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Only skimmed the video, but did he get into why even the most modern cars, festooned with CanBus controlled light modules and LED almost everywhere, still have
by MarkusWandel 2y ago
Only skimmed the video, but did he get into why even the most modern cars, festooned with CanBus controlled light modules and LED almost everywhere, still have incandescent bulbs in the taillights? I'm pretty sure I've even seen those on electric cars.
Once upon a time, an "accidental" feature was that the thermal bimetallic flasher modules would flash much faster if the load was lower. So if you turn indicator flashed fast, you knew that one of the bulbs was out. I've seen this fairly recently; is it "designed in" to modern turn signal systems even though the bimetallic flasher units are long gone? And is that why there's still an incandescent bulb back there - because it's the easiest to monitor for not being functional by just watching the current draw?
Also once upon a time, you could pull out the thermal bimetallic flasher unit and replace it with an "electronic" one consisting of a transistor, a couple of passives, and a relay. Those made a very satisfying loud "CLICK CLACK" kind of noise that was impossible to miss. In my modern, car, I'm pretty sure the tick tock sound is synthetic, but it's also quiet enough that, at least at my age, it's easy to miss.