronic” or “LED-compatible” flashers like this one. 00:15:33.410 --> 00:15:40.550 Here we have an added ground pin which allows the flasher to function regardless of what else is on the circuit. 00:15:40.550 --> 00:15:45.570 And, dear viewer, I hope you’ll indulge me as I make a public service announcement 00:15:45.570 --> 00:15:48.207 which may seem uncharastic for me. 00:15:48.634 --> 00:15:53.339 You should never ever ever ever put aftermarket LED replacement bulbs in your car, ever. 00:15:53.339 --> 00:15:54.534 Don’t do that. 00:15:54.534 --> 00:15:55.521 It’s bad. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:57.000 Why? 00:15:57.149 --> 00:16:00.626 Well, here’s the thing about the signal lighting on cars 00:16:00.626 --> 00:16:03.250 which many people seemingly aren’t aware of. 00:16:03.250 --> 00:16:08.300 I’m not just saying that, by the way, I’ve had many discussions about this in my more... 00:16:08.300 --> 00:16:10.470 argumentative days. 00:16:10.470 --> 00:16:14.180 The honeycomb-looking lenses on your turn signals and brake lights? 00:16:14.180 --> 00:16:15.660 They are functional! 00:16:15.660 --> 00:16:20.360 That is a real Fresnel lens, not just some pretty texturing. 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:23.544 Your car’s signal lights are not simply diffuse, 00:16:23.544 --> 00:16:28.440 they are deliberately designed to magnify the filament of the lamp 00:16:28.440 --> 00:16:33.434 so that the signal appears brightest to those directly in front of or behind you. 00:16:33.434 --> 00:16:34.434 Look. 00:16:34.434 --> 00:16:41.180 I need to have this thing pointed pretty much straight on at the camera for this to appear bright to you. 00:16:41.180 --> 00:16:46.830 If I move it off-axis even just a little bit, the brightness is greatly diminished. 00:16:46.830 --> 00:16:50.348 To show this another way, look what happens when I remove the bulb 00:16:50.348 --> 00:16:51.733 from this enclosure. 00:16:53.239 --> 00:16:56.308 This is the same bulb that you were just looking at, 00:16:56.308 --> 00:16:59.904 but without the benefit of the reflector and lens array, 00:16:59.904 --> 00:17:05.086 the filament is just a tiny speck and it doesn’t appear nearly as bright to you. 00:17:06.812 --> 00:17:10.149 There is a narrow cone-of-maximum-visibility 00:17:10.149 --> 00:17:12.889 as you can see when I point this at a wall. 00:17:12.889 --> 00:17:18.426 These optical properties are what allow a signal light to be visible even in direct sunlight, 00:17:18.426 --> 00:17:20.337 and they are important! 00:17:20.337 --> 00:17:21.956 And critically? 00:17:21.956 --> 00:17:27.711 The actual lamp assembly is designed around a specific bulb type. 00:17:27.711 --> 00:17:32.690 The filaments in a 1157 bulb like this are the same exact size 00:17:32.690 --> 00:17:36.102 and in the same exact place from bulb to bulb, 00:17:36.102 --> 00:17:43.192 precisely so that a replacement bulb will perform exactly as intended in the light fixture. 00:17:43.192 --> 00:17:45.920 Everything needs to line up optically. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:50.955 Remember, this looks bright because it’s effectively magnifying the filament - 00:17:50.955 --> 00:17:53.029 so a tiny region of space 00:17:53.029 --> 00:17:56.769 - and making it appear larger to you in the camera. 00:17:56.769 --> 00:17:59.360 LED bulbs don’t have filaments, 00:17:59.360 --> 00:18:05.392 and while some better replacements out there attempt to mimic the placement of the filament in one way or another, 00:18:05.392 --> 00:18:08.607 it simply will not behave as intended. 00:18:08.607 --> 00:18:13.562 This is why the packaging for LED drop-ins has to say “for off-road use only” 00:18:13.562 --> 00:18:19.426 or “check with your local laws” because using these instantly voids the DOT compliance 00:18:19.426 --> 00:18:21.827 of your car’s light fixtures. 00:18:21.827 --> 00:18:27.835 It is not legal to modify the lighting in your car in pretty much any way at all. 00:18:27.835 --> 00:18:35.206 It annoys me endlessly that stores like Walmart sell these things because the function of your car’s signal lighting 00:18:35.206 --> 00:18:37.434 — especially the brake lights! — 00:18:37.434 --> 00:18:39.741 is a critical component to safety, 00:18:39.741 --> 00:18:42.772 and screwing around with this can be dangerous. 00:18:42.772 --> 00:18:47.760 Let’s give a real quick shout-out to those folks who tinted their tail lights to look cool. 00:18:47.760 --> 00:18:53.499 Thanks for proving that common sense means nothing when you can follow a trend and be stylish! 00:18:53.499 --> 00:18:55.333 Humanity sure is great, huh? 00:18:55.333 --> 00:19:00.912 Oh and you should know that these flashing lights are straight-up illegal in most places. 00:19:00.912 --> 00:19:04.944 Only emergency vehicles are allowed to have flashing red lights 00:19:04.944 --> 00:19:09.540 (outside of rear turn signals on this continent because… reasons). 00:19:09.540 --> 00:19:14.653 If for some reason you absolutely cannot resist putting LEDs in your car, 00:19:14.653 --> 00:19:19.840 please check that they perform at least as well as your original lamps. 00:19:19.840 --> 00:19:27.142 Yes I know they illuminate instantly and I much prefer LED brake lights on cars designed for them for that reason, 00:19:27.142 --> 00:19:31.924 but if your new bulb isn’t as bright as the old one, 00:19:31.924 --> 00:19:33.894 that won’t matter much, will it? 00:19:33.894 --> 00:19:40.612 Compare the brightness between your original equipment bulb and your replacement by only changing one first. 00:19:40.612 --> 00:19:45.538 Move around your car and check to make sure the range of visibility is the same, 00:19:45.538 --> 00:19:51.594 and for brake lights make sure there is a substantial difference between tail and stop intensities. 00:19:51.594 --> 00:19:55.646 Way too many of these replacements have hardly a difference at all. 00:19:55.646 --> 00:20:01.434 But the best way to ensure your lights work like they should - as well as to keep them legal? 00:20:01.434 --> 00:20:04.340 Just use the bulbs they’re designed to use. 00:20:04.340 --> 00:20:08.950 If your car was built to use incandescent lights, then use them. 00:20:08.950 --> 00:20:12.468 Thank you for listening to this public service announcement. 00:20:12.468 --> 00:20:16.410 Alright so these final flashers, what’s inside them? 00:20:16.787 --> 00:20:19.510 Ah, now we have a circuit board! 00:20:19.510 --> 00:20:23.470 This looks sophisticated enough to be programmed with a specific flashing ra- 00:20:23.847 --> 00:20:26.049 eh, no. We’ll just cut to the chase. 00:20:26.049 --> 00:20:30.740 Even in these flashers the speed is significantly different between the two. 00:20:30.740 --> 00:20:33.110 But, these at least compensate for the voltage. 00:20:33.110 --> 00:20:37.413 No matter what I have this set to it flashes at the same rate, although curiously 00:20:37.413 --> 00:20:41.675 as I adjust the voltage upward, it temporarily slows down. 00:20:41.675 --> 00:20:43.265 So that’s weird. 00:20:43.501 --> 00:20:48.538 Bottom line, these things have never been made so precisely that any two of them 00:20:48.538 --> 00:20:53.980 will flash at the same exact rate, no matter what their underlying technology is. 00:20:53.980 --> 00:20:59.230 It simply doesn’t make sense to use high-cost components like a clock crystal and microcontroller 00:20:59.230 --> 00:21:04.160 when you only need to meet the target of “between 60 and 120 flashes per minute.” 00:21:05.133 --> 00:21:08.730 That’s what the law says regarding signal flashing frequency, by the way. 00:21:08.730 --> 00:21:14.799 It’s not that precise, so these aren’t and never have been built with precision. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:18.931 And frankly the law is probably that imprecise because when that was written, 00:21:18.931 --> 00:21:21.413 this was the state-of-the-art. 00:21:21.413 --> 00:21:24.293 OK, but now I want to go back to the Figaro for a moment. 00:21:24.293 --> 00:21:30.620 Although this car is 30 years old, its turn signal flasher behaves like the electronic unit we just looked at. 00:21:30.620 --> 00:21:34.256 There’s no delay at all between hitting the switch and the lamps lighting, 00:21:34.256 --> 00:21:38.999 and the speed of the flashing is not only very regular but also does not change 00:21:38.999 --> 00:21:42.250 when the car is running and the system voltage goes up. 00:21:42.878 --> 00:21:45.299 I wonder what this flasher is like... 00:21:45.299 --> 00:21:46.530 Well, here it is. 00:21:46.969 --> 00:21:51.498 Or, at least, a similar Nissan flasher from around the same era. 00:21:52.188 --> 00:21:54.910 Look, I’m going down this rabbit hole so you don’t have to. 00:21:54.910 --> 00:21:57.254 This thing certainly doesn’t feel empty, 00:21:57.254 --> 00:22:03.147 and indeed when we pull it apart there’s a whole dang circuit board in there 00:22:03.147 --> 00:22:06.256 with one of them integrated computer chips. 00:22:06.256 --> 00:22:10.359 This is much more phosisticated than the electronic one we just looked at. 00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:12.062 How does it work? 00:22:12.062 --> 00:22:17.690 Well… I tried looking for a datasheet for this IC but yeah that’s not really happening. 00:22:17.690 --> 00:22:21.758 A resonator might be in that chip somewhere to provide a time signal, 00:22:21.758 --> 00:22:25.251 so let’s see if these signals, running on this flasher, 00:22:25.251 --> 00:22:28.037 will stay in sync with the Figaro. 00:22:28.037 --> 00:22:32.019 It’s extremely close, but not quite the same. 00:22:32.019 --> 00:22:36.300 I know that this isn’t the same exact part number as the flasher in the Figaro, 00:22:36.300 --> 00:22:40.833 but it’s a genuine Nissan part from the same era and the speed is so close 00:22:40.833 --> 00:22:44.974 that I can only assume they are both intended to flash at the same rate. 00:22:44.974 --> 00:22:47.411 But they still don’t exactly. 00:22:47.411 --> 00:22:52.887 They may appear to be in sync for a short while, but eventually they drift apart. 00:22:52.887 --> 00:22:57.901 The main purpose of that IC is probably to enable hyperflashing. 00:22:57.901 --> 00:23:02.965 For decades now, it has been required that cars indicate a burnt out turn signal 00:23:02.965 --> 00:23:07.988 by changing the rate of flashing when that happens, usually upward. 00:23:07.988 --> 00:23:11.190 And indeed, if I take out a bulb from our rig here - 00:23:11.190 --> 00:23:15.792 now it flashes faster on one side than the other. 00:23:15.792 --> 00:23:20.790 This is the one advantage that a combined stop-and-turn setup has - 00:23:20.790 --> 00:23:24.489 letting you know a brake light is out through hyperflashing the turn signal - 00:23:24.489 --> 00:23:28.153 though that could easily be handled with one of these. 00:23:28.153 --> 00:23:30.767 But penny-pinchers gonna penny-pinch. 00:23:30.767 --> 00:23:36.729 That chip is probably there mainly to create a current-sensing function for the hyperflash feature, 00:23:36.729 --> 00:23:41.881 and since they were going that far they might as well have made it handle the flashing more precisely 00:23:41.881 --> 00:23:44.781 using a resonator on the chip or something. 00:23:44.781 --> 00:23:49.848 Oh, also of note is that this flasher is also used for the four-way hazard lights. 00:23:49.848 --> 00:23:55.038 You can see that on the label - hazard/warning is turn/signal X 2. 00:23:55.038 --> 00:24:00.189 A lot of older vehicles would actually have a separate flasher for the hazards, fun fact. 00:24:00.189 --> 00:24:06.149 But this handles both, suggesting the flash rate isn’t influenced directly by current going through it 00:24:06.149 --> 00:24:10.284 but instead changes only when it’s below a certain threshold. 00:24:10.284 --> 00:24:12.728 So, even though this is an electronic device, 00:24:12.728 --> 00:24:17.563 and it seems as though it has a very deliberately-programmed flash frequency, 00:24:17.563 --> 00:24:23.985 it’s just not precise enough to stay in perfect sync with another car - or at least its flasher - 00:24:23.985 --> 00:24:27.021 from the same manufacturer from the same time period. 00:24:27.021 --> 00:24:31.086 Why, then, do these three cars not drift apart? 00:24:31.086 --> 00:24:34.386 It really wasn’t hard at all for me to get these to flash together. 00:24:34.386 --> 00:24:36.864 Look. It just took a bit of trial-and-error. 00:24:36.864 --> 00:24:43.853 Now in case you’re not hyper-aware of the US car market to the point you can identify these vehicles with just this angled view, 00:24:43.853 --> 00:24:48.447 these are all General Motors products, Chevrolets to be specific. 00:24:48.447 --> 00:24:52.301 That’s a pretty significant commonality, but you know what else they have in common? 00:24:52.301 --> 00:24:55.920 None of those cars have one of these! 00:24:55.920 --> 00:24:59.063 Have you ever noticed that starting around 10 or 15 years ago, 00:24:59.063 --> 00:25:02.572 the clicking sound of the turn signal changed? 00:25:02.572 --> 00:25:09.154 Pretty much every mainstream car made between oh maybe 1980 and 2005 or so 00:25:09.154 --> 00:25:13.200 sounded exactly like this. [classic, rhythmic tick-tock] 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:14.860 Maybe it was a little louder. 00:25:14.860 --> 00:25:16.279 Maybe it seemed a tad muffled. 00:25:16.530 --> 00:25:22.052 But the tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock was coming from one of these things 00:25:22.052 --> 00:25:24.490 tucked somewhere under the dashboard. 00:25:24.490 --> 00:25:28.531 You were hearing the actual switch contacts opening and closing, 00:25:28.531 --> 00:25:32.912 and that served as the legally-required audio queue. 00:25:32.912 --> 00:25:34.532 Modern cars, though? 00:25:34.940 --> 00:25:37.150 They can sound like anything at all. 00:25:37.150 --> 00:25:40.260 Fords sound like somebody’s playing ping pong. 00:25:40.260 --> 00:25:43.181 They can sound like whatever the automaker can imagine 00:25:43.181 --> 00:25:46.415 because that sound isn’t real. 00:25:46.415 --> 00:25:48.580 Look at this. This is my Chevy Volt. 00:25:48.580 --> 00:25:50.000 It’s not on. 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:54.270 And now I’ll hit the hazard lights, which don’t need the car to be running in order to work. 00:25:54.270 --> 00:25:55.490 They’re on. 00:25:55.490 --> 00:25:56.840 You can see them. 00:25:56.840 --> 00:25:58.280 But there’s no ticking sound! 00:25:58.280 --> 00:25:59.767 They’re just flashing! 00:26:00.238 --> 00:26:02.030 What is this madness? 00:26:02.030 --> 00:26:08.464 Well, for about a decade now, General Motors products have been using the car’s stereo system 00:26:08.464 --> 00:26:11.215 to make all the noises a car has to make. 00:26:11.215 --> 00:26:14.759 So when the car is off and the stereo is powered down, 00:26:14.759 --> 00:26:18.271 it can’t make the ticking sound of the turn signal. 00:26:18.271 --> 00:26:20.858 It also can’t make two sounds at once - 00:26:20.858 --> 00:26:26.264 if I turn it on, the ticking sound doesn’t begin until the fasten seat belt chime stops. 00:26:26.264 --> 00:26:31.598 [bong, bong ends abruptly; then tick-tock begins] 00:26:31.598 --> 00:26:34.726 A Quirk only Doug could appreciate. 00:26:34.726 --> 00:26:40.538 This ticking sound is literally coming from the driver’s side speaker in the footwell. 00:26:40.538 --> 00:26:42.151 Same with the chime. 00:26:42.151 --> 00:26:45.364 [loud chiming] 00:26:45.364 --> 00:26:49.222 As I said, it’s been like this for a long time in GM cars, 00:26:49.222 --> 00:26:54.320 and in fact they have to sell little noisemaker dongles that you plug into the radio’s wiring harness 00:26:54.320 --> 00:26:57.583 if you want to add an aftermarket stereo. 00:26:57.583 --> 00:27:00.331 On the one hand that’s kinda silly, 00:27:00.331 --> 00:27:06.083 but on the other their cars all come with a pretty sophisticated noisemaking device already 00:27:06.083 --> 00:27:10.841 so why not build the chimes and ticks and beeps and bongs into that? 00:27:10.841 --> 00:27:12.311 So they do. 00:27:12.311 --> 00:27:17.973 Now just because GM uses the stereo to make the noises doesn’t mean every car company does. 00:27:17.973 --> 00:27:24.237 Others could certainly use a dedicated noise maker thing, just like cars have been doing for the seat belt beeper for decades. 00:27:24.237 --> 00:27:31.272 But the point remains that in nearly all cases these days the clicking sound isn’t real anymore. 00:27:31.272 --> 00:27:35.834 In fact, if you listen reaaaallly closely while the car is off, 00:27:35.834 --> 00:27:43.082 you can hear the actual relay sending current to the turn signals quietly ticking away under the hood. 00:27:43.082 --> 00:27:47.098 Well, I’m afraid I have to make a correction because when I came out here to film the 00:27:47.098 --> 00:27:48.301 relays clicking… 00:27:48.301 --> 00:27:50.520 I can’t hear anything at all! 00:27:50.520 --> 00:27:54.772 I know the Equinox makes a faint noise but apparently in the Volt… 00:27:54.772 --> 00:27:57.520 it’s probably transistors driving the turn signals. 00:27:57.520 --> 00:27:58.860 Whaddya know. 00:27:58.860 --> 00:28:03.252 See, the thing is, car companies have been getting creative with using lighting 00:28:03.252 --> 00:28:05.980 to mean other things for a long time. 00:28:05.980 --> 00:28:11.740 GM cars use the turn signals as visual confirmation of locking and unlocking with the remote. 00:28:11.740 --> 00:28:13.901 Lots of others do the same. 00:28:13.901 --> 00:28:18.960 Rather than create some sort of Frankenstein circuit which can hijack the signal flasher, 00:28:18.960 --> 00:28:25.299 they just got rid of it and gave that task over to some relays controlled by a body module. 00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:28.740 In other words a small computer in charge of stuff like that. 00:28:28.740 --> 00:28:30.280 This turn signal switch? 00:28:30.280 --> 00:28:33.910 It’s not handling any meaningful amount of current like this one. 00:28:34.192 --> 00:28:35.950 It’s just an input. 00:28:35.950 --> 00:28:39.097 It simply has to tell whatever module runs the turns signals that 00:28:39.097 --> 00:28:43.120 “hey, I’m in the UP position” and then that module will say 00:28:43.120 --> 00:28:46.880 “Ah, time to flash the right side - hey you in the gauge cluster! 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:48.960 Start animating that little blinker arrow. 00:28:48.960 --> 00:28:51.460 And hey, stereo, get clicking! 00:28:51.460 --> 00:28:56.009 While you two do that I’m gonna repeatedly apply power to these two light bulbs.” 00:28:56.009 --> 00:28:58.798 And this particular car, infuriatingly, 00:28:58.798 --> 00:29:02.023 doesn’t do all that with perfect coordination. 00:29:02.023 --> 00:29:07.099 The animation, sound, and actual flashing are all just a little out of sync. 00:29:07.099 --> 00:29:10.860 It’s great. Definitely not bothersome to the kind of person I am. 00:29:10.860 --> 00:29:13.601 Oh, and making this simply an input 00:29:13.601 --> 00:29:21.100 is what has enabled stuff like the tap-for-a-lane-change feature which some of you have intense feelings towards. 00:29:21.100 --> 00:29:25.080 To those of you on Twitter, I just want you to know this video was in the works long before 00:29:25.080 --> 00:29:26.860 we had that particular discussion. 00:29:26.860 --> 00:29:29.128 I mean did you really think I could turn this around so f- 00:29:29.128 --> 00:29:34.830 Cars have been computerized to a degree that I think very few people recognize. 00:29:34.830 --> 00:29:40.380 You know how you have a LAN, your local area network, running over Ethernet in your home? 00:29:40.380 --> 00:29:42.828 Your car has a CAN bus. 00:29:42.828 --> 00:29:45.197 Literally car-area networ - 00:29:45.605 --> 00:29:49.026 OK I’ve been informed it’s actually controller area network. 00:29:49.026 --> 00:29:54.867 Anyway, there is a digital communications network traveling on wires throughout your car 00:29:54.867 --> 00:29:57.545 which various modules communicate over. 00:29:57.545 --> 00:30:01.788 And the first car to use this standard was produced the same year this thing was. 00:30:01.788 --> 00:30:03.611 1991. 00:30:03.611 --> 00:30:07.182 We started doing this because cars just keep getting more complex 00:30:07.182 --> 00:30:10.277 and there’s no sign of that stopping any time soon. 00:30:10.277 --> 00:30:16.318 The CAN bus allows for controlling the various whatevers in a car with much less wiring. 00:30:16.318 --> 00:30:18.999 Take power windows just as an example. 00:30:18.999 --> 00:30:24.323 Before the CAN bus, these switches were - again - literal current-carrying switches. 00:30:24.323 --> 00:30:28.153 That meant if you wanted the driver to have control over all four windows, 00:30:28.153 --> 00:30:33.827 you’d need to route heavy-gauge wiring into the driver’s door for every window. 00:30:33.827 --> 00:30:39.697 A CAN bus allows these buttons to simply send a message that they’re being pressed to a body module 00:30:39.697 --> 00:30:45.254 which controls the window motors, and in fact you could do all the communicating for all of the switches 00:30:45.254 --> 00:30:47.886 with a single pair of wires if you wanted. 00:30:47.886 --> 00:30:51.780 You then also get the ability to integrate modules together to do clever things 00:30:51.780 --> 00:30:56.969 such as roll all the windows down when you press and hold unlock on the keyfob. 00:30:56.969 --> 00:31:01.516 That’s a neat party trick which GM has seemingly haphazardly implemented. 00:31:01.516 --> 00:31:05.576 The Equinox and Bolt shown here can’t do this. 00:31:05.576 --> 00:31:08.581 We could do a whole video series on that sort of thing, 00:31:08.581 --> 00:31:10.074 and in fact I kind of want to, 00:31:10.074 --> 00:31:12.120 but here’s why it’s relevant. 00:31:12.120 --> 00:31:15.476 To make this network of things talk to each other correctly, 00:31:15.476 --> 00:31:22.811 each thing needs its own precise clock - something to drive its internal processing circuitry at the appropriate speed. 00:31:22.811 --> 00:31:30.098 The signals on the network need really specific timing and frequencies to be intelligible between nodes on the network, 00:31:30.098 --> 00:31:34.906 so unlike this circuit which may use a cheap resonator if it even has one, 00:31:34.906 --> 00:31:40.545 the body module in charge of flashing the turn signals, just like every other module on the CAN bus, 00:31:40.545 --> 00:31:45.674 will have a very precise clock operating at a very specific frequency. 00:31:45.674 --> 00:31:52.719 And so, if the manufacturer has decided that their cars will flash the turn signals at 90 flashes per minute, 00:31:52.719 --> 00:31:56.855 it will be EXACTLY 90 flashes per minute. 00:31:56.855 --> 00:32:00.718 None of this “close-enough” that flashers of the past aspired to - 00:32:00.718 --> 00:32:01.864 exact. 00:32:01.864 --> 00:32:08.049 So, if you’re behind a car from the same manufacturer as the one you’re in and they’re both relatively recent, 00:32:08.049 --> 00:32:11.138 you can probably get your turn signal synced with theirs. 00:32:11.138 --> 00:32:14.344 I haven’t tried it with anything other than GM products, but 00:32:14.344 --> 00:32:18.182 I’ve synced mine to plenty of other Chevys and a Buick, too. 00:32:18.182 --> 00:32:23.401 For fun I’ve tried to see if BMW might use the same flash frequency as GM 00:32:23.401 --> 00:32:27.574 but I’ve literally never had an opportunity to check for some reason. 00:32:27.574 --> 00:32:29.219 So - there’s the answer. 00:32:29.219 --> 00:32:33.807 It used to be basically impossible to synchronize the turn signals of two different cars 00:32:33.807 --> 00:32:39.651 because turn signal flashers just weren’t precision devices by any stretch of the imagination. 00:32:39.651 --> 00:32:44.682 But now it’s actually pretty easy - at least, among cars of the same make. 00:32:44.682 --> 00:32:49.350 Give it a try next time you’re out and about but, like, when it’s safe to do so. 00:32:49.350 --> 00:32:51.961 Don’t be foolish, drive safely. 00:32:51.961 --> 00:32:54.935 That means use your turn signals, also! 00:32:54.935 --> 00:32:56.756 Yeah, I’m talking to you. 00:32:56.756 --> 00:32:57.908 It’s not hard. 00:32:57.908 --> 00:32:59.644 Literally next to effortless. 00:32:59.644 --> 00:33:02.476 Make it a habit and you won’t even think about it. 00:33:02.476 --> 00:33:07.350 Well... unless your car has a really weird and non-standard turn signal control 00:33:07.350 --> 00:33:10.610 because stalkless driving is a feature now? 00:33:10.610 --> 00:33:12.780 Before I go, here’s a fun fact. 00:33:12.780 --> 00:33:19.447 GM cars - or at least, some of them - have individual control over each turn signal position. 00:33:19.447 --> 00:33:24.517 When you use a scan tool to tell the car you’re programming new tire pressure sensors to it, 00:33:24.517 --> 00:33:31.735 it lights up each individual turn signal on each corner of the car to tell you which tire it’s looking to pair. 00:33:31.735 --> 00:33:33.365 It starts with the front left, 00:33:33.365 --> 00:33:40.226 keeping that light solidly lit until your pairing tool successfully prods that wheel to start talking to the car. 00:33:40.226 --> 00:33:42.921 Then it honks and lights up the front right, 00:33:42.921 --> 00:33:45.252 moving clockwise around the car. 00:33:45.252 --> 00:33:50.208 I’ve got winter tires and I’ve seen the techs go through this rigmarole each seasonal swap. 00:33:50.208 --> 00:33:53.613 I was genuinely delighted by that bit of cleverness. 00:33:53.613 --> 00:33:55.259 Tickled me pink, it did. 00:33:55.259 --> 00:33:59.745 Oh, also, here’s a feature that GM seems to have removed which is a shame. 00:33:59.745 --> 00:34:03.929 Deep in the menu settings of the Volt is a setting called “Chime Volume.” 00:34:03.929 --> 00:34:07.820 You can actually toggle the volume of the chime between two levels, 00:34:07.820 --> 00:34:13.804 but what it doesn’t tell you is that this also affects the loudness of the turn signal clicker! 00:34:13.804 --> 00:34:19.529 This is genuinely really useful, as in lots of cars I can’t hear the clicking at highway speeds. 00:34:19.529 --> 00:34:23.149 On the loud setting you definitely can in this car. 00:34:23.149 --> 00:34:27.834 Unfortunately, while the Bolt has even more settings for the chime volume, 00:34:27.834 --> 00:34:29.036 that’s all it affects. 00:34:29.036 --> 00:34:30.036 Just the chime. 00:34:30.350 --> 00:34:31.068 Shame. 00:34:31.413 --> 00:34:36.712 Also, in case you think this is a fluke, here’s the same three cars flashing together. 00:34:36.712 --> 00:34:38.510 And now we’ll speed this up. 00:34:38.918 --> 00:34:40.800 Here we find something interesting. 00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:47.240 The Equinox and Volt - that’s the black and red cars - are 2013 and 2015 model years. 00:34:47.240 --> 00:34:51.833 They also have incredibly similar switchgear and infotainment systems. 00:34:51.833 --> 00:34:56.942 These two stay completely together for tens of minutes, but the Bolt? 00:34:56.942 --> 00:34:59.073 It does eventually drift apart. 00:34:59.230 --> 00:35:01.825 It takes a while, so it’s extremely close, 00:35:01.825 --> 00:35:06.815 but this makes me think the Volt and Equinox probably have identical body modules, 00:35:06.815 --> 00:35:09.154 and the Bolt’s has been revised. 00:35:09.154 --> 00:35:15.479 The Bolt also has some radically different user-interfaces compared to the other two which reinforces this idea. 00:35:15.479 --> 00:35:18.914 Plus it actually has amber rear turn signals, 00:35:18.914 --> 00:35:21.245 amazing! 00:35:22.186 --> 00:35:24.860 ♫ indicatively smooth jazz ♫ 00:35:25.990 --> 00:35:28.880 You can’t get it s… uh, no. That’s incorrect. 00:35:29.288 --> 00:35:32.877 [engine noise] 00:35:35.544 --> 00:35:39.754 But let’s step back in time and look at how turn signal circuits used to fwork. 00:35:39.754 --> 00:35:40.505 Fwork. 00:35:40.505 --> 00:35:44.344 Cars have needed blinky lights on the [a series of very silly noises] 00:35:44.344 --> 00:35:46.264 ….and then push it down. 00:35:46.264 --> 00:35:47.404 Oh! It was engaged. 00:35:47.404 --> 00:35:48.404 Great. 00:35:48.935 --> 00:35:52.594 While I’m out here, that is the range of maximum visibility 00:35:52.594 --> 00:35:54.372 for the Volt’s brake lights. 00:35:54.372 --> 00:35:57.759 You can see it is very much a directed beam. 00:35:57.759 --> 00:36:03.085 It will send 12V out on one of the other pins when we engage the circle. 00:36:03.085 --> 00:36:03.911 Signal. 00:36:03.911 --> 00:36:09.448 Put this in series with the 12V supply and watch what happens. 00:36:10.766 --> 00:36:12.334 That was way too sloppy. 00:36:12.334 --> 00:36:16.948 Now if you’ve been watching this channel for a while you’ll proba… Oh noooo! 00:36:19.834 --> 00:36:23.185 See, I should have definitely done something more robust than this. 00:36:25.632 --> 00:36:29.042 It’s ‘cause you’ve been coiled up a whole bunch of times. 00:36:29.042 --> 00:36:29.713 No. 00:36:31.847 --> 00:36:34.632 [sudden acceleration rearward] 00:36:35.981 --> 00:36:39.133 Current flows through the fff eh buh 00:36:39.133 --> 00:36:43.229 In any case, once the switch contacts open again… 00:36:44.861 --> 00:36:47.029 I lost my s… track. 00:36:47.029 --> 00:36:48.055 I lost where I was. 00:36:48.055 --> 00:36:51.185 Eventually the voltage is enough to pull the switch closed, 00:36:51.185 --> 00:36:53.558 rinse and repeat. 00:36:55.127 --> 00:36:56.639 This is not connected. 00:36:56.639 --> 00:36:58.340 Great job, guys! 00:37:00.787 --> 00:37:03.626 Well, wasn't this video illuminating? 00:37:03.626 --> 00:37:06.603 Then again I suppose it wasn't for an equal amount of time. 00:37:06.603 --> 00:37:10.065 Kept going back and forth between enlightened and dim, huh? 00:37:10.065 --> 00:37:13.169 Man, is my material getting repetitive? Hope not. 00:37:13.169 --> 00:37:15.140 USE YOUR FORKING TURN SIGNALS