LED replacement no flashing

GET THAT REVERSE POLARITY BULB GUYS!
It fixes this issue.

Too strange, I drove the other day and noticed that my brake lights are on unless I press the pedal, in which case they go out. I think I was in service mode. Haven't had time to investigate.

Yes, either stop or service, now my brake lights are on unless I press the pedal. Confused. Guess adding the troop seats messed up the lights??

NVAM998 said:

Yes, either stop or service, now my brake lights are on unless I press the pedal. Confused. Guess adding the troop seats messed up the lights??

Click to expand...

You need to troubleshoot the brake light switch and see if that is the problem, one thing you can do is simply disconnect it, if the lights go out the switch is bad.
Or grossly miss adjusted

Mogman said:

You need to troubleshoot the brake light switch and see if that is the problem, one thing you can do is simply disconnect it, if the lights go out the switch is bad.
Or grossly miss adjusted

Click to expand...

Yes, switch is "bad." Multimeter says it is good but it must not be good under load because it won't trip the relay for the brake lights. Odd. Shows <1 ohm with meter. Shorting the inputs to the switch makes the lights come on. I don't have a milli ohm meter and I'm surprised the circuit is that sensitive.

NVAM998 said:

Yes, switch is "bad." Multimeter says it is good but it must not be good under load because it won't trip the relay for the brake lights. Odd. Shows <1 ohm with meter. Shorting the inputs to the switch makes the lights come on. I don't have a milli ohm meter and I'm surprised the circuit is that sensitive.

Click to expand...

I am a little confused, I thought you said the lights were on all the time unless you stepped on the brakes?
There is no relay the switch drives the lights directly
Yes the switch can ohm out good but not carry a load.

Mogman said:

I am a little confused, I thought you said the lights were on all the time unless you stepped on the brakes?
There is no relay the switch drives the lights directly
Yes the switch can ohm out good but not carry a load.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Yes they were. I tried adjusting the switch, then disconnected it and ohmed it out. Seemed good, but wouldn't work. When I shorted the leads going to the switch the lights work properly and there is an audible click like a relay or flasher type noise. I just looked at the schematic and don't see anything like a relay. Now I'm more confused. Sound seems to be coming from the rear of the truck. Kind of a ping/click type noise when I short the leads. ugh

It does sound like you need a new switch, at least you have a M998 so it is much cheaper and easier to deal with than the 4 speed guys.
I don't know about the click you are hearing, if you have an ammeter you might stick it in the leads and measure the amps going to the brake lights before replacing the switch.
I have heard of folks installing a relay to reduce the load on the brake light switch, was your truck in civy hands before you bought it?
The issue with putting a relay in is if you do not put a diode across the relay coil to kill the reverse EMF the life of the contacts on the switch can be greatly reduced nullifying the advantage of the relay as they are subjected to an arc when the contacts open.

Interesting. It was with the Guard then a PD and I've been undoing their 12 mess. Maybe they put one in. With my tinnitus it will be fun finding it! It was puzzling for sure as I didn't remember one in the schematic and had to check to verify. And yes a diode in parallel with the coil to clamp the spike when the switch opens up is always a requirement. This is very helpful info. Thanks. Will report back.

NVAM998 said:

Interesting. It was with the Guard then a PD and I've been undoing their 12 mess. Maybe they put one in. With my tinnitus it will be fun finding it! It was puzzling for sure as I didn't remember one in the schematic and had to check to verify. And yes a diode in parallel with the coil to clamp the spike when the switch opens up is always a requirement. This is very helpful info. Thanks. Will report back.

Click to expand...

If you cannot find the relay you could put the diode directly across the switch, it certainly would not hurt anything even if there was no relay or if the relay already had a diode.

OK, so I have a lot on my plate and maybe I'm an idiot. I had installed am XM381 trailer converter for a commercial 12 V trailer connection a while back. That was the relay I was hearing.... Removed the brake light switch and it was pretty rough feeling. Moved it back and forth a lot and drilled two holes into the body and flushed it with Detoxit and kept working it until the carbon stopped coming out the holes and it felt smooth. Didn't drill into the switch itself, just broke through the outer casing. Reinstalled and all is good. New switch on order. BTW, the relay clicking was a great way to adjust the switch position while my head was under the dash.

So I've run into a similar situation as Mainsail. LED turn signals at all four points, won't flash with incandescent bulb in turn signal stalk, lights up and blinks fine with non-polarity LED bulb installed - but here's the catch, when the headlights are also on, one of the turn signals will not flash -the other 3 points are fine. That same signal flashes just fine when the headlights are off. Even more perplexing is that the culprit turn signals works as it should if the turn signal bulb is removed entirely. Any thoughts on tracking down this LED Gremlin?

SmartDrug said:

So I've run into a similar situation as Mainsail. LED turn signals at all four points, won't flash with incandescent bulb in turn signal stalk, lights up and blinks fine with non-polarity LED bulb installed - but here's the catch, when the headlights are also on, one of the turn signals will not flash -the other 3 points are fine. That same signal flashes just fine when the headlights are off. Even more perplexing is that the culprit turn signals works as it should if the turn signal bulb is removed entirely. Any thoughts on tracking down this LED Gremlin?

Click to expand...

.
I would suggest that you have a ground issue.

Incandescent bulbs are more reliable on an unsteady ground that LED bulbs. Don't go buy a grounding kit. Just need to remember that the HMMWV does not use a "frame ground" for lighting. Every wire has a return path for its ground and every one of those return paths attach to a ground point on the chassis. You need to remove those ground connections, brush them to sparkling clean, then apply anti-oxidant paste, then reconnect those ground paths.

Mullaney said:

.
I would suggest that you have a ground issue.

Incandescent bulbs are more reliable on an unsteady ground that LED bulbs. Don't go buy a grounding kit. Just need to remember that the HMMWV does not use a "frame ground" for lighting. Every wire has a return path for its ground and every one of those return paths attach to a ground point on the chassis. You need to remove those ground connections, brush them to sparkling clean, then apply anti-oxidant paste, then reconnect those ground paths.

Click to expand...

I did the "Ground Harness Mod" when I got the HMMWV a few years back, but I will go back and check the ground at the signals themselves, good call.

Thank you!

Mullaney said:

.
I would suggest that you have a ground issue.

Incandescent bulbs are more reliable on an unsteady ground that LED bulbs. Don't go buy a grounding kit. Just need to remember that the HMMWV does not use a "frame ground" for lighting. Every wire has a return path for its ground and every one of those return paths attach to a ground point on the chassis. You need to remove those ground connections, brush them to sparkling clean, then apply anti-oxidant paste, then reconnect those ground paths.

Click to expand...

I would add there is no ground dependent on the body (chassis) the only place I know where the ground is attached to the body is behind the inst. panel and that is only to pass the ground via a bolt to the other side of the body panel to a harness on the engine side.
The supplemental grounding kit is pure hokum IMHO.

I've been waiting to post this until I actually do it and take pics but here's the plan. I fooled around with some resistors in parallel with the LED to increase the current draw since the LEDs were't enough to make the flasher operate. Totally going from memory but I think that 800 Ohms was reliable. But don't quote me on that. I used 4, 1 watt resistors (what I had lying around) to make 800 Ohms so each dissipates 1/4 Watt. I plan to splice it into the wiring inside the tail light housings. The dissipation is still way less than a bulb so heat isn't a problem. When I get around to doing it I will post pics and check the resistor value.

NVAM998 said:

I've been waiting to post this until I actually do it and take pics but here's the plan. I fooled around with some resistors in parallel with the LED to increase the current draw since the LEDs were't enough to make the flasher operate. Totally going from memory but I think that 800 Ohms was reliable. But don't quote me on that. I used 4, 1 watt resistors (what I had lying around) to make 800 Ohms so each dissipates 1/4 Watt. I plan to splice it into the wiring inside the tail light housings. The dissipation is still way less than a bulb so heat isn't a problem. When I get around to doing it I will post pics and check the resistor value.

Click to expand...

Yeesh, have you tried using the specific bulb that was linked, the one that solved the same problem for me?

NVAM998 said:

I've been waiting to post this until I actually do it and take pics but here's the plan. I fooled around with some resistors in parallel with the LED to increase the current draw since the LEDs were't enough to make the flasher operate. Totally going from memory but I think that 800 Ohms was reliable. But don't quote me on that. I used 4, 1 watt resistors (what I had lying around) to make 800 Ohms so each dissipates 1/4 Watt. I plan to splice it into the wiring inside the tail light housings. The dissipation is still way less than a bulb so heat isn't a problem. When I get around to doing it I will post pics and check the resistor value.

Click to expand...

This is likely going to be the fix for a thermal type flasher or even a solid state requiring a load. Resistors kits are sold (auto parts stores) to do just that when switching over to LED's. More Thinking One might be able to place one resistor at the flasher output lead, taking care of all the flashing load requirements

Experiment and DIY to save a buck.

No blinker fluid required, CAMO

Milcommoguy said:

This is likely going to be the fix for a thermal type flasher or even a solid state requiring a load. Resistors kits are sold (auto parts stores) to do just that when switching over to LED's. More Thinking One might be able to place one resistor at the flasher output lead, taking care of all the flashing load requirements

Experiment and DIY to save a buck.

No blinker fluid required, CAMO

Click to expand...

Great idea for DIY project CamO

I removed and replaced all the lights today, checked grounds, made sure grounds were clean and secured- no change. I've noticed that when the headlights are on now, the turn signal "marker light" feature doesn't work on the right signal, meanwhile the left signal doesn't blink and sometimes doesn't even come on. Whatever's going on here doesn't appear to be consistent, either.

I did notice that my flasher is a Swiss Controls Solid State 5945-00-789-3706, so that may be part of the issue.

Is changing to the 5945-01-584-9793 likely to solve this issue? Worth the $300 to try?