LED/SMD issue

Murdered_LS8

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Ok, well I've searched, maybe its tapatalk, or being on mobile, but here is my issue:

I have installed SMD lights, everywhere, except for tail/brake/rear turns, (waiting for resistors at the moment), but the dome lights, reverse lights and other miscellaneous SMD swapped bulbs stay on intermittently after the car is off... Am I going to need resistors inline for ALL of my swapped lights, or is this something else?
 
You need a resistor for the interior circuit as well, search for one of Alax's thread regarding this or it might be in one of the LED swap threads. I don't notice the interiors staying on but I do notice when the puddle lights stay on very dim.
 
My reverse lights would glow ever so slightly for 30 minutes after locking the LS.
 
You need a resistor for the interior circuit as well, search for one of Alax's thread regarding this or it might be in one of the LED swap threads. I don't notice the interiors staying on but I do notice when the puddle lights stay on very dim.

Puddle lights, being floorboard lights or the door lights?
 
The lights in the mirrors, underside. I think all LSs had these but I could be wrong.
 
shouldnt sweat it they turn off after awhile , leds dont eat up that much power anyway if that is your concern
 
shouldnt sweat it they turn off after awhile , leds dont eat up that much power anyway if that is your concern

The power drawl is still there with standard bulbs, it's just not enough to turn them on like LEDs.
 
Wish I could tag Alax7, either way, its just a nit-pick annoyance to me. I know they don't draw much power, but I want it to look as OEM as possible.
 
to stop the glow, you dont need a resistor on every bulb, just one resistor on every circuit.if i remember right, it was one resistor for all of the inside dome lights, and one for the license plate lights (each turn signal needed a load resistor, so that fix them)


The lights in the mirrors, underside. I think all LSs had these but I could be wrong.

no, not all LSs had them.
 
to stop the glow, you dont need a resistor on every bulb, just one resistor on every circuit.if i remember right, it was one resistor for all of the inside dome lights, and one for the license plate lights.

I think you need something around 1-2k ohms for the interior, I don't remember the wattage. I used a 4k ohm resister I believe, its what I had left over. The inside lights are on the same circuit so you just need one resistor there like loudls mentioned, so pick the easiest spot for you to place one. I did it on the rear passenger light, it was the easier route for me, no way to get in to the front lower lights to soldier the resistor in.
 
I think you need something around 1-2k ohms for the interior, I don't remember the wattage. I used a 4k ohm resister I believe, its what I had left over. The inside lights are on the same circuit so you just need one resistor there like loudls mentioned, so pick the easiest spot for you to place one. I did it on the rear passenger light, it was the easier route for me, no way to get in to the front lower lights to soldier the resistor in.

The 4kohm worked for your lights? I have some coming in that I was gonna use on my tail lights, and front turn signals. I saw your post about where to wire in the resistors for the 3157 lights, props.
 
yeah, 4k worked for me.

For the tails, I've read a member or two bought ebay LEDs or other LEDS that were not v-leds and they said they would not work with the resistors I used. The v-leds bulbs will would with the values I used, but if you get them elsewhere and they do not work, it is up to you to figure out what resistors will work, they will be wired the same, you just need different values.
 
My reverse lights would glow ever so slightly for 30 minutes after locking the LS.

Yup, aka sleep mode.


The power drawl is still there with standard bulbs, it's just not enough to turn them on like LEDs.


^

The LS is a "negative trigger" setup. Most LED replacement bulbs with dual function (parking light and turn signal, for example) will not work correctly with the LS.

the real issue is that the LS uses a negative trigger system, meaning that at the light bulb there is always positive 12v, and the computer switches the ground on and off, when the computer "falls asleep" there is a high resistance to ground, and a very small amount of power will flow through the bulb and the resistance. this same amount power still flow through standard incandescent bulbs, except for there is not enough power to heat up the filament enough to glow. since LED's are so much more efficient, that small amount of power will actually cause the bulb to light a little. placing a high enough resistance resistor in parallel with one of the bulbs gives the power another path to take instead of through the bulb so it wont light up anymore.




NOTES:
~ http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?68935-How-to-wire-LED-tail-lights
~ http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?77457-Lincoln-ls-Led-Resistors
 
Thanks BigRig, Alax, and all others. I have some resistors in my electrical box, just never used them lol.
 
No Probs. to be truthful, I aborted my LED conversion due to all these load resistors needed.
I ended up with just a trunk full of LED lighting, backup and plate lights, they stay on dim for 30 min then go out.
 
No Probs. to be truthful, I aborted my LED conversion due to all these load resistors needed.
I ended up with just a trunk full of LED lighting, backup and plate lights, they stay on dim for 30 min then go out.

If I do one side of my tag lights with a resistor, will that keep both of them from staying on? Got any left over? I'm building up my stock, and I'm trying to get as many as possible.

uploadfromtaptalk1387074925432.jpg
 
You can add one resistor per circuit from what I read. Doesn't need to be on each bulb.
I had some whites and amber turns, I ended up using on my winter beater, plus shipping from Canada to US or otherway around is silly in cost.
 
You can add one resistor per circuit from what I read. Doesn't need to be on each bulb.
I had some whites and amber turns, I ended up using on my winter beater, plus shipping from Canada to US or otherway around is silly in cost.

Ahh that's what I had thought. Dang, yeah shipping is a bear. Do we have any T5 bulbs anywhere on our cars?? Bought a mess of them, but can't find anywhere to use them.
 
What do you need to achieve on the turn signals?
 
If you installed all 4 turn bulbs, 2 front and 2 rear, you wont have any issues. If you only installed 2 , you will also get a bulb out message. This is with bulbs from v-leds. hopefully others will also work the same.

For the brake lights.

The issue we ran into by just installing LED bulbs was that we would get a bulb out error message. On top of that, at night when the running light/headlights are on, the brake lights are lightly dimmed. This little voltage caused the LED bulb to light up at full brightness so when you pressed the brake, since the bulb was already at full brightness, nothing would happen that was visible, the bulb is seeing more voltage but in brightness, it didn't change.

2 resistors are need, 1resistor is to get rid of the error message by showing a load similar to the filament bulb's resistance, the second resistor is to dim the bulb when the running light/headlights are on so when you press the brake, full brightness is achieved.

If this is confusing, there is a little diagram that was done on ms paint but does the job visually. This again is for v-led LEDs and you probably need different ohm ratings for other bulbs. The resistors must be wired in parallel and series in the correct order or it will not work.

http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/forum/showthread.php?68935-How-to-wire-LED-tail-lights
 
OK, well, got them wired in, and they blink like normal until I cut my headlights on. Then they stop blinking. Gonna do my rear lights and see if there is a difference.
 

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