trailer led problem

[Ace]

Ok got a hair brained idea to install led lights in the trailer that match my bus. The original lights were exactly the same light made by Bargman with the exception that they are incandescent with a single dual element bulb in each light. The result wiring is pretty simple. A white for ground, a green for turn and a brown for running/brake light. This is on the right side. The left side is exactly the same except the green wire is now yellow for turn.
I can get both side turn signals to work which by the way are seperate from the tail/brake and both side running lights but my problem comes in that I can NOT get either of the running/brake lights to work when the brake pedal is applied!  The red led lights have 3 wires. White, green and black. It says the green is tail light, the black is running/brake and the white is ground. So in reality, I have only ONE wire on the trailer to hook to, the brown. I have tried every combination even putting the green and black together but still no brake lights. I have traced wiring all the way back to and including the bus and everything works, just not the lights at the rear rear of trailer. Yes the brown wire works!
What am I missing?

[Len Silva]

My best guess is a bad ground.  If the running lights work but applying the brake makes them go out, then a ground problem is just about guaranteed.

This is especially true if you are mixing LED and incandescent lamps.

Try running a temporary ground all the way from the LED's to the battery, I'll bet that cures it.

[txjeff]

Ace,

If I understand correctly, your turn and brake lights are two separate lights on the bus. If so you should have 5 wires running to the trailer. One for ground, one for running lights, one for each turn signal, and one for brakes lights.

jeff

[Ace]

Ok let me be more clear if I can. NO lights go out when the brakes are applied. I never said they went out. I said the brake lights do NOT  come on at all but the seperate yellow turn signals work fine as do the seperate RED running lights but at the same time the RED running lights that work fine do NOT work as a brake light.

All grounds have been checked and there I'd a ground at each light on each side and at the plug connector!

[Sean]

Ace,

I think your LED package has some terminology confused.

"Tail" lights and "Running" lights are on the same circuit.  "Brake" lights are on a separate circuit from the Tail and Running circuit.

If you are connecting the Brake signal to the "Tail" input of the light, you will not see any increase in intensity when you apply the brake.

Can you give us the make and model of these lights?  Maybe I can decipher their color code.

Also, have you tested the lights directly on a battery?  IOTW, connect the lamp ground to the battery negative, then try each of the other two leads on positive separately, then together.  The "Tail" or "Running" lead should give about half intensity, and the "Brake" lead, as well as both together, should give full intensity.

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Ace]

Here are the back side of each light, one red with 3 wires and one yellow with 2 wires.

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb394/Goldbus/IMAG0105-1.jpg

[Ace]

This is the convertor I am using


http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb394/Goldbus/IMAG0100.jpg

[Ace]

This is what I am trying to achieve...

http://i1203.photobucket.com/albums/bb394/Goldbus/IMAG0093-1.jpg

[Ace]

If you can't read the back of the lights they say this...

Black = stop & turn
Green = tail
White = ground

I don't want the red as a turn. Only a tail/running and a brake light

[Sean]

OK.  Here is the wiring you need:

From Bus             to Trailer
---------             --------
Ground                all four white wires (four lights)
Brake                  both black wires on the Red lamps
Tail/Marker          both green wires on the Red lamps
Left turn             black wire on left Amber lamp
Right turn            black wire on right Amber lamp

There should be no other connections of any kind. NO converter is required, so take that out of the circuit.

Now your amber lamps should light only when turn signals or hazards are on.  Red lamps should come on at half intensity when the bus markers are on.  And they should come on full intensity when the brakes are applied.

If that does not work, again let me suggest testing each red lamp as I outlined earlier.

HTH,

-Sean
http://OurOdyssey.BlogSpot.com

[Ace]

Sean thank you for the detailed info. I understood you on the phone as well and that's exactly how I had it wired. I even had Susan to double check me while reading your description but it simply would not work.
I did however got things working perfectly using my led's but the ONLY way was to use ALL red in both sides. This might explain why they don't offer a double unit with one red and one amber.
I was missing something maybe, but the end result is they are all working as they should, just not amber for turn.
I also received my new led can clearance lights for the front cap today so hopefully that wil be a little less stressful! There are five of them though now that I think about it.
Thanks everyone!

[Oonrahnjay]

   Ace, do you still have the "converter" in the wiring setup?

[Ace]

Yes

[luvrbus]

Ace,I buy the combo red/amber stop and tail light from www.pmlights.com I just bought some for my trailer made by Peterson I didn't want to run 4 lights


good luck

[Ace]

I got my double's from ppl, both red and to be honest they look better than one red and one amber, AND they work perfectly now. I have two doubles on each side and if they can't see me now, let them hit me!