Originally posted by 1:
Wire the resistor in parallel. That keeps the same voltage going to the light, but adds resistance to the circuit.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯T¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯\
-------------Resistor-------Þ-Bulb
_____________|_________/
This is needed for the flasher relay. There is a metal element inside the relay that heats up and contracts. It heats up, releases the circuit (for the "off" blink), cools down quickly, then closes back. It repeats that to get the blinking.
Not enough resistance in that circuit causes the metal element inside the blinker relay to draw too many amps heating up too quickly. In order to remove some of that "excess" amperage, you need to add resistance. Depending on the amps to pull, a 6 ohm, 1/2 or higher watt resistor would be needed. The higher the wattage, the safer.
Parallel doesn't add resistence, it subtracts.
R total = (R1 * R2) / (R1 + R2)
Total resistence will always be less than smallest resistence in parallel.
