Problems with LED lights...?

Crashalot said:

This is what the sparky done to mine ...not sure of how he done it though ???..if you look in top corners of the plastic binacle you can see the extra green lights ...hope this helps

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Roaming Wombat said:

Glad to hear you've managed to sort one issue and got a solution for the other.

Sounds like the flasher unit doesn't like LEDs, or rather LED's used with chassis return earths. *insert grumblings about chassis returns and robustness to fault conditions*

Out of curiosity, wouldn't an LED bulb in the dash also fix it (pure theory here) as it is in itself a diode?

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Roaming Wombat said:

EDIT: clicked your link, looks like a 3mm LED.

not sure about the price though, be fairly straight forward to knock up

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Crashalot said:

Did you manage to get these sorted.....

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donmacn said:

Thanks very much indeed for the replies guys, I'll try to respond to all the points logically.

All the original lights were working. The car got its MOT on Tuesday, and I had checked all the lights before taking it down. I guess I can't say 100% that they were still working today... but I do assume so.

As I say, I don't think any of the light units I've bought are faulty - they all light up fine. (Sorry, my OP was a bit long, but I don't think I said the units themselves were at fault). When the reverse and plate lights didn't light 'in situ', I rigged up short test cables and put the new LED lights directly across the vehicle battery - reversing lights and number plate light fired up fine. I had read that LEDs were polarity sensitive, so while I was pretty sure they were wired up OK, I did swap the wires just in case it made a difference, and it didn't. Because there is a current getting to their relevant circuits, I just assume it's not strong enough?

"Did you damage any of the connectors or disconnect any earths when you were pulling it all apart? " Don't think so - mainly a case of attaching crimp connectors. I've done this a lot, and I have the proper tools, so I'm pretty sure they're OK. One thing I haven't done (for the reverse and n. plate light) is to put the original units back to see if they still work. That's a useful thing to start with tomorrow. But as I say, I am still getting a current through the circuits when I expect to - i.e. when reverse is engaged..

So... for the reverse and plate lights:

• "earths" are things to check - anyone know where the earths are for the reverse, plate and indicator circuits - somewhere close by, or back to the battery?
• poor cable run between battery and lights. How would I do a continuity test on that? I have a meter, and a wee bit of experience, but electrics aren't a strong point.

Indicators:
Don't know where to start. They all light up fine, so the LED units are fine, and are clearly getting enough current. The fact that they all light up, when only one side is selected, suggests some sort of 'leakage' in the circuit, so that power is getting across to the 'undesired' ones...? (This happens with the adjustable relay, and without).
Again, I haven't put the originals in again to check they are still working, but that's now just four plugs to swap - easy done in the morning.

Thanks again.

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• Quite happy with the bolt on bits lights overall - fitted well
• I needed to fix the earth for the reverse and number plate lights
• The BoB relay (came with the kit I bought) works fine - indicators flash at a normal rate, and the dash light for the trailer still works.
• I needed to get the BoB 'fix' to allow the indicator 'tell tale' light in the dash to work - basically a small LED with a ring connector for an extra earth. As I thought, this lead was too short and I needed to extend it to find a reasonable earth behind the dash. But once connected, it works fine.