Front LED installation gone wrong...

[RayDub]

I finally too some time to install my LEDs and resistors that i got from DDM Tuning. Links here:

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/TurnSignal-18xPiranhaLED

http://www.ddmtuning.com/Products/LED-Resistor

I was having fast blinking and did some searching on the forums. I did find a diagram in a thread somewhere as to what to splice together. After much trial and error, I did successfully get ONLY the passenger side to work. However, I dont have anything on the driver side. Literally the whole driver side is dead, including no light coming from the rear of the car, license plate light, nor does the hazard button work anymore. Could this be a fuse? In the end I spliced everything back to how it was originally and put the old bulbs in to call it a night. I hope it's nothing major. What do yall think?

[The Hack]

I would check the fuses first and go from there. Sounds like it could be a fuse.

[RayDub]

I hear the relay click when I switch the markers to the on position, from what I guess would be the relay, but no clicking for the hazard button or when switching left or right for a signal.

EDIT: I did look in the haynes manual and in another thread that basically came down to the ETACS ECU....

[bdevx]

0.o yeah deff take a glance at the fuses, i blew out two just installing my headlight. it may come down to wiring or something also. get a circuit tester and try it at the bulbs and at the fuse and try and trace it to the problem so you can find the problem instead of guessing all the time. i learned that the hard way lol

[RayDub]

Well, I ended up grabbing two ETACS ECUs from the junkyard, finding out that they are shorter and basically smaller than the one that was under my dash. I didn't know '98 thru '01 had a slightly different box than the '02 thru '03 had. I'll just sell them off to who needs a working ETACS

Anyway, that wasn't the problem, ended up buying more fuses and got it all working again, but no LEDs... No matter what or how correct I wire the lights and the resistors, they just fail. Maybe the resistors aren't powerful enough or the bulbs draw too much power? I even clipped sockets from the junkyard but primarily to extend wiring especially on the passenger side.

Who has been successful at this job?

[mko]

its weird that you need the resistor at all. try w/o it.

heres a sample wiring

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/mko1234/ledres.jpg

[bdevx]

have you tryed taking one of those spare sockets you picked up and going straight to the battery to see if the bulb is any good? worth a shot if its just not working

[RayDub]

its weird that you need the resistor at all. try w/o it.

heres a sample wiring

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af184/mko1234/ledres.jpg

There are three wires to the socket. I have read that you need to put both the thicker/signal wire and the ground wire to the resistor. is this correct?


have you tryed taking one of those spare sockets you picked up and going straight to the battery to see if the bulb is any good? worth a shot if its just not working



And both the bulbs work. When I had only the passenger side working i switched them and they both work fine.

[davila825]

when you say resistor, do you mean a "load resistor". because most led bulbs dont draw enough power and the car thinks that the bulb is gone, thus the fast blinking. and thats not a how you wire a load resistor. they connect from positive to negative on the wiring. let me know if you got any questions because i didnt explain it in detail.

[mko]

There are three wires to the socket. I have read that you need to put both the thicker/signal wire and the ground wire to the resistor. is this correct?



And both the bulbs work. When I had only the passenger side working i switched them and they both work fine.

the resistor is in series with the socket. the way you explain it it sounds like you create a short thru the resistor.

[Reelax]

http://superlumination.com/images/leds/installation.jpg

[mko]

wow that resistor is indeed shorting the positive and ground wires. weird

[Reelax]

wow that resistor is indeed shorting the positive and ground wires. weird

the power is not always "on" so it's not a short between two "live wires" and it's wired in parallel, not series (the diagram u posted is series). what the resistor does is simulate load from an incandescent bulb when using an LED bulb (when the power is on) so that the flasher modules do not blink fast indicating a "bulb out". basically think of the resistors as a bulb that emits heat, not light; the flasher modules only see load and stay happy.

[RayDub]

http://superlumination.com/images/leds/installation.jpg

See, this is what I used to wire the "load resistors" and I guess this is causing the short. Without them and prior to modifying the wires, they would both light up at one point and then using hazards or blinking only one side would react. So with or without the load resistors they don't work properly. Could this mean I don't have working resistors or do I not have the right ones? I recall them being 4 ohms. It's the only one DDM sells.

[Reelax]

have you checked all your fuses? if you haven't yet, check the fuses in the yellow fuse holder in the fusebox under the hood... that's the most overlooked fuse. the load equalizers can only cause a short if they are defective and are letting current run w/ little to no resistance, or the positive wires (signal or parking) were accidentally grounded which might burn out the ETACS-ECU... but a fuse should pop before that happens.

i have LED front corners and all my rear lights are LED's (except reverse which are xenon). i have a load equalizer on each front corner LED signal circuit instaled years ago. no problems.

[RayDub]

Yeah Reelax, I have checked the two fuses in the yellow fuse holder, those have never popped on me. So I think it's safe to say the load resistors I have are no good - I don't see any fault in my wiring. Do you have a shot of your wiring that maybe I can compare to mine?