2012 Ford F-450 rear led lights

Tiny
JAMIES
  • MEMBER
  • 2012 FORD F-450
  • 50 MILES
We installed a bed and box on truck. New installed box is equipped with led rear lights. The signal on dash show lights not working when they are. My guess is not enough power draw. Short of installing a bulb somewhere in line, what is alternative.
Thursday, June 27th, 2013 AT 4:40 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,755 POSTS
Ahh, yes. This is the price we pay for insane engineers who insist on adding computers to do things they were never needed for before. Instead of a bulb, you can add a resistor across your led bulbs. A typical brake light or signal light draws about an amp. A 12 ohm resistor will also pass one amp in a 12 volt circuit. The resistance value isn't real critical. The resistor will need to be about a 10 watt resistor. Higher resistance values will pass less current so they won't get as hot. You must remember too that signal lights are only on about 50 percent of the time when they're activated. A resistor won't have much time to get hot so that power rating isn't critical either.

I have hundreds of those resistors from tvs I've scrapped out. If you can't find something suitable, ask at a local tv repair shop. They will often have boxes full of them and may give you what you need. You can even try something like a 20 ohm 5 watt resistor to see if that satisfies the computer.
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Thursday, June 27th, 2013 AT 4:05 PM

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