|
In a two prong clasher, current goes thru a piece of resistive wire wraped around a bi-metalic switch, thru the switch, and out to the light bulbs. It takes the current of the number of light bulbs that the flasher is rated for to heat the bi-metalic switch up enough to open it. Therefore, if you burn out a bulb, the thing will stop working, telling you that you have a burned out bulb. If you use a two pronger, get one rated for the number of bulbs that you are using. Also, you have to use brake/directional bulbs, rather than marker light bulbs, as they draw more current, which is what the flasher is designed for. A 3 pronger, also sometimes called a "heavy duty" flasher, is wired so that the current goes thru the contacts, then splits. Some of it goes out the second prong to the bulbs, while some of it goes thru the resistive heating wire to the third prong, which must be connected to ground. With this type of flasher, the light bulb current does not affect the heating wire current, so a change in current will not affect the flashing. This is good in a truck with a trailer hitch, as it is unaffected by addition or subtraction of current when you plug or unplug the trailer lights. Of course, it will not tell you if you have a bad bulb. Having said all that... Northern Hydralics sells a self contained magnetic base strobe light. It is yellow on one side and red on the other side. It runs off of 4 C batteries. Being a true strobe light, rather than a flashing incandecent light, it is relatively bright. The magnetic base will stick to anything metal, and it sticks pretty good. If you want to attach it to a wooden part of a hay wagon, get a blank steel 4x4" square electrical box cover and screw the cover to the trailer where you want the light to go, and then just stick the light to the steel plate. The nice thing about it is that you can move them quickly from one thing to another. Rick K
|
