LED Mod Thread

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
Nicely done. I had to Niteshade my lenses cuz the LEDs were a bit too bright for my liking, but I also have them double as running lights. Also helped them blend in, so they look like the plane Jane lenses until the lights come on :cool:
 
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richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
I'm looking to tap into the wiring behind the kick panels before it goes into the door boot for the signal wire to the mirrors.
Looking at the schematic, passenger side door harness signal color is dark blue and the driver's side light blue? Is that correct?
 

richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
Nicely done. I had to Niteshade my lenses cuz the LEDs were a bit too bright for my liking, but I also have them double as running lights. Also helped them blend in, so they look like the plane Jane lenses until the lights come on :cool:
I ended up night shading the lenses lol the whole side of the truck was amber 🤣
Hey. Could you point me to how you wired up your mirrors to function as both? The sequential led strips I used absolutely hate the pwm controller I used.
 

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
I ended up night shading the lenses lol the whole side of the truck was amber 🤣
Hey. Could you point me to how you wired up your mirrors to function as both? The sequential led strips I used absolutely hate the pwm controller I used.

I'm sure it's buried either here, or in the power folding mirrors thread... But I tapped into the trailer parking signal in the wire bundle under the steering column, and ran a line through both door boots to the door modules. I created my own switchback control boards, and have 2 way SMD LEDs. Red/amber on the back, white/amber on the front.

Trying to remember how I did it back in the day when I had single color LED strips. I know I used a relay and some diodes but don't remember the exact connections.
 

richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
I'm sure it's buried either here, or in the power folding mirrors thread... But I tapped into the trailer parking signal in the wire bundle under the steering column, and ran a line through both door boots to the door modules. I created my own switchback control boards, and have 2 way SMD LEDs. Red/amber on the back, white/amber on the front.

Trying to remember how I did it back in the day when I had single color LED strips. I know I used a relay and some diodes but don't remember the exact connections.
I'll do some digging around. Thanks! The only way I can solve my problem would be get non sequential leds.
Any sort of dimming I do with the pwm sends the sequential module into a fit.
 

richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
I swear i am going to go insane. I am just trying to put plug and play amber led bulbs in the front blinker (I had switchbacks up there prior to moving the blinker to the reverse spot on the tails) and since I did that, every time I put LEDs up front, the blinkers work fine with the lights off, but once the lights are on both dash indicators stay solid lit and nothing flashes.
I'm. It sure where the back feed could be from or how to fix it.

I might just end up pulling the turn and reverse signal from the trailer harness. But if I do that the truck will think the rear blinker is out.

Could this just be a bulb out error? I do have an led flasher, hell I don't know. Bout to just give up.
Maybe diodes on the reverse and turn wires on the tail light harness
 

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
The time I had your same issue with the turn signal indicators in the dash lighting up with the parking lights on, was when I had 194 LEDs in the corner turn signals up front. The parking signal was back feeding through the 194 LEDs into the turn signal circuit on both sides. What do you have in the corner bulbs?
 
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richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
The time I had your same issue with the turn signal indicators in the dash lighting up with the parking lights on, was when I had 194 LEDs in the corner turn signals up front. The parking signal was back feeding through the 194 LEDs into the turn signal circuit on both sides. What do you have in the corner bulbs?
Corner bulbs are stock, have not touched them. I remember you saying that too.
Man this stuff can drive a person insane. This is the last thing I need to figure out too
 

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
Maybe the bulbs are SRCK instead of Standard? Does everything go back to normal when you pull those front LEDs out?
 
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richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
Maybe the bulbs are SRCK instead of Standard? Does everything go back to normal when you pull those front LEDs out?
Yup, once I take the LEDs out and put the incandescent back in it all works how it should.
I've tried multiple different bulbs including the ones that claim to work with srck-ck and standard that are " non-polarity " and I've tested to make 100% sure those bulbs are non polarity and they are. I wonder if I put diodes in the back on the reverse and turn circuit on the back harness. Hmmm
 

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
I don't think your problem is in the back, if making changes in the front resolves/causes your issue.
 

richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
I wonder if giving each socket up front its own dedicated ground if that would potentially fix the issue?
I keep googling trying to find similar issues and the ones I do on other vehicles is a ground issue causing the backfeed.
 

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
The 3157 sockets up front do have their own grounds, you should see 3 wires going to each one. That's why I thought it might be your corner bulbs, since those only have 2, without a dedicated ground.

The other weird part about your issue, is the LEDs are diodes essentially, and you have a problem... But with filament bulbs, that don't block current from back feeding, everything seems to work fine. You'd think it would be the other way around. Definitely a head scratcher.
 

richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
The 3157 sockets up front do have their own grounds, you should see 3 wires going to each one. That's why I thought it might be your corner bulbs, since those only have 2, without a dedicated ground.

The other weird part about your issue, is the LEDs are diodes essentially, and you have a problem... But with filament bulbs, that don't block current from back feeding, everything seems to work fine. You'd think it would be the other way around. Definitely a head scratcher.
That was my thoughts, which is why I am throwing so many odd ideas out there because I truly don't know what could cause this. I have quite the collection of 3157 led bulbs now lol
This weekend I am going to just start poking and prodding and slowly put things back to stock until it works fine, then work my way from there
Did I mention that when the dash lights are solid lit (when I have LEDs up front) all turn signals outside are solid lit as well but very dim
 

richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
Going to pull the side marker bulb and see if that fixes the issue. If that was the problem all this time I'm going to lose my mind.

When you tapped into the trailer wiring under the dash, which cluster? I want a more permanent solution for this circuit board instead of the add a circuit to the fuse panel. And is the wiring the same color under there as it is in back? (Yellow for left turn and drk green for right?)

That's the last question for now haha 🙌
 

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
Going to pull the side marker bulb and see if that fixes the issue. If that was the problem all this time I'm going to lose my mind.

lol I would too. I always hate it when I try more difficult solutions, than what the issue really ended up being. :duh:

When you tapped into the trailer wiring under the dash, which cluster?

There's a really fat bundle of wires that runs laterally under the dash. The trailer parking light wire is brown with a white stripe IIRC

And is the wiring the same color under there as it is in back? (Yellow for left turn and drk green for right?)

Not sure on this one. I originally used the turn signals from the bundles going into the DDM/PDM. The folding mirrors had turn signals built in, so I only needed to run the parking light wire out to the LEDs from the switchback modules.
 
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richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
lol I would too. I always hate it when I try more difficult solutions, than what the issue really ended up being. :duh:



There's a really fat bundle of wires that runs laterally under the dash. The trailer parking light wire is brown with a white stripe IIRC



Not sure on this one. I originally used the turn signals from the bundles going into the DDM/PDM. The folding mirrors had turn signals built in, so I only needed to run the parking light wire out to the LEDs from the switchback modules.
Gotcha! Thank you!
I will let you know about the side marker lights. If those are the problem, I will run them off the PWM I have the mirrors on.
Have a great weekend
 

Blckshdw

Original poster
Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,665
Tampa Bay Area, FL
lol, well at least now you know! Glad it was something simple in the end, and you didn't have to go down the rabbit hole of adding more components
 
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Matt

Member
Dec 2, 2011
4,019
It was the older model, 02 or 03 I got it off of. Neon?! That's super cool and odd af.
Thanks for the knowledge

That's it, my 02 had it and they went a different route in 04 onwards.
 

richphotos

Member
Feb 26, 2016
298
St. Louis Park, MN
Productive day yesterday.
Got the 08 bumper on, bumper reflectors lights wired up.
Took the lift gate panel off to get the rear window to open again to install the 3rd brake light I made as well.
Gotta say, it looks great! The 08 bumper was a huge improvement.
 

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