Brake,tail and signal light conversion to LED
I have a 2012 3500 silverado and pull a 14000 lb 5th wheel. I want to switch out the standard tail lights to LED. I'm sure you all have done this, any advise?
Forum Discussion
RCMAN46 wrote:
With your 2012 3500 Silverado you will not have a problem with the flash rate. The output comes from a computer in the truck. It does have dedicated fuses for the trailer.
Umm.. the "computer" is designed to detect the current draw of the bulbs as a SAFETY FEATURE to let the driver know when an IMPORTANT BULB is no longer working.
If the computer does not "see" enough amperage drawn it WILL go into hyperflash mode.
Hence the reason one would have to add a resistor when changing incadescent to LED on a vehicle. The resistor SIMULATES the filament of a bulb by WASTING current as heat..
Pretty much a DOT thing.
There is really no good reason to change from the factory incadescent bulb to a LED other than wasting your money AND you will have to defeat a safety item to do that anyways (LEDS DO FAIL, if you don't believe me I HAVE a failed set of $60 Bargman trailer tail lights laying around).
You factory incadescent vehicle tail lights are plenty bright and the bulbs have a long life (I have a 11 yr old vehicle with 200,000 miles on it with ALL the ORIGINAL incadescent bulbs).
