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Visionary
Posts: 1229
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | Does anybody know why the cruise control doesn't work if you replace the brake lights with LEDs? and is there a fix? I bought some really great 13watt LED brake lights, but I'm not willing to give up cruise control for them. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 785
Mt. Vernon, WASH. | YEP! Anyone who owns a Mercedes or BMW and has cruise control issues has probably replaced a tail lamp or other light bulb in the car and the electrical system is designed to use all the resistance feedback as a governing device. Replace the $9.00 Nazi BUICK dealer turn lamp bulb with a $1.25 NAPA bulb and the cruise control gets erratic signals and either 'hunts' or just decides to take a nap, so I'l bet the same thing applies with our bikes and the fact that LEDS draw micro amps.
When I replaced the tail lamps on my VENTURE with two huge LEDS, they turned on the 'rear lamp out' icon on the digidash. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1229
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | So, do you have to buy the 'Error Free' LEDs that I have seen on websites? Has anybody tried that?
Do you have to use them on the blinkers as well? |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 785
Mt. Vernon, WASH. | That answer is above my pay grade in a room where the air is too thin for me to breathe. And I'l bet no one can give you a true answer unless they work in the elecrtical engineering office @ Clear Lake, and they ain't about to give up the secret of their curve ball. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | Reading stuff like this makes me Not want to mess with anything electrical on my vision Unless something is burned out.... |
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Visionary
Posts: 1290
Ruskin, Fl | This is from www.superbrightleds.com They sell resistors that make the vehicle think you are using a regular bulb. My question is won't a resistor increase the current draw and defeat the purpose of putting in LEDs?
Turn signal issues with LED bulbs
LED brake/tail lamps will not flash with thermal flasher units due to their extremely low current draw. Also, with stock flasher units, the turn signals may flash faster than normal (Hyper-Flash). These installations will require an electronic flasher unit, available in our car bulb shopping category (for some vehicles) or at your auto parts store. Try to find flashers designed to work with LED bulbs, they will say "LED compatible". Often HEAVY DUTY flashers will also work with LED bulbs.
We offer some LED Flashers in our Tail/Brake Turn Signal Bulb category but we do not know which one (if any) will fit your vehicle. You will have to compare the pin-out of your flasher with the pin-outs of the flashers we offer, to see if we have a match, BEFORE you order one. Sorry but we do not have a flasher application list or the expertise to tell you which of our flashers will fit your vehicle.
Another fix is the installation of Load Resistors which are wired across (in parallel with) the turn signal bulbs to simulate the load of a standard filament bulb. We also have these available in our car bulb shopping category.
Dash indicators reporting burnt out bulbs
LED bulbs may cause some newer vehicles to indicate a bulb is burnt out (because of their low power consumption). Some cars indicate this by increasing the flash rate of the turn signals, some turn on a bad bulb indicator. The only fix for this is to install Load Resistors across the bulbs that are being indicated as bad. Some vehicles will also disable the cruise control system if a brake light bulb is being indicated as bad, the installation of Load Resistors will also solve this problem.
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Visionary
Posts: 1229
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | I am going to try the load resistor route. I have been searching the auto forums and this sounds like the answer.
Yes, it kinda defetes one of the advantages of using LEDs, the resistor will simulate having a normal bulb and draw that wattage, but only while braking. There is still less draw for the running light portion, that will reduce the draw on the bike by 6-7 amps (with all 10 lights changed). They are also brighter, last longer and more durable.
To change out all 10x3157 bulbs and the w5w liscense plate bulb, has cost $100, the resistors will be another $16. Not too bad for this mod. |
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Visionary
Posts: 2300
Georgia, west of Atlanta | Wish Kuryakyn would just make a all inclusive conversion kit for us............... |
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Tourer
Posts: 575
Spirit Lake IA "Birthplace of Victory Motorcycles" | cw1115 - 2011-04-02 5:59 AM This is from www.superbrightleds.com They sell resistors that make the vehicle think you are using a regular bulb. My question is won't a resistor increase the current draw and defeat the purpose of putting in LEDs? Turn signal issues with LED bulbs LED brake/tail lamps will not flash with thermal flasher units due to their extremely low current draw. Also, with stock flasher units, the turn signals may flash faster than normal (Hyper-Flash). These installations will require an electronic flasher unit, available in our car bulb shopping category (for some vehicles) or at your auto parts store. Try to find flashers designed to work with LED bulbs, they will say "LED compatible". Often HEAVY DUTY flashers will also work with LED bulbs. We offer some LED Flashers in our Tail/Brake Turn Signal Bulb category but we do not know which one (if any) will fit your vehicle. You will have to compare the pin-out of your flasher with the pin-outs of the flashers we offer, to see if we have a match, BEFORE you order one. Sorry but we do not have a flasher application list or the expertise to tell you which of our flashers will fit your vehicle. Another fix is the installation of Load Resistors which are wired across (in parallel with) the turn signal bulbs to simulate the load of a standard filament bulb. We also have these available in our car bulb shopping category. Dash indicators reporting burnt out bulbs LED bulbs may cause some newer vehicles to indicate a bulb is burnt out (because of their low power consumption). Some cars indicate this by increasing the flash rate of the turn signals, some turn on a bad bulb indicator. The only fix for this is to install Load Resistors across the bulbs that are being indicated as bad. Some vehicles will also disable the cruise control system if a brake light bulb is being indicated as bad, the installation of Load Resistors will also solve this problem. cw1115 is absolutely correct. I went to all LEDs and clear lenses in rear. Since I went to all LED's, I had to install 2 load equalizers. This does add load so the bike thinks its running incandescents. It was explained to me via someone on this board that Vic designed it this way to disable cruise when it thinks your bulbs are out. Once I did this, she worked perfectly. Word of warning, be carefull if you are tapping into rear stops. Do not accidentally tap into running light wire as this draws current all the time (vs stops being intermittent) . . . almost melted the load resistor and my wiring this way.
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Tourer
Posts: 575
Spirit Lake IA "Birthplace of Victory Motorcycles" | Here's some other info: http://www.vision-riders.com/bb/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4711&pos... |
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Visionary
Posts: 1229
Rancho Cucamonga, CA | Thanks, I read all of that and there was only the one mention of Cruise Control not working. I didn't see any posts if the resistor fixed the problem.
I noticed you were wondering about amber on the back, they now have Led bulbs that glow red for running lights and glow amber when the blinkers are on.
http://autolumination.com/3157_3156.htm about 2/3 the way down. |
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LEDs and Cruise Control