Is there such a thing as 'tail light sensor'?
Jason Lin
Hi all.
The tail lights on my 1985 Nissan 200SX stopped working about a few weeks
ago. I had my car checked by a repair shop specialised in electrical
problem and I was told that the 'tail light sensor' needs to be replaced.
A technician showed me a white plastic module(about 1" by 3/4" by 3" in
size) that has some electronic circuits in it. It smelled burnt....
So my question is what exactly is a 'tail light sensor'??
Thanks.
MAX_!
Hi,
> The tail lights on my 1985 Nissan 200SX stopped working about a few weeks
> ago. I had my car checked by a repair shop specialised in electrical
> problem and I was told that the 'tail light sensor' needs to be replaced.
> A technician showed me a white plastic module(about 1" by 3/4" by 3" in
> size) that has some electronic circuits in it. It smelled burnt....
Heh, I've got check light for just about anything in my car - it also
includes check lights for front/rear lights and one for the brake lights.
It can't be very expensive to make, since you just need to compare current
between both lights to see if there's one that's broken.
I've also seen a thingie that uses fiber optics to see which light is
burning and which is not. It uses fibers glued to the inside of the
housing, and lead to a display on the dash. when a light is working, light
from that lamp will travel through the fiber and light up on the dash..
> So my question is what exactly is a 'tail light sensor'??
A collection of electronics that monitors the current through the lights
to see if all the lights are burning. If a lamp is broken, the wire inside
the lamp is disconnected, and therefore there is no current through that
light.
MAX_!
Trapper
On Tue, 31 Mar 1998 03:51:25 GMT, Jason Lin <sai...@ucla.edu> wrote:
>Hi all.
>
>The tail lights on my 1985 Nissan 200SX stopped working about a few weeks
>ago. I had my car checked by a repair shop specialised in electrical
>problem and I was told that the 'tail light sensor' needs to be replaced.
>A technician showed me a white plastic module(about 1" by 3/4" by 3" in
>size) that has some electronic circuits in it. It smelled burnt....
>
>So my question is what exactly is a 'tail light sensor'??
>
>Thanks.
>
The tail light sensor detects burnt out tail lamp bulbs and lights the
amber warning light on the dash if a tail light bulb burns out. It is
more of a convenience item than a safety item for lazy people who
don't check their lights by looking to see if they work.
It is that little white plastic module, it is not serviceable only
replaceable or can be jumpered out. Check your tail lamp bulbs are OK
before replacing.
Trapper.
steven T koontz
Jason Lin wrote:
>
> Hi all.
>
> The tail lights on my 1985 Nissan 200SX stopped working about a few weeks
> ago. I had my car checked by a repair shop specialised in electrical
> problem and I was told that the 'tail light sensor' needs to be replaced.
> A technician showed me a white plastic module(about 1" by 3/4" by 3" in
> size) that has some electronic circuits in it. It smelled burnt....
>
> So my question is what exactly is a 'tail light sensor'??
>
bad...what happens is they were originally mounted with the connector
facing up so if you get a water leak they fill up and short out... I
mount them the other direction when I replace them so it doesn't
reoccur..
>
--
steve's photography & Z car stuff @ http://www.mindspring.com/~skoontz
sko...@mindspring.com
JJ
In <35209521...@nntp.netcom.ca> rath...@netcom.can (Trapper) wrote:
:The tail light sensor detects burnt out tail lamp bulbs and lights the
:amber warning light on the dash if a tail light bulb burns out. It is
:more of a convenience item than a safety item for lazy people who
:don't check their lights by looking to see if they work.
:
:It is that little white plastic module, it is not serviceable only
:replaceable or can be jumpered out. Check your tail lamp bulbs are OK
:before replacing.
Thanks for the explanation.
However, I have another question. If the primary function of a tail light
sensor is to detect burnt out light bulbs, how can a malfunctioned sensor
affect tail lights? I am very certain that all the light bulbs for tail
lights(and brake lights) on my car are fully functional. I've made an
special order for a tail light sensor that costs me about $90. And I'm
still not sure whether a replacement sensor will fix the tail light problem
because I have noticed other circuit/light problems. For example, if I
press on the brake, sometimes the fuel warning light, the brake warning
light, and double parking indicator will all turn on. When I first bought
the car(for real cheap < $700), I didn't pay much attention to the
malfunctioned dashboard light since it was a 'side effect' of fixing the
brake lights by the previous owner. He probably done some nasty cross
wiring monkey job to fix brake lights. I thought, well, as long as every
external light works, why bother fixing cross wiring. But now I am
begriming to worry that all the screwed up electrical wiring might be the
cause of the burnt out tail light sensor. Well, $50/hr labor fee ain't
cheap you know.
If anyone has had experience with screwed up electrical wiring in cars, I'd
like to hear your opinion on whether I should spend extra money to fix
cross wiring problems.
Thanks.
Trapper
Trapper
On Tue, 31 Mar 1998 03:51:25 GMT, Jason Lin <sai...@ucla.edu> wrote:
>Hi all.
>
>The tail lights on my 1985 Nissan 200SX stopped working about a few weeks
>ago. I had my car checked by a repair shop specialised in electrical
>problem and I was told that the 'tail light sensor' needs to be replaced.
>A technician showed me a white plastic module(about 1" by 3/4" by 3" in
>size) that has some electronic circuits in it. It smelled burnt....
>
>So my question is what exactly is a 'tail light sensor'??
>
>Thanks.
>
The statement I made in the previous post about the internals of the
tail light sensor not being voltage sensensitive was incorrect. The
sensor is completely solid state consisting of a voltage comparator, a
Darlinton pair , a Zener and a bunch of resisistors and caps. The
headlight sensor is the one with the reed relays in. In either case
the are series devices and can affect the circuits.
The rest of the post including wiring is oK
Trapper.
nospam_...@ibm.com
Just a general note; a lot of such weirdness can be caused by bad
grounds; either loose ground screws, corrosion at connections or at
ground screws, or broken wires. The tpical scene where when you step on
the brakes, the taillights go out, etc. Of course, if the previous owner
did monkey up the wiring, anything goes.
--
GZ
For he is cast into the Net by his own feet. - Job 18:8
How long will you search for words? -Job 18:2