Properly wired up side marker LED lights

[Rich69shortfleet]

I got around to properly wiring up my side marker LEDs. A lot of folks take the easy way and just wire these United Pacific lights up to be on or off like the bulbs would have been and leaving the rears to not flash at all. Anyway, wiring them up fully to provide driving lights and flash brighter with turns and emergencies isn't tough but does take some extra work. Never really understood why GM didn't wire the rear sides to flash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5_Mr...ature=youtu.be

[Rich69shortfleet]

Ha! I'm not half as smart as I think I was. As I have it wired right now the side markers go to bright when the brakes are applied! I'm going to have to think about this some more and try a few more things.

[dudehitt]

Those are pretty cool. Now you need LEDS in the tail lights and grille lights. There is a way to do it without those cool LEDS lights too.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=707545

[Robznob11]

Your going to have to tie into the front marker light wire. Im curious as to how you areplanning to get them dim and bright. You will need a resistor in the park side because if they see the same voltage they will be the same brightness. Ps let me know if you want some super bright tails and reverse. I build them....

[Andy4639]

Originally Posted by Rich69shortfleet

. Never really understood why GM didn't wire the rear sides to flash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5_Mr...ature=youtu.be

Because of what you found out in your next post. If you tie into the turn signal wires at the back of the truck they are also the brake lights wiring. They didn't want to run new wires all the way back from the front.

[Rich69shortfleet]

Originally Posted by dudehitt

Those are pretty cool. Now you need LEDS in the tail lights and grille lights. There is a way to do it without those cool LEDS lights too.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=707545

I do have LED front park/turn lights and tail lights.

Originally Posted by Robznob11

Your going to have to tie into the front marker light wire. Im curious as to how you areplanning to get them dim and bright. You will need a resistor in the park side because if they see the same voltage they will be the same brightness. Ps let me know if you want some super bright tails and reverse. I build them....

As it stands right now, the fronts have their own independent ground, dim side connected to the running lights wire (brown) and the bright side tied to the turn signal wire for the appropriate side but it must be picking up the rear signal were there isn't a distinction between "turn" and "brake". I'll need to find the "turn" only signal and they should be set.

Originally Posted by Andy4639

Because of what you found out in your next post. If you tie into the turn signal wires at the back of the truck they are also the brake lights wiring. They didn't want to run new wires all the way back from the front.

Yeah, it make sense now that I think about it. The "brake" signal to the rear is simply powering both left and right turnsignals at the same time. Once I find the correct signal up front (turns not brakes) I'd have to tie the rear sides to that signal too. I'll need to buy more wire!

[Robznob11]

Well i have been wrong before so someone can correct me if i am, but i thought gm used a dual filiment bulb in the front turns. Both wires are 12 volts. One is on with park and the other is on when blinker is flashing this doubles the light output and makes the brighter flash. If your led has two seperate circuits no problem but if its just one circuit , you would need to reduce power on the parking light side. Again your leds may be set up like that already...if you have tied into the front grill/bumper lights you should not be seeing a brake light. Also worth noting i build all my leds with diodes to prevent reverse current. When you use one wire to function more than one thing you can get reverse current flow that makes the whole system act goofy!

[Rich69shortfleet]

The sides all have three wires, GROUND, DIM, BRIGHT.

Anyway, I easily fixed the issue for the fronts and determined why my testing led me to hook them up incorrectly in the first place. Regardless, the fronts now work as (DIM) running lights and (BRIGHT) turn signals/emergencies and not light up with the brakes. I also know how to wire the rears up to work without coming on for the brakes, but for now I'm going to leave them connected to the brake light circuit. Modern cars have rear lights that are also visible from the sides so it kind of makes sense to leave the rear sides wired in a more modern way. If I decide to change it it is only simple bit of extra wiring to get it done.

The truck must have looked weird to anyone watching when the front sides would light up with the brakes. Oh well, I looked like a dork for a couple days!

[dudehitt]

Sorry I missed the front leds. The ears were really obvious. I do like those lights though

[Rich69shortfleet]

I do want to add that Digi-Tails has amazing customer service. They had included one incorrect small part with my tail light kit but I worked around it. I did let them know and they responded right away and as a make-it-up-to-you gesture they sent me a set of LED 1156 bulbs for my back up lights. They just arrived today and they look great too, very white light as opposed to the yellow tinge of incandescent bulbs. Not sure how bright they will be, I'll find out this evening as it was bright mid-day sun when I put them in. They looked at least as bright as the standard 1156 bulbs I took out. Anyway, now the exterior of my truck is entirely LED except for the headlights.

I might just LED all the interior and instrument cluster lights at some point.