Need help troubleshooting exterior LED lighting issue(s)
10-09-2015, 10:24 AM
#1
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Need help troubleshooting exterior LED lighting issue(s) I'm having issues with hyper-flash on my passenger side signal bulbs, even though I've got everything set up correctly. I've been running exterior LED bulbs for quite a while now, so I'm well aware of the need for resistors, etc. Everything is wired up the way it should be, and I haven't had any hyper flash issues until the last few weeks for some unknown reason.
Symptoms:
- both front and rear passenger side signal bulbs (LED) hyper-flash when signal is engaged
- Dash indicator for signal is partially lit at all times (IE when signal is NOT in use)
- Passenger side side marker (also LED) only lights up at about 1/2 brightness (tested new/different bulbs; same thing happens)
- DRL function fully operational
- No issues with halos (halo headlights installed) or rear brake/running lights (LED tails installed)
- Fog lights (4,000 lumen LED bulbs) working fine
- Driver's side signals, side marker, etc are all working perfectly fine
When the hyper-flashing started, I assumed that my front resistor was crapping out on me so I spliced a new resistor in there yesterday. Unfortunately, this didn't fix the problem. So then I started troubleshooting a bit with different bulbs and making sure my splicing jobs weren't coming loose and so on. What I found was:
- Wiring all seems good. All my splices are done using heat-shrunk, weather-proof butt connectors, so those shouldn't be issues.
- When I plugged an incandescent bulb into the front signal location, the hyper-flash stopped and all signal bulbs flashed at the proper rate.
- I unfortunately didn't take note of whether this also brought the side marker bulb back to full brightness or not though (damnit).
- Any LED bulb I placed in the front signal location would induce hyper-flash again (I have lots of spares around... LED's are addicting and take some trial and error to get right lol)
- I did NOT have a chance to get around back to pull the tail light and check the status of the rear resistor.
So, I'm now thinking that maybe the it's the rear resistor that's causing the problems, but I haven't had the time to get back there and check things out yet. When I do, is there a way that I can test the resistor without cutting it out and having to re-splice? Also, what's happening in the electrical system that when there's missing resistance (a bulb out, or resistor not operating properly) that causes the dash indicator light to stay lit, and also (maybe) affect the brightness of the side marker?
I'll be checking out the rear resistor in the coming week or so, but in the meantime I'll take any suggestions/input. Cheers!
Symptoms:
- both front and rear passenger side signal bulbs (LED) hyper-flash when signal is engaged
- Dash indicator for signal is partially lit at all times (IE when signal is NOT in use)
- Passenger side side marker (also LED) only lights up at about 1/2 brightness (tested new/different bulbs; same thing happens)
- DRL function fully operational
- No issues with halos (halo headlights installed) or rear brake/running lights (LED tails installed)
- Fog lights (4,000 lumen LED bulbs) working fine
- Driver's side signals, side marker, etc are all working perfectly fine
When the hyper-flashing started, I assumed that my front resistor was crapping out on me so I spliced a new resistor in there yesterday. Unfortunately, this didn't fix the problem. So then I started troubleshooting a bit with different bulbs and making sure my splicing jobs weren't coming loose and so on. What I found was:
- Wiring all seems good. All my splices are done using heat-shrunk, weather-proof butt connectors, so those shouldn't be issues.
- When I plugged an incandescent bulb into the front signal location, the hyper-flash stopped and all signal bulbs flashed at the proper rate.
- I unfortunately didn't take note of whether this also brought the side marker bulb back to full brightness or not though (damnit).
- Any LED bulb I placed in the front signal location would induce hyper-flash again (I have lots of spares around... LED's are addicting and take some trial and error to get right lol)
- I did NOT have a chance to get around back to pull the tail light and check the status of the rear resistor.
So, I'm now thinking that maybe the it's the rear resistor that's causing the problems, but I haven't had the time to get back there and check things out yet. When I do, is there a way that I can test the resistor without cutting it out and having to re-splice? Also, what's happening in the electrical system that when there's missing resistance (a bulb out, or resistor not operating properly) that causes the dash indicator light to stay lit, and also (maybe) affect the brightness of the side marker?
I'll be checking out the rear resistor in the coming week or so, but in the meantime I'll take any suggestions/input. Cheers!
10-10-2015, 07:32 AM
#3
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I'd rather not expose wiring, but thanks for the suggestion. I suppose that plugging an incandescent bulb into the socket (rather than the LED bulb) would be the same as adding a working resistor... So if I plug the incandescent in there and things start flashing correctly, then I guess that means the resistor isn't working correctly.
10-12-2015, 07:48 AM
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it's most likely the rear resistor. mine was doing silly things until i added resistors in the rear on the turn signals. that's the only place i have them, though.
10-12-2015, 09:14 AM
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Are you referring to the LED bulbs, or the resistors? If you mean you have LED bulbs front and rear, but resistors only in the rear locations, did you install 2 resistors on each side in the rear? Or did you use resistors larger than the typical 50w/6ohm ones (to compensate for the front and rear in one shot)?
Last edited by wes8398; 10-12-2015 at 09:21 AM.
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10-12-2015, 09:29 AM
#8
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i now have LEDs all the way around the outside of the car in all the sockets. i cut the trace on the DRL/blinker board to get rid of the frequency doubler. they do blink faster than stock, but it's not terrible and i actually kind of like it.
i had to add resistors in the rear for the turn signals in order to get the bulb out warning to go away and when the running lights/brakes would come on the turn signal also lit up with them. some sort of backfeed scenario, i'd assume. putting the resistors on the turn signals in the rear alleviated this. i have one on each side, that's it.
i had to add resistors in the rear for the turn signals in order to get the bulb out warning to go away and when the running lights/brakes would come on the turn signal also lit up with them. some sort of backfeed scenario, i'd assume. putting the resistors on the turn signals in the rear alleviated this. i have one on each side, that's it.
10-12-2015, 10:35 AM
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i now have LEDs all the way around the outside of the car in all the sockets. i cut the trace on the DRL/blinker board to get rid of the frequency doubler. they do blink faster than stock, but it's not terrible and i actually kind of like it.
i had to add resistors in the rear for the turn signals in order to get the bulb out warning to go away and when the running lights/brakes would come on the turn signal also lit up with them. some sort of backfeed scenario, i'd assume. putting the resistors on the turn signals in the rear alleviated this. i have one on each side, that's it.
i had to add resistors in the rear for the turn signals in order to get the bulb out warning to go away and when the running lights/brakes would come on the turn signal also lit up with them. some sort of backfeed scenario, i'd assume. putting the resistors on the turn signals in the rear alleviated this. i have one on each side, that's it.
