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I'm trying to refurb a old pcb taken from a 30 year old cars indicator unit, it's a pretty simple pcb besides one component I'm unable to identify:

component1

component2

You can see it attached to the back here before I took it out and cleaned it up

component3

Anyone know what this is and where I could source a replacement?

Thanks.

EDIT:

Pictures of the back:

Before I started to clean it up:

before cleanup

After:

back1 back2

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Can you draw a schematic? Or clean the pcb and show a picture form the other side? It looks to me like a normal diode bridge. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dorian
    Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 9:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ Added pictures. \$\endgroup\$
    – Twisted89
    Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 10:11

1 Answer 1

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It looks like a bridge rectifier but I can't think why there would be one in a 12 V DC circuit.

schematic

simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab

Figure 1. A bridge rectifier consists of four diodes.

There's no scale reference in your photo but I'd guess that's a 1 A device and so is unlikely to be in the actual indicator lamp circuit as these are normally 21 W lamps drawing nearly 2 A each when hot and a lot more when the filament is cold. It's more likely to be rectifying the power for the flasher unit itself.

They're available from any electronics component supplier. You'll find a parameterised search on any of the large suppliers. Select something that's rated for 50 V and whatever current you think is required.

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    \$\begingroup\$ It would make the indicator polarity insensitive. \$\endgroup\$
    – uglyoldbob
    Commented Aug 27, 2020 at 21:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ probably not 21W through those LEDs \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 6:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ As that most likely goes to a standard bulb holder, the bulbs are symmetric and have no polarity. So uglyoldbob is right that this enables the LED bulbs to be used in any orientation and they will light up just like normal bulbs. So including a bridge rectifier does make sense a lot. \$\endgroup\$
    – Justme
    Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 6:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ There's only two visible wires and there are two different colours of LED. Could it be steering current to one colour or the other based on the polarity? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 6:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ The LEDS are all the same, it's just some of them are rusted beyond recognition \$\endgroup\$
    – Twisted89
    Commented Aug 28, 2020 at 10:07

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