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Led light problem: low beam fades out

swiss

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So Gimp and I are playing with new led install for headlights. We have a problem we have never seen. The high beams work. When switching to low the low beams fade out and go off. One fades out first then the other. We have 24 volts at the light the whole time. We grounded by hand also

any ideas?
 

Swamp Donkey

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Remove Gimpy from the circuit. He's got a short...:mrgreen:

I'd take one of the lights directly to the battery and connect the low beam positive wire to the positive terminal and the ground to the negative terminal to see if you get the same result. Need to make sure the lights are working properly before looking to the wiring, especially if the incandescents were working fine before hand. Take the wiring out of the equation and just give the light direct power.
 

swiss

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Now that you say that it is brilliantly simple!!


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Tinstar

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What brand of lights?

I have all Truck-Lite LEDs (head, tail, turn and marker) on mine and haven't had any problems at all.

Have heard about a flickering issue with some headlights.
First Ive heard about fading.
 

gimpyrobb

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So while waiting for the second shift to show up, i swapped the leads from high to low at the bulbs. Now they don't fade out BUT, the high beam indicator is on when the low beams are on.


Wtf?


No need to go directly to battery as we verified vvoltage at the wire.
 

Swamp Donkey

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Voltage doesn't equal current. Still need to verify. A broken wire will show voltage with a single strand hanging on but can't support current draw.
Exactly. Also possible to have correct voltage at the end of the wire with a short to ground elsewhere. Not enough current to support the load even though voltage can be seen.

So while waiting for the second shift to show up, i swapped the leads from high to low at the bulbs. Now they don't fade out BUT, the high beam indicator is on when the low beams are on.




Wtf?


No need to go directly to battery as we verified vvoltage at the wire.
We are talking about Swiss's M923 correct? I assume so but wanted to check.

When ya'll did the grounds by hand, did you go directly to the frame or somewhere on the grill or hood? There is a ground strap on the driverside that connects hood to frame that can cause issues with grounding of the whole hood.

You can bypass the whole hood harness by testing a light directly at the dimmer switch in the floorboard. 1 wire is positive input and should stay connected. The other 2 are positive outputs, one for high and one for low. In low, only one will be hot. In high, both will he hot. Use 2 of the male/male bulkhead connectors from the headlight bucket to connect directly to the switch, then ground light to the frame.

If the light tested fine at the batteries and works properly at the switch then you have a wiring issue in the hood harness or ground. If it shows the same symptoms, I'd be suspecting the dimmer switch.

It's not uncommon to have wiring issues show up when swapping to LEDs. Poor connections can "make" with the higher loads from incandescents, where the low draw from LEDs can't. I lost my driverside headlight to a bad ground right before the rally last year. The connector was not completely inserted.
 

swiss

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We are adding 16 more feet to the lme tent today. Be back on that Tommorrow

The lights now work just hi and low wires are reversed?






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