How to wire LED tail lights

Alax7

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When you install LED bulbs, like the ones andrizzle and I used http://www.v-leds.com/Exterior-LED/...D/V-LEDS-RED-92-M-SMT-TAILBRAKE-p7470633.html
The bulbs wont work right unless you wire in some resistors. You need 2 resistors per tail light, total 4. One is wired in series to the running lights wire(black/blue) to dim the LED's when the running lights are on and then be able to light to full brightness when the brake is applied. The second resistor is wire in parallel from the power wire(orange) to the running lights wire(black/blue) AFTER THE RESISTOR IS SERIES. This is to simulate the filament bulb's resistence to get rid of the bulb out message. If you wire this resistor before the resistor in series, the LED bulb will not turn on when the runnning lights or headlights are on.

Remember, make sure the resistor in parallel is wire after the resistor in series. It should be as follows on the running lights wire: led bulb,resistor in series, resistor in parallel, harness plug.

For the resistors, I used 2 100ohm, 10watt ceramic resistors per tail lights, total 4, that I got from radio shack.

A diagram for those who may get confused on how to wire it.

LEDresistors.png







And now you have fully functional LED tail lights with no error message.
 
Confirmed.

Awesome troubleshooting Alax, I owe you one man!

I was getting sick of resetting 'Check Tail Lamps'
 
am having problem with my damn dome lights cant seen to get to the bulbs because those wire thats holding the dome from dropping. my hand is not small enough to fit in and take that bulbs off
 
Confirmed.

Awesome troubleshooting Alax, I owe you one man!

I was getting sick of resetting 'Check Tail Lamps'




SWEET! No problem man, I was getting tired of resetting it too.
 
The reverse light bulbs next to the license plates? Sylvania says it's 3157

What kind of bulb did you buy? A oem filament bulb or LED?
 
Yeah, basically the same. By the way, this is for a gen2, I dont know for sure if it will work on a gen1 or even how gen1's are wired. Good luck with the wiring, post up the results.
 
this is for a gen2.

Yeah I Know but this is all i have to go on for now.

Weird.. Why would you use a sandblock compared to a conventional type? The conventional type is much smaller..

See, I didnt know that. But Ive looked everywhere and no one seems to sell anything bigger that a 2 Watt, and radioshack doesnt ship to fu<king Canada. plus i dont have a passport yet so i cant just go over and get some in Detroit. Sucks!!!
 
These are 10w resistors and did not get as hot. You only need a resistor of atleast 2w to safely handle the current in the tails, I think it was, but those got pretty hot and I didn't want to risk it.
 
Yep.. You can go as high of wattage as you want.. The shell just gets bigger to dissipate the increased heat.. Still, a conventional type would be smaller.. I guess just thinking out loud.. ;)
 
Substantial size difference? because if its just a little biger than whatever.
 
Yeah you could go with the smaller ones and I wanted to use them just so things didn't get so bulky, but I wasn't comfortable with how hot it got, hot enough to not be able to hold with about 30 seconds of the tails being turned on. Either way, if you tape them up flat against each other, they are still small enough to fit back through the hole and into the trunk. You dont have to go with these bigger ones, just has to be 2 100 ohm resistors of atleast 2w, just thought ppl would also like to be on the safe side with the heat. Thats also why I didn't use the v-led resistors, they got way too hot. They were 6ohms at 25w I think, you could start a fire with those things :eek:
 
Hmmm... A little more money but they will ship here. Good find thanks maybe ill just get these.
 
Yea, I noticed that too.. I have used Allied to get my stuff for my custom LED tails (LEDs, Resistors, PCB boards, and whatever else).. Very good quality control and FAST shipping.. :)
 
Yeah you could try those. Radio shack only has up to 2w then anything higher goes to ceramic resistors, or whatever the big square one are. If you get those, let me know how hot they get.
 

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