Electronics Need help wiring something up? Thinking of adding an electrical component to your car? Need help troubleshooting that wiring glitch?

LED Conversion Issues

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Old Nov 21, 2012 | 01:28 AM
  #1  
Beau27's Avatar
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15 Year Member
 
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 21
Likes: 1
From: Washington State
Car: 1991 Chevy Camaro Z28
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: 4.10
LED Conversion Issues

I decided to go with the LED conversion all the way around the car and have been running into some issues.

The first one I resolved with the help of the thirdgen.org forums by swapping out BOTH the turn signal flasher and the hazard flasher with No Load LED flashers.

The second is a little more complicated. When I have dual intensity 1157 LEDs installed in the tail lights and push on the brake with the key off and the light switch off, alot happens. The brake lights come on, but so do the turn signals (constant on), the interior dash lights, and the buzzer. When I remove the LEDs and put the incandescent lights back in, only the brake lights come on as they should.

I think this has something to do with the LEDs bridging a circuit that should not be bridged. The incondesents have two filaments, which look like they never touch each other, whereas the LEDs seem to bridge that gap when the brighter of the two intensities come on such as when using the brake pedal.

So my question is how do I fix this? Do I do some rewiring somehow or do I find a bulb that adjusts for this?
Currently, these are the bulbs im using for the front turn signals, and the rear tail\stop lights: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280807865915?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I have thoroughly searched the forums and how found nothing on this issue.

Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
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Old Nov 25, 2012 | 07:53 PM
  #2  
cw3adkins's Avatar
Member
 
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 138
Likes: 0
From: Northeast Ohio
Car: 87 IROC Z-28
Engine: 5.0L 305 TPI V8
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.23
Re: LED Conversion Issues

Originally Posted by Beau27
I decided to go with the LED conversion all the way around the car and have been running into some issues.

The first one I resolved with the help of the thirdgen.org forums by swapping out BOTH the turn signal flasher and the hazard flasher with No Load LED flashers.

The second is a little more complicated. When I have dual intensity 1157 LEDs installed in the tail lights and push on the brake with the key off and the light switch off, alot happens. The brake lights come on, but so do the turn signals (constant on), the interior dash lights, and the buzzer. When I remove the LEDs and put the incandescent lights back in, only the brake lights come on as they should.

I think this has something to do with the LEDs bridging a circuit that should not be bridged. The incondesents have two filaments, which look like they never touch each other, whereas the LEDs seem to bridge that gap when the brighter of the two intensities come on such as when using the brake pedal.

So my question is how do I fix this? Do I do some rewiring somehow or do I find a bulb that adjusts for this?
Currently, these are the bulbs im using for the front turn signals, and the rear tail\stop lights: http://www.ebay.com/itm/280807865915?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I have thoroughly searched the forums and how found nothing on this issue.

Any help is appreciated, Thanks!
That is an issue, I did something a little different for my tail lights; I originally bought the 1157 bayonet base LED bulbs off of eBay and did not like te results at all. I ended up getting more technical with my tail light LED arrays and bought a few hundred SMD (surface mount diode) LEDs (in red, yellow and white colors) as well as resistors and PC boards.

I referenced the link below for the initial concept and LEDs.
http://www.instructables.com/id/LED-CAR-TAIL-LAMPS/

Also, as far as the brake light array itself, I only set up two rows of LEDs for steady burn (when the parking lights or headlights are on), the other four rows only come on when the brake switch is engaged.

QED: The brake array consists of 6 LED rows, turn signal array consists of four rows (same as the back up light). That layout built up just on side of the tail light assembly.

I went through all of this to explain different methods (if you don't figure out your issue) and to explain how I set mine up.

Now, as far as your issue at hand...I am kind of myth'd. Unfortunately, I do not know the entire principles on how everything intertwines with each other (that's a little out of my league). If I were to have to make a guess on everything, I would think that the dual intensity LED arrays for the taillights lacks resistance (which is in the dual filament incandescent bulbs). Whether this is the case, or this is your issue (and why), I am unsure. Hopefully, one of the electrical guys on here can shed some light on this.

Finally, (depending on if you are impatient like me) you could also ask some of the guys in the electrical section of the Fiero Forum
http://www.fiero.nl/cgi-bin/fiero/Ultimate.cgi
Their electrical guys are on the ball and a lot of the same setups were used on the Fiero just like the Third Gen Camaro/Firebirds.

Hope this helped out some.
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Old Nov 26, 2012 | 09:56 PM
  #3  
Beau27's Avatar
Thread Starter
Junior Member
15 Year Member
 
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 21
Likes: 1
From: Washington State
Car: 1991 Chevy Camaro Z28
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: T56
Axle/Gears: 4.10
Re: LED Conversion Issues

Thank you cw3adkis. I think I might ultimatly try to create my own LED board later based on that concept a little later on down the road, but for now im going to throw the original bulbs back in and be done with this project for a bit. I already took apart my tail lights cleaned them and resealed them, so I dont really want to do that again right now.

In the mean time, I think im going to try and figure out a way to modify these current bulbs so they are on seperate circuits.
Thank you again for your input, it was definatley helpful!
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