Information needed on LED side marker lights

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by 72kool

ok so if i want led sidemarkers, that blink with the turn signal, i have to wire them each into a flasher and not just wire them into the blinker wire? just making sure. i know its a dumb question.

No! The wiring is OK you just need to swap the flashers in the fuse box to make them work. The LED's don't have enough resistance to activate if you don't swap the flasher in the fuse box. The new flasher will have to be grounded also.

On the rear side lights you will need to add the wiring since they never blinked from the factory.

[72kool]

Awesome. Good to know . I looked at them tonight and unfortunately my front markers are only 2 wire, not three to blink. So I'll have to change that as well but will be worth it

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by 72kool

Awesome. Good to know . I looked at them tonight and unfortunately my front markers are only 2 wire, not three to blink. So I'll have to change that as well but will be worth it

If your front side markers are 2 wires they should blink. Unless somebody has messed with the wiring.

[72kool]

So i just had the dumb moment of the year.. I was doing some looking and...my front sidemarkers DO blink with blinkers!! Stupid attack on my part but I'm stoked about it!

[volksworld]

if the only thing you're converting to led are the sidemarkers, you should be able to retain the original flasher can as there will still be enough resistance in the conventional directional bulbs to make it work...if you convert them to led also then you'll need to change the flasher

[Rich69shortfleet]

subscribing

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by volksworld

if the only thing you're converting to led are the sidemarkers, you should be able to retain the original flasher can as there will still be enough resistance in the conventional directional bulbs to make it work...if you convert them to led also then you'll need to change the flasher

Agree if you leave any of the regular bulbs in the system it should work fine without the LED flasher installed.

[Rich69shortfleet]

But with a two wire install with the LED side markers you will only ever get OFF and ON. The LED sidemarkers have the ability to be OFF, DIM and BRIGHT. Wired properly they can provide running lights (dim) and turns/emergency (bright). Takes a bit to wire them properly up front. Rears are easy.

[SRT8-X]

I know this is an older / dormant thread however I just installed United Pacific LED side markers on all 4 corners of my '69 C10. I also have Putco 1156 LED brake light bulbs, 1157 reverse light bulbs, United Pacific LED parking lights and Truck-Lite LED headlamps. I have both hazard and turn signal LED flashers as well.

I also have a new Painless Wiring harness and numerous grounds which are installed correctly. All LEDs are working with the exception of one issue.

The rear side markers illuminate solid when the brakes are applied. I currently have all side markers connected as follows:

White - individual bare metal ground
Black - turn signal wire (brown / tan)
Red - side marker signal (green)

The LED side markers, parking lights and tail lights work as intended with the 3-wire configuration. Headlamp switch off - side markers are not illuminated and flash with turn signals and hazards. Headlamp switch on first position, side markers, tail lights, parking lights illuminated and flash with turn signals and hazards. Headlamp switch on all the way with head lamps, all work as above. As mentioned, the rear side markers illuminate to "bright" when the brakes are applied, as do the brake lights.

As noted, all are grounded properly and all lights function other than the brake light issue. Please note reversing the brown / green wires with red / black cause the LED side markers to not work as intended so this aspect has been troubleshot. In addition, to rule things out on the back, I ran temporary leads off the front signal / side marker to the rear and the same result occurs.

I know this topic has been discussed in depth, just trying to determine if I'm missing something here.

[dmjlambert]

I think it is "normal" to have the rear marker lights wired to the element of the 1157 bulb that just glows when the parking lights or headlights are on, and they don't blink with the turn signal. They just glow steady. In order to get the rear marker light to blink with the turn signals but not for braking, you would need to run extra wires from the front marker lights to the back marker lights. This is because the rear 1157 bulb element that is used for turn signal is also used for brakes.

Note 1157 is the turn signal/brake lamps in front and back. 1157 has 2 elements in it, so it is like 2 bulbs in one. 1156 is the backup light.

[SRT8-X]

Thanks dmjlambert, as noted I did a mock-up with the front signal lead to the rear however I only ran the signal, not the constant lamp wire. This was prior to discovering that the red / black needed to be reverse of what I thought to catch the dim / bright illumination of the LED markers.

I'll give that a shot and see if running the constant lamp wire to the rear will solve this.

Just noticed you're a fellow Cypress, TX resident, small world!

Thanks again.

[dmjlambert]

Yes, hi fellow Cypress resident!
I have not gone to LED lighting on my truck. The regular incandescent side marker lights just have a single element and are either on or off in brightness. So when they are blinking with the turn signal, they are full on and full off alternating, and the parking/marker light function is temporarily suspended. I think it was only the later models, such as 72, that blinked with turn signals, and earlier models just had a reflector with no bulb or if they had a bulb they were parking/marker lights only and did not flash at all. You have some flexibility (complexity?) with your LED lights, so you can make it as fancy as you wish.

[val durio]

Originally Posted by 9teen69

And back

I have same set up, My rear side markers also flash with signal and work with parking lights, Problem is they also have braking signal. I connected the red wires together. Should rear be red led side marker to black led tail light?

[dmjlambert]

I think it is normal to have the rear marker lights wired to the element of the 1157 bulb that just glows when the parking lights or headlights are on, and they don't blink with the turn signal. They just glow steady. This means you would connect only one element of the side marker light, if you have 2 elements there. Conventional marker lights use a 194 bulb, which has just one element. This would disconnect it from the brake signal, which is mixed with the blinker signal on the same wires in the rear of the truck. If you feel you just have to have the rear markers blink, that would be weird but OK, and you would have to run wires from the front marker lights to the rear marker lights.

[val durio]

dmjlambert;
more information on my setup, I have the 54 chevy tail lights and the lmc united standard LEDS on a 70 C10. Front lights are fine. The rear led tail lights has the 3 wire red black white connected to what looks like a regular 1157 base that twist in where the bulb go in the light housing. I connected the led side marker white to ground, black to side marker wire, and red to the red wire in the led tail light. Still have to get a led flasher. Problem is side markers brighten like brake lights when I brake. Should the red side marker wire be on black wire on tail light. I'm thinking one of the wires in tail light does NOT carry brake signal.

[dmjlambert]

Disconnect the red wire on the rear side marker light and see if that is better.

[Andy4639]

Test the side marker lights and see which wires do what with your battery.
Look at far right side of the drawing it has the wires laid out for you.
Yellow and brown for drivers side brake and tail lights , dark green and brown for passenger side. Which the side light comes off the brown for both sides. So for the light to work tie the side marker to the brown wire which should give you your parking lights. The lowest setting of the side marker intensity.
Then tie the high side into the front signal wires.
Because it can't tie into the rear because of the brakes run through the same wire when they are applied.

[Rich72C10]

subscribed great information here that I don't want to lose track of. To bad I can't view the YouTube videos, they are marked as private.

I know this is a old thread but I just bought all round LEDs replacement from speedwaymotors.com for my C10 72 LWB. Both the Amber and Reds side markers I ordered are 3 wire. The others (Front Bumper Amber, back tail light Red/White) are all listed with 1157 Plugs.

I think the main point (assuming front amber side markers blink) you need to extend the wire from this front light to the rear red side marker. Assuming you even want the rear red side markers to blink.

Oh, note to self: Replace a light, test it before moving to the next one! Once I am done to the last one - then install the new United Pacific 90652 LED Flasher module!

Edit: or once I get started on this (truck is still going through engine rebuild) I can drive to *9teen69* place and he can help me since we are more or less neighbors! LOL

[Richard]

Originally Posted by 72kool

all '71-'72 the sidemarkers blink with the turn signal?? how are they wired to do that then? my '72 does not but would like em to

The way I think it is done from the factory is the front side markers are grounded on the front turn circuit. When turn signals are not on a ground will be present for the marker and it will be lit. When the flasher sends power to the front turn signal the ground goes away as the circuit has +12v. Front and side markers should alternate in this configuration.
Added a pic of the wiring I found in a manual. As you can see marker does not go direct to ground as shown in the previous diagram. One side to running lamp and the other to turn signal. This could probably be done at the rear tail lamps and marker if desired.

[krifenbery]

I need some help on my 72. I wired it up with my new LED front side markers like in the pictures from 9teen69’s post on page 1 of this thread and the front side markers work correctly now. However, now my front park lamps don’t do anything, I assume this has to do with grounding the front side markers with the white wire? Not sure what I need to do to get my front park lamps to operate as they don’t light up or blink now. I have UP LEDs all of the way around with the UP flasher.
Kyle

[dmjlambert]

Since you have 3 wire side markers, the side markers are not related to or affect operation of your parking lamps. So just concentrate on your parking lamps. Since you don't have stock stuff there is no telling what colors are for what on your parking lamps. Take one of your parking lamps, disconnected, and connect it the battery with some alligator clip test jumper wires. Figure out which one is ground, which one when connected to + makes it glow dim, and which one when connected to + makes it glow bright, and write down which color wires do what. Glow dim should be the parking lights, and glow bright should be flashing turn signal. On the truck wiring purple wire is parking light, light blue is left turn signal, and dark blue is right turn signal, and ground is usually the outer case of the turn signal assembly connected to metal of the truck (but in your case you probably need a wire connected to a good ground point on bare metal). Check with a test light or multimeter that the wires on the truck are giving you the expected voltages according position of the turn signal and headlight switches.

[krifenbery]

Thank you for the advice. Evidently the parking light housings were not grounded, so I made a couple ground wires and tapped one end into the rear of the parking light housing and the other end tapped into the truck frame. Solved the problem, park lights are working properly again. Next I need to run a couple wires from the front to the rear so I can have my LED rear side markers blink. First I tried tying into the dark green and yellow wires (rear taillight blinkers) but then figured out they are combo blinker/brake lights, so they blink but also when I hit the brakes the markers light up with the taillights… I assume the only way to have the rears be markers/blinkers is to tie into the front ones if you don’t want them to light up with your taillights when braking.

[dmjlambert]

Good, glad you found that ground problem. It is not normal or necessary for side marker to flash in the rear.

The side marker should be amber in front, and red in rear.