why dont my LED replacement bulbs work??

[forgedE]

on my 06 saleen, why cant i get my LED replacement bulbs to work?

The 194 wedge bulbs work in the interior and in the fogs, but the license plate bulbs are c5w and the trunk light is 211-2 so i purchased both of those in LED versions and they turn on for a second then turn off. I put them in my 08 avalanche (same bulbs) and they work perfectly fine!

What am I missing here?

 

[Embalmer]

You tried reversing them in the socket, correct?

 

[Hawgman]

It is because the LED bulbs in question do not draw enough power on the circuit and the controlling computer thinks that the bulb is burned out and kills the power to the bulb.
Most places sell a resistor that you can wire in line that will cure the problem. Some big ass ceramic resistor. Don't remember the actual value. 50ohm @ 10w or something like that.

I didn't have any problem with the interior lights or the back up lights. But I did have the same issue with the trunk bulb. I just took one of my old interior bulbs and wired it in line hidden back behind the actual socket the trunk light bulb supposed to go in. Wrapped it in heat shrink, hit it up under all the plastic. That put the proper draw on the circuit and allowed the trunk light LED to work.

 

[forgedE]

It is because the LED bulbs in question do not draw enough power on the circuit and the controlling computer thinks that the bulb is burned out and kills the power to the bulb.
Most places sell a resistor that you can wire in line that will cure the problem. Some big ass ceramic resistor. Don't remember the actual value. 50ohm @ 10w or something like that.

I didn't have any problem with the interior lights or the back up lights. But I did have the same issue with the trunk bulb. I just took one of my old interior bulbs and wired it in line hidden back behind the actual socket the trunk light bulb supposed to go in. Wrapped it in heat shrink, hit it up under all the plastic. That put the proper draw on the circuit and allowed the trunk light LED to work.

figures....just pull the car apart and rebuild it, right?

 

[Hawgman]

figures....just pull the car apart and rebuild it, right?

If wiring up a resistor or a bulb is your idea of pulling the car apart and rebuilding it then I think you need to just put the stock bulbs back in.

 

[waketek516]

If wiring up a resistor or a bulb is your idea of pulling the car apart and rebuilding it then I think you need to just put the stock bulbs back in.

hahahahahaha

 

[05bluestang]

If wiring up a resistor or a bulb is your idea of pulling the car apart and rebuilding it then I think you need to just put the stock bulbs back in.

 

[TexasBlownV8]

It is because the LED bulbs in question do not draw enough power on the circuit and the controlling computer thinks that the bulb is burned out and kills the power to the bulb.
Most places sell a resistor that you can wire in line that will cure the problem. Some big ass ceramic resistor. Don't remember the actual value. 50ohm @ 10w or something like that.

That's useless and extreme overkill. A LED will draw less current, and a 50 ohm is not going to make enough difference. A resister will further limit and reduce the current to the LED, thus making it dimmer. And if you do need a resistor, a 1/2 watt is plenty big for a single LED (depending on the current draw of course). If feeding a bank of LEDs, then the wattage depends on how much current is being drawn.

A plain basic LED is usually designed to work with 5V or 12V. A 5V will need a resistor inline with it (typically 470 ohms up to 1K ohms) to prevent it from blowing apart at 12v (it's kinda cool to blow one up, but eye protection is a must!). The newer 12v LEDs are already current-limited to handle 12v without blowing apart.

Power rating for resistors is based on a simple Ohm's law formula, of
voltage x (current^2).
Anything more than double that is overkill, anything less is risking the resistor burning up.

 

[RRRoamer]

That's useless and extreme overkill. A LED will draw less current, and a 50 ohm is not going to make enough difference. A resister will further limit and reduce the current to the LED, thus making it dimmer.

You might want to take a step back and THINK before shooting off your mouth. Hawgman is correct. The whole point of the resistor is to INCREASE the current draw so the SJB leaves the damn thing on.

There are two ways to wire up any basic circuit with two elements: series and PARALLEL. Series does exactly what you think it does: it decreases the current drawn by the LED by increasing the resistance to the current flow by forcing the current to flow through the LED AND the resistor.

But when you put the resistor in PARALLEL to the LED, current now has TWO paths to take (and it, just like a woman, wants to take both at the same time. Difference is, it CAN take both paths and does!). The current that flows through the LED doesn't change at all. But you also have the current "going around" the LED through the resistor and this is simply I = V/R with power P = V^2/I being dissipated by the resistor.

That's the LONG way of saying Hawgman is right and your wrong...

Power rating for resistors is based on a simple Ohm's law formula, of voltage x (current^2)

You might want to double check your equations too. There are several equations to calculate power, but V*I^2 ISN'T one of them:

P = I * V
P = V^2 / R
P = I^2 * R

 

[Xporter]

doh