Digital LED Tailights for the TR
- Thread starter scot w.
- Start date
Mark, Have you verified the boards are actually all working correctly by trying the lights first with a stock bulb in? At least that way you'll know if your wired everything up properly. You would then be able to concentrate on the load issue.
TR Custom Parts
Mark Hueffman - Owner
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Wasn't going to bother you on a holiday. Going to move the ground for the LED flasher and try again. I know the connections on the harness I made are good as they were all soldered. I have the harness grounded to the connection at the left of the trunk where the factory connection.
Don't have any volt boosters or HID headlights, only the Caspers headlight harness upgrade, don't think that would affect anything. Will call you later today if I still can't get it working.
Don't have any volt boosters or HID headlights, only the Caspers headlight harness upgrade, don't think that would affect anything. Will call you later today if I still can't get it working.
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
( leprcon ) If your having the same issues as mark (TR Custom Parts) You might want to look at this too.
Okay, Looking at this ALL the lights work fine (running lights off)... right?
If so, it appears to be a load issue.
* where did you install the LED flasher?
Scot W.
TR Custom Parts
Mark Hueffman - Owner
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Scot, EVERYTHING works fine until the running lights are turned on and then the ONLY problem is the right blinker not working. Left one works fine with running lights on. Took apart my harness and verified connections and all looks perfect. Even switched the harness plugs between the two boards on the right side and no difference.
As far as the LED flasher, took off the stock one located to the right of the steering column and ran the ground to a bolt on the steering column. Tried disconnecting the ground and seeing what happened and the signals did not work at all so would think this ground is adequate.
Tried installing the bulbs back into the STOCK harness and this did not make a difference either. I really don't think any of this has to do with the Casper headlight harness as I am testing the lights with JUST the running lights, headlights off.
Right now I am redoing the connections in the trunk by soldering instead of using the 3M quick connects but don't think this has anything to do with it.
Now what about the other flasher on the fuse box, would that have anything to do with the problems??
As far as the LED flasher, took off the stock one located to the right of the steering column and ran the ground to a bolt on the steering column. Tried disconnecting the ground and seeing what happened and the signals did not work at all so would think this ground is adequate.
Tried installing the bulbs back into the STOCK harness and this did not make a difference either. I really don't think any of this has to do with the Casper headlight harness as I am testing the lights with JUST the running lights, headlights off.
Right now I am redoing the connections in the trunk by soldering instead of using the 3M quick connects but don't think this has anything to do with it.
Now what about the other flasher on the fuse box, would that have anything to do with the problems??
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
FIRST: Does the RT front turn signal work fine when the rear DON'T?? That would mean it's in the connection somewhere.
It could possibly be the board but when it works WITHOUT the running lights on I think it might be fine! We need to wait untill monday to contact Spaghetti engineering to find out for sure..
Sounds like it's fine!
The other flasher on the fuse box is supposed to be for the flashers. Others have not had to replace that one and neither have I.
Mark I will call the company first thing monday morning and we get this taken care of for you!
Scot W.
In addition, MAKE SURE that all bulbs on the car are in good working order.
Pay particular attention to the bulbs up in the small side markers outboard of the headlights. Also check the front blinker bulbs in the bumper to ensure that the blinker element isn't burned out (the outer bulbs in the bumper are dual elemet bulbs).
A burned out bulb, or element within a bulb can change the load enough to wreak havoc.
Pay particular attention to the bulbs up in the small side markers outboard of the headlights. Also check the front blinker bulbs in the bumper to ensure that the blinker element isn't burned out (the outer bulbs in the bumper are dual elemet bulbs).
A burned out bulb, or element within a bulb can change the load enough to wreak havoc.
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
TR Custom Parts
Mark Hueffman - Owner
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Sure enough, left front side marker bulb was out. Ran out to get a new one and replaced. Didn't make ANY difference EXCEPT now even the left blinker won't work with running lights on.
There are none of the 3M connectors used on my installation. I even soldered the connection for the orange wire up in the inner sanctums of the trunk to take that out of the equation.
Rechecked ground wire in the trunk as well. I am walking away from it for now before I start throwing wrenches.
Latest lowdown.
Put on brakes - normal
WITHOUT running lights on
Left signal normal
Right signal normal
I find if you quickly switch from left signal to right signal the inner opposite board will light up and the side that is signaling BOTH boards light up light brake lights in a cascade pattern like when the hazard lights are on for a couple times and then just the signal light works properly.
WITH running lights on.
NO signals on either side with or without the brakes on.
I ended up watching the reflections in my garage TV so I could see what was really going on.
Like I said before, rechecked all of my connections which were soldered, I have the LED flasher which is correctly grounded. I know my way around a soldering iron and wiring but this has me stumped. It is scary enough driving out there without having to worry about your tail lights working properly.
I am posting this on here instead of talking by phone so hopefully any one else can benefit if there is a solution found.
One thing I think that should have been done with these is to have both the inner and outer boards flash when signaling like the stock setup. JMO.
I'm not sure if this will help anyone but I bought a set of the LED taillights from scot and we installed them and everything went just fine! Made one screw up but scot helped me over the phone and it was fixed in less than 5min. Mine are working as they are supposed to just like in the video (without the stock bulbs in place). From what iv'e been reading here it looks like only a handfull of people had some issues out of I guess 45 kits sold and it looks like there issues have all been solved Very promptly. Scot is a great guy and I called him while he was at his sons field day event and he took the time to help me. I think more can be settled over the phone and quicker too. Either way scot will get your problem solved. BTW. Those LED taillights look AWSOME!!
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
Thanks for the kind words zues1. I'm glad I could help get your issue figured out.
Take care!
Scot W.
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
Guy's! Here is what I found to work well for me when installing these LED taillights!
1). I remove the taillights from the car.
2). I dis-assyemble the taillights.
3). I install the LED boards into the lens's
4). I re-assemble the taillights so they are ready to be installed in the car.
5). I remove the stock bulbs from the sockets that are replaced by the LED's.
6). I fill the socket hole with grease, Tape them off good, and tuck them behind the bumper fillers.
7). I now take the packages of wires supplyed in the kit (each kit has a long & short set of wires) and working from the drivers to passengers. I fish the wires behind the bumper fillers so just the connectors are showing.
NOTE: Wires are as follows from DR - PASS - (long set, short set (lisence plate) long set, short set) This is looking at the car from behind....
8). Now wire them from the Pasengers side first working your way to the drivers side connecting the color coded wires together ( kinda linking them together).
9). Now you should have 5 wires hanging from under the outside drivers taillight.
10). Now I like to TEST my hook ups to this point to see if everything works correctly, Thus elliminating the possibility of a bad board!
11). To do a quick test, I take a 12v car or lawnmower battery and put the black wire to the Negative side!
I take the Orange wire and put it to the Possitive side! Leave these hooked up during test!!!!
I take the brown wire (running lights) and now touch & hold it to the Poss side. (You should have running lights)!!! REMOVE WIRE!
I now touch the Yellow wire to the Possitive side, (You should have Left turn)
I now touch the green wire to the Possitive side, (You should have Right turn)
Now twist the Yellow & Green together and touch them to the Possitive side and ( You should have brake lights)
If you would like to test all the opperations of the lights WITH RUNNING LIGHTS ON simply LEAVE the brown wire hooked up and just touch the rest of them as listed above, (They should work just as designed).
12) Now that you KNOW the LED's are working Correctly!, Proceed to do your wiring inside the trunk. If there is ANY problems from this point on you KNOW it's with either (the flasher & hook up= "load issue") or (The wiring & hook up= "blowen fuse,ect!).
Hope this helps!
Scot W.
1). I remove the taillights from the car.
2). I dis-assyemble the taillights.
3). I install the LED boards into the lens's
4). I re-assemble the taillights so they are ready to be installed in the car.
5). I remove the stock bulbs from the sockets that are replaced by the LED's.
6). I fill the socket hole with grease, Tape them off good, and tuck them behind the bumper fillers.
7). I now take the packages of wires supplyed in the kit (each kit has a long & short set of wires) and working from the drivers to passengers. I fish the wires behind the bumper fillers so just the connectors are showing.
NOTE: Wires are as follows from DR - PASS - (long set, short set (lisence plate) long set, short set) This is looking at the car from behind....
8). Now wire them from the Pasengers side first working your way to the drivers side connecting the color coded wires together ( kinda linking them together).
9). Now you should have 5 wires hanging from under the outside drivers taillight.
10). Now I like to TEST my hook ups to this point to see if everything works correctly, Thus elliminating the possibility of a bad board!
11). To do a quick test, I take a 12v car or lawnmower battery and put the black wire to the Negative side!
I take the Orange wire and put it to the Possitive side! Leave these hooked up during test!!!!
I take the brown wire (running lights) and now touch & hold it to the Poss side. (You should have running lights)!!! REMOVE WIRE!
I now touch the Yellow wire to the Possitive side, (You should have Left turn)
I now touch the green wire to the Possitive side, (You should have Right turn)
Now twist the Yellow & Green together and touch them to the Possitive side and ( You should have brake lights)
If you would like to test all the opperations of the lights WITH RUNNING LIGHTS ON simply LEAVE the brown wire hooked up and just touch the rest of them as listed above, (They should work just as designed).
12) Now that you KNOW the LED's are working Correctly!, Proceed to do your wiring inside the trunk. If there is ANY problems from this point on you KNOW it's with either (the flasher & hook up= "load issue") or (The wiring & hook up= "blowen fuse,ect!).
Hope this helps!
Scot W.
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
Correct! One thing I have noticed is Every car seems to be different, By this I mean we don't know what the last owner done to the car before you now own it. We don't know if the flashers were replaced with HEAVY DUTY flashers or screwed with the electrical system-(which ALOT of these cars have done!). Iv'e worked on several cars that the wiring looks horrible and someone really had there hands into.. So it's unfair to the LED taillights to NOT test them first!! So some of the customers that purchased the LED taillights ended up replacing both flashers to get them working properly, Some only replaced the one under the steering column to get them working properly, So this has shown me that all cars are going to be different in more than one way! This means there can't be one exact certian way to install this kit. It will require some trouble shooting to determine what your car has had done to it that is causing the load to be interupted to the taillights. That is why I like to do that test BEFORE I proceed onto the Wire hook up.
(jpratt) Feel free to give me a call and we can work it out for ya!
Scot W.
(865) 680-4008
TR Custom Parts
Mark Hueffman - Owner
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Scot, going to call you after I get this posted.
Problem on my GN is the turn signals do NOT work when the running lights are on. Everything else works fine, brakes, brakes with running lights on, turn signals with running lights off, hazards with running lights off. My hazard lights do NOT blink with the running lights ON.
Decided to go back and start from square one. Pulled all the installed harness out of the car and removed the conduit to recheck that all connections were to like colors. CHECK! As you can see, the way I did it required splicing in 3 places on the harness that goes under the bumper fillers and then runs into the trunk above the stock connector. Drilled a hole there put in a grommet, ran the wires to the connector located in the drivers quarter panel. Using some butyl strips I had for the tail light lenses I sealed the grommet. The connections in the quarter panel area were made on the side of the connector that leads to the stock tail light harness. The other side of the connector uses solid core wires. The stock harness going to the tail lights uses stranded wire which is easier to solder into. I strip the insulation of the wire about 1.5" and then split the strands, insert the stripped end of the new LED harness wires in the split and then twist them around and then solder.
The orange wire I ran up to the suggested wire inside the trunk and soldered that as well. The ground wire was connected to the factory ground area right next to the trunk connector. The three wires for the splcing into the factory harness are right next to each other, yellow, brown and green.
After pulling the stock flasher unit, I replaced with the supplied LED flasher and used a good ground on the steering column. Tried another ground as well with no difference.
With running lights on and the turn signal on left I wiggled all the harness connections just to see if anything flickered etc but nothing happened. I have tried it with bulbs installed in the stock harness, they do work with the turn signals on but the LEDs do not.
Have checked all the stock bulbs that are supposed to stay, the back side lights, the center running lights and the front turn signals and parking lights. Did find one front side marker light out and replaced it but still no flashing rear signals.
Also notice that the hazard lights will not flash with the running lights on. Has anyone else even tried their hazards with the running lights on?? Would think you would need a LED flasher for that as well??? That is the flasher attached to the fuse box itself.
I CAN make the turn signals work by turning them on and off manually. In other words turn on and off and the light will cascade once.
So as things sit, I can drive the car during the day only.
Attaching some pics so you can see how I did it.
Problem on my GN is the turn signals do NOT work when the running lights are on. Everything else works fine, brakes, brakes with running lights on, turn signals with running lights off, hazards with running lights off. My hazard lights do NOT blink with the running lights ON.
Decided to go back and start from square one. Pulled all the installed harness out of the car and removed the conduit to recheck that all connections were to like colors. CHECK! As you can see, the way I did it required splicing in 3 places on the harness that goes under the bumper fillers and then runs into the trunk above the stock connector. Drilled a hole there put in a grommet, ran the wires to the connector located in the drivers quarter panel. Using some butyl strips I had for the tail light lenses I sealed the grommet. The connections in the quarter panel area were made on the side of the connector that leads to the stock tail light harness. The other side of the connector uses solid core wires. The stock harness going to the tail lights uses stranded wire which is easier to solder into. I strip the insulation of the wire about 1.5" and then split the strands, insert the stripped end of the new LED harness wires in the split and then twist them around and then solder.
The orange wire I ran up to the suggested wire inside the trunk and soldered that as well. The ground wire was connected to the factory ground area right next to the trunk connector. The three wires for the splcing into the factory harness are right next to each other, yellow, brown and green.
After pulling the stock flasher unit, I replaced with the supplied LED flasher and used a good ground on the steering column. Tried another ground as well with no difference.
With running lights on and the turn signal on left I wiggled all the harness connections just to see if anything flickered etc but nothing happened. I have tried it with bulbs installed in the stock harness, they do work with the turn signals on but the LEDs do not.
Have checked all the stock bulbs that are supposed to stay, the back side lights, the center running lights and the front turn signals and parking lights. Did find one front side marker light out and replaced it but still no flashing rear signals.
Also notice that the hazard lights will not flash with the running lights on. Has anyone else even tried their hazards with the running lights on?? Would think you would need a LED flasher for that as well??? That is the flasher attached to the fuse box itself.
I CAN make the turn signals work by turning them on and off manually. In other words turn on and off and the light will cascade once.
So as things sit, I can drive the car during the day only.
Attaching some pics so you can see how I did it.
Attachments
TR Custom Parts
Mark Hueffman - Owner
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
More pics, harness pics in last post show how all wires are spliced to like colors.
BTW, there is absolutely NO need to remove the bumper fillers or bumper. You do not even need to loosen the filler around the gas filler. All you do is stuff the wires from underneath right where the stock harness runs. Just hope Scot can figure this out for me. Leaning towards maybe a bad flasher?????
I do not have a volt booster on the car, I do have the Casper headlight upgrade harness but believe someone else has this and their lights work correctly.
BTW, there is absolutely NO need to remove the bumper fillers or bumper. You do not even need to loosen the filler around the gas filler. All you do is stuff the wires from underneath right where the stock harness runs. Just hope Scot can figure this out for me. Leaning towards maybe a bad flasher?????
I do not have a volt booster on the car, I do have the Casper headlight upgrade harness but believe someone else has this and their lights work correctly.
Attachments
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
Nice job! Nice pictures! Thanks for posting them, It should help others with there install.
On your issue as we discussed I 100% belive you need Both Flashers installed...
After I seak to Spaghetti enineering tomarow I will post the solution to this problem..
Scot W.
On your issue as we discussed I 100% belive you need Both Flashers installed...
After I seak to Spaghetti enineering tomarow I will post the solution to this problem..
Scot W.
scot w.
GNSperformance.com
- Joined
- Feb 19, 2005
Huh?
