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LED Stop/Tail light issue.


SteveG

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LED Stop/Tail light issue. I installed Le Perei LED lights, all worked ok with ignition off and lights on. Tail light on and brake lights up when you press pedal. However,with engine running tail light works ok, but when you press pedal lights go off rather than show brake light.

Any ideas?? Do I need to install a different relay for stop/tail circuit?

Thanks

Steve

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Steve,

You don't say which Defender you have but on a lot of them the lights are wired in reverse with the negative acting as the switch wire (normally positive on cars) This can cause all sorts of issues with LED's in brake lights. May be worth checking with a meter.

Jason.

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I assume by wired back to front you mean it has a permanent live and then switches on the negative side. If that is the case then an led bulb in the original holder will work but the wiring for the new unit is probable wrong in having a single earth but two live feeds, you would need a single live but two earths. Not sure why it would work with engine off though.

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Its not wired in that way. The earth wire is permanent common earth, the other two wires are 12v live from the brake light switch, and the lightswitch.

What happens if you put a standard bulb back in? If it still happens, then it sounds like there is some kind of short in the earth for that circuit. To rule this out, disconnect earth wire from bulb holder,(you may have to cut it) and temporarily connect a wire from ground to the bulb holder, if it makes no difference, its not an earth fault, but rather a 12v supply fault, which i would be surprised at because stop and tail are 2 individual circuits and its highly unlikely they have both failed.

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Thanks for all of the replies. I've been away so haven't had a chance to look, but should get time tomorrow night or Thursday morning.

The units are the clear Le Perei 95mm LED units you find as standard on SVX, fire & Ice and latest x-tech special edition. I ordered the superseal connector units, so there's no fly leads with colouring or fitting diagram. No worries, as I built a jumper lead to go from standard econoseal to superseal, so I can work out what is coming out on what pin and adjust jumper cable.

I'll post up what it is and corresponding connectins, in case it's of use to anyone else.

Cheers

Steve

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Ok, so all wiring is correct and old LED's still work as expected. Checked out what's difference between ign 0 and ign II. So in ign 0, when you press the brake you get ~ 2V on brake circuit, whereas when in ign II you get full 12V.

So in ign 0, LEDs appear to work ok, you get tail and when you press brake, you get the higher intensity. However, in ignition II when you see same ~12v on both brake & tail circuits, LED lamp turns off, rather than increase intensity.

I'll have to call supplier and see what's happening.

Steve

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All fixed. So lamps have no markings on just description moulded into housing with colours for the units with wire tails, not the superseal units that I have. For example White - negative. No use on superseal ones and there are no other markings.

So initially when I fitted I followed logic of existing econoseal and Le Perei housings that all later Defenders have. In hindsight this was a big mistake as it meant wiring this way round gave the impression that everything worked in ignition pos 0. The LEP LED units are bviously multi polarity and were seemingly working correctly as the voltage drop between 12v and 2v generated in pos 0 was enought to power them.

However in ingintion pos II both positive feeds are 12v and so now difference and hence taillight worked in opposite polarity and brake wouldn't because there was no potential difference.

So I tried wiring permutations until all worked ok in pos II. I'll post up pics when I have time in case it's of use to anyone else.

Thanks

Steve

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Cheers Neil, only took a few hours ;) and a trip to Buntingford and back to try a new set to make sure I wasn't going insane. I should have just tried all permutations of pins first time around, but not knowing they were multi parity, I didn't want to fry them at £40 a pop!!

;)

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