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LED lighting problems..........

10K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  labitje 
#1 ·
I’ll start with the basics, my bike is a 2008 FXSTB Night Train, it does not have a factory or aftermarket alarm. Up until today, it was only equipped with a HD LED headlamp and HD LED tail light. The turn signals/running light were the stock, incandescent bulbs.

So today, I installed my recently received Custom Dynamics LED turn/running light kit. The kit consisted of Custom Dynamics red LED bullet clusters for the rear, white/amber Dynamic Ringz LED bullet clusters for the front, a signal stabilizer(which is their version of a load equalizer) and their “Triple Play” brake/running/turn signal controller.

The installation was straightforward and everything worked EXCEPT my front right turn/running light. It is supposed to have the white ring brightly illuminated as a running light and when the turn signal is activated, the white LEDs turn off and the center amber LEDs flash. It works perfectly on the left front turn signal, not all on the right. On the right, the white LED ring is barely, and I mean barely, illuminated and when the right turn signal is activated, the white LED ring flashes, still barely illuminated.

I swapped the LED clusters, left to right and back, and both worked fine on the left side, but as described above on the right side. Pretty sure it ain’t the LED clusters. I also tried it with and without the signal stabilizer but no joy, all that did was cause the signal to flash faster as expected. I tried it with and without the Triple Play, no effect. I tried it with the bike running, no change. I put the stock incandescent bulbs back in, they worked fine. I left the LED in the left lamp and put the incandescent back in the right, the both worked fine. WTF?







Anybody got any ideas? I’ve already sent an email to Custom Dynamics about it but it is a weekend so…..
 
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#2 ·
I had one a while back that gave symptoms similar to what you're getting. I traced it down to the socket itself. My regular bulb worked in the socket but the LED didn't, the regular bulb base was slightly longer than the LED. I worked the inside of the socket part that has the contacts and it loosened up and protruded farther out and the LED worked after that.
Otherwise it sounds like you covered all the bases.
 
#7 ·
I figured it out! It wasn't the LED or the socket per se, it was this:



Factory wiring had the turn signal wiring running to the ground contact in the socket and the ground wire running to the turn signal contact. Apparently the incandescent bulb will work this way because it did just fine but the LED, not so much. Nice quality control HD!

Anyway, it's fixed and works great now. Thanks to all for the input, it helped me figure this out for sure.
 
#12 ·
2008 HD Ultra Classic LED Install Issue

:feedback:

I just installed a Custom Dynamics II Integrated LED Taillight with Reds Lens and internal turn signals. I also installed two LED insert lenses, the plug type, just replaces the factory bulb. I installed all by instructions including the load equalizer. It all worked except for the right rear turn signal. My running lights would not come on this particuler turn signal. After tracing back the connections. I found that the above listed tail light had the right turn signal plug wired backwards compared to the factory tail lamp. I had to reverse the wires on the plug to correct. Now the turn signal is working on this light, but not the running light. Did some cross checking between the two tail lights by switching the two tail light plugs into the opposites on the lamp to see if I had a short in the wiring to the light from the plug. It was good, the right turn signal socket in the factory lamp must be shorted on the pc board. I'm not absolutely sure this is the problem since I did get the turn signal portion to work. Any suggestion or experiences would be appreciated. I'm fixing to buy a new tail lamp?
 
#16 ·
This. A regular incandescent bulb is not polarity sensitive. As long as there is current running through the filament, it will glow. But an LED is polarity sensitive.

You'd think the MoCo would take the time to do it right anyway, but then again . . .
 
#15 ·
Fix to problem

Ok HD Buddies. After an 1 1/2 phone chat with the Custom Dynamics Tech. I commend them for their support in my situation. I did all the switching of the plugs and everything you could imagine to get that one turn signal light to operate on running light, brake & turn signal. Keep in mind, I have a Harley module in line with my rear light circuit. Well, come to find out, that is exactly the problem. For some reason, the brake, run, turn module is not functioning on all cylinders. I learned that the module sends the signal to each turn signal for the rear with the option I select.
 
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