Hopkins 5 to 4 wire converters - WARNING!

[Walküre]

Okay, so I spent a long time on the phone to Hopkins Manufacturing Corporation, the company that makes the Hoppy Powered Converters that so many use on their motorcycles. I've been using the 46255 version, which uses the battery, instead of the bike wiring, for lighting the trailer lights. I have recommended it in the past, because it works great, and was a quick and dirty hook-up. I know that there are a LOT of bikes, using this same converter, that's why I got it.

 I put about 50 miles on the trailer after I built it the beginning of winter. All my lights on the trailer are LED.

Day 'fore yesterday, I hooked it up, and all the light came on - every single output was hot. Not good. So, being as it's probably a few solid state relays inside, I figured it had to take a massive short, to do that. But, there's just NO way that could have happened. And it couldn't have been the LED's, because they are almost zero current drain. So, I called and got through to a tech support guy fairly quickly. When I explained the problem, he said "those damn LED's are causing us a LOT of heartache!". Although I'm an Electronic Tech by title, and more an electro-mechanical tech by trade, I'm NOT an engineer. i can think of NOthing that would cause any trouble, having LED lights instead of incandescents. But, the tech support guy said they've had quite a few failures, and almost all of them are LED related. He didn't go any further into why he thought it was happening, and I didn't ask.

So, he did give me info on WHICH converter's to buy, both powered and unpowered (takes the power from the bike's wiring). I told him I would post the info here, and he was grateful. Guess they have been a serious problem for them.

The correct numbers (click on number for link) for the correct converters are:

POWERED: 46365


UNPOWERED: 48895

Hope this helps someone. I'm thinking maybe put it in the tech section also? Or would that be a no-no?

R

[ptgb]

Hope it is not a sign of things to come...

I have ran a 46255 on two different Valks with two different trailers each with a mix of incandescents and LEDs. No problems at all. Will keep an eye on this though, thanks.

[sandy]

I have your converter on both of my bikes. No LEDs on the trailer. So far so good. Thanks for the info.

[Walküre]

I have your converter on both of my bikes. No LEDs on the trailer. So far so good. Thanks for the info.

I got the impression that there are quite a few of them failing, and JUST the ones driving LED's. I intended this to be more a warning to avoid the 46255 if you are going to use LED's, and go with the one Hoppy recommends. I don't think I would go out and change it, unless it went out. And if the failure is like mine, ALL the lights were on, and not off. At least I wouldn't have been driving dark, if it had happened on the road.

R

[Scott in Ok]

Such is the nature of solid state relays and low power devices like LED's.  There is a certain amount of bleed current through a solid state relay, even when it is "off".  That amount of current is enough to light up a LED, but not an incandescent bulb.


-Scott

[Chillerman]

Such is the nature of solid state relays and low power devices like LED's.  There is a certain amount of bleed current through a solid state relay, even when it is "off".  That amount of current is enough to light up a LED, but not an incandescent bulb.


-Scott

Absolutely correct.  And I would add that adding resistors to the circuits would eliminate the problem, at least in my experience.

[3fan4life]

Such is the nature of solid state relays and low power devices like LED's.  There is a certain amount of bleed current through a solid state relay, even when it is "off".  That amount of current is enough to light up a LED, but not an incandescent bulb.


-Scott

I Always knew that you were a pretty Fart Smeller!     

That explanation makes perfect sense.