Hey Rochester,
For the 5.5gens - just wanting to make sure I understood what you did. Tap the green/yellow wire and run that wire to the black wire of the sidemarkers - then buttconnect to that?

Yours then alternate front/rear to side when the lights are on and then together when the lights are off?

What does this do to your turn indicators inside when the lights are on? They flash twice as fast since you are blinking more lights?

Electrical makes me nervous but I wanna do this!

 

In hindsight, I still feel just as foolish as I did this afternoon. However, I'll also still answer your questions. I'm not proud.With the headlights (running lights) off, the side-marker is receiving no power from its green wire. Therefore, when the turn-signals fire on they're sending power up the black wire, causing the side-marker to be lit. In this scenario, the side-markers blink at exactly the same time as the turn-signals.

With the headlights (running lights) on, the side-marker is now receiving power from its green wire. Therefore, when the turn-signals fire on they're sending power up the black wire, causing the power to cancel itself out at the side-marker, and the side-marker turns off. In this scenario, the side-markers blink at exactly opposite time as the turn-signals.

Everything blinks at exactly the same rate. Nothings changed there.

I have to say... it is really, really cool. Love this mod!

 

You know what...? I just realized that most LED's won't work with this setup. Or better said, they will only work with either the headlights on or the headlights off, but not both ways.

This is because most wedge-bulb LED's are sensitive to polarity. With this technique, you're swapping polarity based on whether the power to the side-markers comes from the green wire (headlights), or the black wire (turn signal).

So it's only going to work one way. Whichever way you want it to work, just turn the wedge bulb around.

I say "most LED's" because only the really expensive LED's have circuitry that's polarity agnostic. And that's usually not wedge bulbs, because all you have to do with the wedge is turn it around.

I'm pretty sure I'm right about this. The easy thing would be to experiment now that I've got it setup. God knows I've got lots of extra LED's laying around. (Finding a happy path for LED lighting is a lot of trial and error.)

It's not like it's a big choice, anyway. You'd want it to work with the headlights (running lights) ON. That way just looks better in the dark, and alternating.

 

^^^ good to know! i really think this should be a sticky or have something posted in the how to's. im still loving this mod

 

i have leds in my side markers and they work on both settings. I dont think they are the expensive ones. Check out post #69. I have the clear sidemarkers with leds. no problems for me.

 

Hmmm. It works for you, so my theory is screwed up maybe about polarity?

If an LED bulb only lights up when it receives power from one direction, and in this side-marker rewire you're sourcing power conditionally from both directions... it shouldn't work. Right?

I don't know. I'm learning this stuff on the fly. Color me confused.

 

when i did this i had too buy a 15 amp fuse because the one i had got blown...but when i put the fuse it started workin ( the side marker started blinkn ) when i had my signal on but the bulb from the headlight doesnt..why? someone please help me out with that

 

Wierd. I did mine last night. It costed a total of like 10 bucks. The only problem i had was i accidently wired one incorrectly and blew out the turn signal fuse and hazard fuse. all i can think is check the wiring.

 

i failed. friggin started to rain....i rushed.
and got NOTHING. only getting power to headlight blinker, i used quick connect on green at blinker and ran cable down to side with black cut into a butt connector and got nothing....im sure i just need to recheck all cables....sigh. wait till a better day.

 

Somebody do this right!

 

I think you mean, somebody do this right... the first time!

My side markers blink just fine, I just screwed up big time getting there.

 

mine are fine, i did this mod in like 20 mins

 

sick write up im just inspired to mod it up this weekend now.

 

I mean then again doesn't this not exactly work perfectly with led sidemarkers since the led bulbs are polar...

 

i dont have led sidemarkers i have regular..is this problematic guys?? or can it actually b done?

 

You got that backwards. LED's are suspect in this setup, not filament bulbs.

Every time I'm down there, I keep forgetting to swap in an LED bulb, just to test this out.

 

I did this mod successfully on my 5.5. I hooked both my front and rear side markers to flash with the signals. When the headlights are on, they stay on....and when you signal...they flash alternately with the front and rear signals. I used no relays, and I have LED bulbs in all my corner lights.


At the same time I did that mod, I also rewired my foglights completely independent of the headlights...so I can have ALL my lights on at the same time....including the highbeams.

 

I always wondered why the side markers on 5.5 gen Maximas don't blink from the factory. The front turn signals don't wrap around to the side of the car (like the 5th gen signal does) so it's hard for people to see if you're signaling from the side. This should be a factory mod!

 

bookmarked for a future (>20*) day!

 

Wow didnt know this thread grew so much from when I first did this little mod...I actually forgot I had it done!

 

did any1 make the rear side markers light up when the rear brake lights go on... i think that wuld be cool to

 

Pretty nice might do this soon...

 

last time i tried to attempt this, my unlock and lock flashers quit working... key less entry works fine, just no flashing confirming it locked or unlocked... did the same concept on my 3rd gen and worked flawlessly.... front and rear corners at that

 

speaking of sidemarkers my left turn signal just went out and i replaced the bulb and everything..thats not it..i did that a number of times to make sure the bulbs werent bad and still nothing..anyone got any ideas? maybe its the flasher signal relay needs replacement?


i really want to see if this whole sidemarkers/turn signal thing can be done..? has anyone successfully completed this on the forum??


btw the way side note------>Tee00max after seeing you're signature im going to make my max the identical twin of your car...thanks for the inspiration and ideas.

 

It's been a while since i did this... but here's a quick video of this mod in my 5.5 gen

http://youtu.be/5Zu4Kl748YQ

 

Nice mod! I'm going to be trying this after work. Hopefully I won't mess up to much! Haha

 

Just did this to my front side markers. I made a quick video explaining what I did