Electrical Question-Why Can't I get this to work? - The 1947 - Present Chevrolet & GMC Truck Message Board Network

5150 · 05-21-2005, 05:37 PM

I bought these LED's at www.superbrightleds.com

I plugged them in to my new stepside tail lights that I bought from see ten at Pigeon Forge and they won't come on. I plugged in a normal 1157 bulb and they came on. I can't understand, does the this kind of bulb not work?

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 05:46 PM

LEDs only work if they are biased in the right direction.
unlike a normal incandescent bulb the ground has to be the outer shell of that particular bulb and the positive has to be the center contact in the base. A LED will not work if the polarity is reversed, an incandescent will. Check to make sure the wires in your lights weren't swapped over the years. check everything with a voltmeter and try hookin' the bulb up to your battery using jumper wires

5150 · 05-21-2005, 05:51 PM

Hey screamin-that's what I did to check the lights. I just bought new tail light covers and installed my blue dots and wanted to see them with the LED's and it didn't work.

I even swapped the wires around to see if they were swapped.

I have one purple wire and one black wire

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 05:54 PM

Do you have wires crossed leading to the taillights?

5150 · 05-21-2005, 05:55 PM

I just edited my post up top about that

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 05:56 PM

Are the bulbs 12V? If so do you have 12V at the socket?

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 06:01 PM

LEDs are reall touchy about voltage. They operate off of a very tight margin. They only operate off of 1-1.5 volts usually, and have a resistor that drops the voltage down to that point. if you are running only say 10 volts (due to resistance from age and corrosion) to your tailights then you coudl not be supplying enough juice after the bulbs built in resistance.

What is the voltage back there?

5150 · 05-21-2005, 06:02 PM

They are 12V, at least they say that on the side of them. I thought the same thing thinking that I might have gotten 24V's instead, but they are 12V.

5150 · 05-21-2005, 06:05 PM

When I got the tail lights from see ten the wires were cut about 12 inches down. I just spliced the wires and connected them to my battery and grounded the other.

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 06:05 PM

What part number are they?

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 06:07 PM

OH so you are just working with the housings and the pigtail?

Truck still at the body chop?

5150 · 05-21-2005, 06:09 PM

the lights?

Here's the link to the lights-

http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR

They are the 1157-R12 Red LED Bulb

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 06:21 PM

The one purple (tail) and one black (brake) should both be positive, and the light housing itself is grounded (-) to the body or (-) battery post in your case.

Is this how you have it set up?

5150 · 05-21-2005, 06:24 PM

Then why did the 1157 work that I pulled out of my Honda?

You confused me up top go into more detail, please

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 06:28 PM

about LED polarity?

5150 · 05-21-2005, 06:30 PM

No the electrical setup of my tail light-I think the "bot" got me

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 06:38 PM

One of the two wires you have is the turn signal pos (+) this runs one of the filaments in your 1157 the other wire is the brake pos (+) and it runs the other filament in your 1157. Both of the filaments are connected to the outer body of the bulb and this is grounded (-) to the body. So you want to coonnect both one wire at a time to pos (+) on the battery while you groound the metal body of the taillight to the neg (-) battery post.

*screamin_c102* · 05-21-2005, 06:44 PM

Wifes pulli'n in from a week in Jacksonville Florida so I'll try and get back with ya later on this.

Good luck.....Billl

5150 · 05-21-2005, 06:46 PM

I'll try that, be right back. I threw the old tail light brackets away. Let me dig through the garbage, be right back

Longhorn Man · 05-21-2005, 06:57 PM

Actually the brake and turn signal are the same part of the light.
One is for parking lights, the other for brake/turn signal.

5150 · 05-21-2005, 07:55 PM

Okay, here we go

Found the old bracket and bolted it back on. Then bolted the bracket to my radiator support on my crappy honda. Put the both wires on the positve seperate and nothing.

Put in the old 1157 and it comes ON!

Put in the LED and placed purple wire on positive battery terminal and black on negative terminal and it BARELY comes on!!!!!

I had to put my hand over the bulb to see it. THIS IS WITHOUT THE NEW LENSE ON!

NOW WHAT?

Russell · 05-21-2005, 08:33 PM

Try taking the LED bulb outta the housing, touching the outside edge of the bulb to the negative terminal, then running a wire between the positive and one of the bottom posts of the LED. See if it works then. If so, then your issue is in the wiring. Really dim lights always meant that a ground wire was not correctly hooked up, or was really poor. At least with a regular filiment bulb. I doubt that LED is the same way, but you never know

05-21-2005, 05:37 PM	#1
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	Electrical Question-Why Can't I get this to work? I bought these LED's at www.superbrightleds.com I plugged them in to my new stepside tail lights that I bought from see ten at Pigeon Forge and they won't come on. I plugged in a normal 1157 bulb and they came on. I can't understand, does the this kind of bulb not work? Attached Images __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 05:46 PM	#2
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	LEDs only work if they are biased in the right direction. unlike a normal incandescent bulb the ground has to be the outer shell of that particular bulb and the positive has to be the center contact in the base. A LED will not work if the polarity is reversed, an incandescent will. Check to make sure the wires in your lights weren't swapped over the years. check everything with a voltmeter and try hookin' the bulb up to your battery using jumper wires Last edited by screamin_c102; 05-21-2005 at 05:52 PM.

05-21-2005, 05:51 PM	#3
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	Hey screamin-that's what I did to check the lights. I just bought new tail light covers and installed my blue dots and wanted to see them with the LED's and it didn't work. I even swapped the wires around to see if they were swapped. I have one purple wire and one black wire __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4 Last edited by 5150; 05-21-2005 at 05:54 PM.

05-21-2005, 05:55 PM	#5
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	I just edited my post up top about that __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 06:01 PM	#7
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	LEDs are reall touchy about voltage. They operate off of a very tight margin. They only operate off of 1-1.5 volts usually, and have a resistor that drops the voltage down to that point. if you are running only say 10 volts (due to resistance from age and corrosion) to your tailights then you coudl not be supplying enough juice after the bulbs built in resistance. What is the voltage back there? Last edited by screamin_c102; 05-21-2005 at 06:03 PM.

05-21-2005, 05:54 PM	#4
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	Do you have wires crossed leading to the taillights?

05-21-2005, 05:56 PM	#6
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	Are the bulbs 12V? If so do you have 12V at the socket?

05-21-2005, 06:02 PM	#8
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	They are 12V, at least they say that on the side of them. I thought the same thing thinking that I might have gotten 24V's instead, but they are 12V. __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 06:05 PM	#9
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	When I got the tail lights from see ten the wires were cut about 12 inches down. I just spliced the wires and connected them to my battery and grounded the other. __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 06:07 PM	#11
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	OH so you are just working with the housings and the pigtail? Truck still at the body chop?

05-21-2005, 06:09 PM	#12
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	the lights? Here's the link to the lights- http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-b...gi?product=CAR They are the 1157-R12 Red LED Bulb __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 06:21 PM	#13
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	The one purple (tail) and one black (brake) should both be positive, and the light housing itself is grounded (-) to the body or (-) battery post in your case. Is this how you have it set up? Last edited by screamin_c102; 05-21-2005 at 06:22 PM.

05-21-2005, 06:24 PM	#14
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	Then why did the 1157 work that I pulled out of my Honda? You confused me up top go into more detail, please __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 06:28 PM	#15
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	about LED polarity?

05-21-2005, 06:30 PM	#16
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	No the electrical setup of my tail light-I think the "bot" got me __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4



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05-21-2005, 06:38 PM	#17
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	One of the two wires you have is the turn signal pos (+) this runs one of the filaments in your 1157 the other wire is the brake pos (+) and it runs the other filament in your 1157. Both of the filaments are connected to the outer body of the bulb and this is grounded (-) to the body. So you want to coonnect both one wire at a time to pos (+) on the battery while you groound the metal body of the taillight to the neg (-) battery post.

05-21-2005, 06:44 PM	#18
screamin_c102 Account Suspended Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Yoncalla Oregon Posts: 775	Wifes pulli'n in from a week in Jacksonville Florida so I'll try and get back with ya later on this. Good luck.....Billl

05-21-2005, 06:46 PM	#19
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	I'll try that, be right back. I threw the old tail light brackets away. Let me dig through the garbage, be right back __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 06:57 PM	#20
Longhorn Man its all about the +6 inches Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Hilliard Ohio Posts: 2,690	Actually the brake and turn signal are the same part of the light. One is for parking lights, the other for brake/turn signal.

05-21-2005, 07:55 PM	#21
5150 C10 Club Tennessee Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: White House, TN 37188 Posts: 8,281	Okay, here we go Found the old bracket and bolted it back on. Then bolted the bracket to my radiator support on my crappy honda. Put the both wires on the positve seperate and nothing. Put in the old 1157 and it comes ON! Put in the LED and placed purple wire on positive battery terminal and black on negative terminal and it BARELY comes on!!!!! I had to put my hand over the bulb to see it. THIS IS WITHOUT THE NEW LENSE ON! NOW WHAT? __________________ Bryan www.gmtruckshow.com Project "Andes"-Halen's First Truck Project: Patina Burb for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. Romans 13:4

05-21-2005, 08:33 PM	#22
Russell Professional Grade Join Date: May 2003 Location: Fort McMurray, Alberta Posts: 7,915	Try taking the LED bulb outta the housing, touching the outside edge of the bulb to the negative terminal, then running a wire between the positive and one of the bottom posts of the LED. See if it works then. If so, then your issue is in the wiring. Really dim lights always meant that a ground wire was not correctly hooked up, or was really poor. At least with a regular filiment bulb. I doubt that LED is the same way, but you never know __________________ 1995 Chevrolet 2 Door Tahoe (6.6L LBZ Duramax / ZF6 / NP241 with 1 ton solid axle swap)

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