LED light dilemma

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K2lip

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I'll start by saying I'm usually worthless when it comes to electrical stuff, but these seemed pretty straight forward. Bought some plug and play LED lights for my DRLs from Xenon Depot. I bought them with an HID Canbus adapter so they would dim during the day, which I was told I needed. Hooked them up and only the drivers side was on. Unplugged the passenger side, waited a minute, plugged it back in, and got the same thing. Started by switching the bulbs, same problem. So I assumed it was the adapter, but switched the adapters anyways just to be sure. Now neither light turns on. Switched them back again, nothing at all. Did all the troubleshooting I could think of. Put the factory lights back in and they work fine. Thoughts?
 
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K2lip said:
I'll start by saying I'm usually worthless when it comes to electrical stuff, but these seemed pretty straight forward. Bought some plug and play LED lights for my DRLs from Xenon Depot. I bought them with an HID Canbus adapter so they would dim during the day, which I was told I needed. Hooked them up and only the drivers side was on. Unplugged the passenger side, waited a minute, plugged it back in, and got the same thing. Started by switching the bulbs, same problem. So I assumed it was the adapter, but switched the adapters anyways just to be sure. Now neither light turns on. Switched them back again, nothing at all. Did all the troubleshooting I could think of. Put the factory lights back in and they work fine. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I switched to LED lights when I swapped my bumper. Because they are turn signals and DRL they require a resistor to prevent hyper flash... this may be part of the problem. At one time I tried to swap my DRLs to LED switchbacks. It was a no-go.
 
4RnR Grl said:
I switched to LED lights when I swapped my bumper. Because they are turn signals and DRL they require a resistor to prevent hyper flash... this may be part of the problem. At one time I tried to swap my DRLs to LED switchbacks. It was a no-go.
Click to expand...


What's hyper flash? I guess that's possible, sounds similar to what's happening now with them not going back on.
 
K2lip said:
What's hyper flash? I guess that's possible, sounds similar to what's happening now with them not going back on.
Click to expand...
Hyper flash is when the cab signal flashes as though there's a burnt out light and the light itself doest not illuminate.

You can prevent this by wiring in a resistor. I wired the resistor.... one end into the positive and one to the negative.
 
I watched a few YouTube videos on wiring in led lights for turn signals and figured it out from there.
 
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4RnR Grl said:
Hyper flash is when the cab signal flashes as though there's a burnt out light and the light itself doest not illuminate.

You can prevent this by wiring in a resistor. I wired the resistor.... one end into the positive and one to the negative.
Click to expand...


Ah, got it. Just from the description, it sounds like that is what's going on. Thanks for the help, much appreciated.
 
[MENTION=119270]K2lip[/MENTION],

Please let us know what year and model T4R you have so that someone can help you further.

Thanks!
 
DRL's are the high beam bulbs just with reduced voltage while in the DRL mode.

When I tried some LED's before doing the Disabled DRL Easily Mod, I found them burning at full or almost full high beam power.
I am not sure if a resistor or an adapter will allow them to function properly.

Do your LED's state they will run at 9V or less?

Will they function without the adapters?
 
[MENTION=103267]Saker[/MENTION] beat me to it. Takes me too long to write my answers out...

If the intention is to put the LED's in the DRL position keep in mind that even with the resistor in place the LED lights don't have a "dim" option, they are either ON or OFF.

LED's light at such low voltage.The resister allows the cars computer to "feel" that the lower voltage LED light is running by sending back more resistance as if a normal hooligan bulb is installed. The lower-voltage intended for the DRL setting just turns the LED light on. When the HIGH-BEAM is turned on the LED's will stay the same brightness as they are already ON from running as DRL.

For comparison the factory halogen light bulb in the DRL/Highbeam will run at half the volts for DRL (not as bright) then at all the volts (I presume 12 volts) for Highbeam as the bulb burns brighter.

LED's don't do that. What the resister will do is allow the DRL to light up at FULL and the HIGHBEAM will also light up at FULL. That reduces/eliminates the ability to "flash" the highbeams to alert those in front of your car for whatever reason since there will be no difference in light intensity of the LED.

Just FYI as this discovery is what has kept me from replacing the DRL/Highbeam with LED's and the resistor pack on each.

Hopefully some electrical engineer can put together a LED kit that perhaps only lights 1 or 2 LED panels at DRL voltage and then lights up more LED panels for Highbeam all in the same "bulb" type fitting the existing spot.
 
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Boyds4Runner said:
[MENTION=103267]Saker[/MENTION] beat me to it. Takes me too long to write my answers out...

If the intention is to put the LED's in the DRL position keep in mind that even with the resistor in place the LED lights don't have a "dim" option, they are either ON or OFF.

LED's light at such low voltage.The resister allows the cars computer to "feel" that the lower voltage LED light is running by sending back more resistance as if a normal hooligan bulb is installed. The lower-voltage intended for the DRL setting just turns the LED light on. When the HIGH-BEAM is turned on the LED's will stay the same brightness as they are already ON from running as DRL.

For comparison the factory halogen light bulb in the DRL/Highbeam will run at half the volts for DRL (not as bright) then at all the volts (I presume 12 volts) for Highbeam as the bulb burns brighter.

LED's don't do that. What the resister will do is allow the DRL to light up at FULL and the HIGHBEAM will also light up at FULL. That reduces/eliminates the ability to "flash" the highbeams to alert those in front of your car for whatever reason since there will be no difference in light intensity of the LED.

Just FYI as this discovery is what has kept me from replacing the DRL/Highbeam with LED's and the resistor pack on each.

Hopefully some electrical engineer can put together a LED kit that perhaps only lights 1 or 2 LED panels at DRL voltage and then lights up more LED panels for Highbeam all in the same "bulb" type fitting the existing spot.
Click to expand...


Ah, got it. And it makes sense because when the one was on, it was insanely bright. I thought that couldn't be the light dimmed for the DRL mode. I'm starting to get a little mad at the guy I talked to from Xenon Depot who told me this is the setup I needed, obviously that is not the case. After they stopped working in DRL mode, I tried them as brights and got nothing either. Same thing happened without the adapter. Is there a chance they burned out from troubleshooting? I guess it doesn't matter anyways, as it doesn't sound like they'll work as DRLs.
[MENTION=103267]Saker[/MENTION]. Here is what Xenon Depot says about the voltage: DC12V-24V / Input (A): 1.6A±0.2A2. Hope that answers your question.
 
K2lip said:
I'll start by saying I'm usually worthless when it comes to electrical stuff, but these seemed pretty straight forward. Bought some plug and play LED lights for my DRLs from Xenon Depot. I bought them with an HID Canbus adapter so they would dim during the day, which I was told I needed. Hooked them up and only the drivers side was on. Unplugged the passenger side, waited a minute, plugged it back in, and got the same thing. Started by switching the bulbs, same problem. So I assumed it was the adapter, but switched the adapters anyways just to be sure. Now neither light turns on. Switched them back again, nothing at all. Did all the troubleshooting I could think of. Put the factory lights back in and they work fine. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Which model year of your 4Runner are you talking about? And which LED are you talking about?
 
Yes, the year would have been helpful. My apologies as I may have set you back. I have a 2013, so things are different than the newer models.

I hope you can get it figured out OP!
 
4RnR Grl said:
Yes, the year would have been helpful. My apologies as I may have set you back. I have a 2013, so things are different than the newer models.



I hope you can get it figured out OP!
Click to expand...


I spent so much time trying to figure out what was wrong that LED light specifics and 4Runner year and model just slipped my mind. And no worries, I was looking for any options that might help.
 
I have Cree LEDs as my DRLs and they work perfect as DRLs, funny thing is, they are terrible as high beams. I had a very rapid (almost undetectable) flicker for the first hour, then it went a way and never came back. On my '15 SR5P, they match my 6000k HIDs and my LED strips perfectly but they don't "throw" light like the regular halogen high beams do.
 
K2lip said:
I'm starting to get a little mad at the guy I talked to from Xenon Depot who told me this is the setup I needed, obviously that is not the case.
Click to expand...

I was about to order the same deal. I called in because the Headlight Kit that I had ordered was backordered for a little over two weeks. When I called in to ask about the order we started talking about the DRL/Highbeam setup and added the LED lights and the resistor/adapter kits at the same time. I admittedly had not done my homework before ordering and started to do some research after-the-fact. As I had questions I called them back the next day and pressed for more definitive answers on the function of LED's as a combination DRL and Highbeam. That's when I got the education that the LED's will just be ON at the same intensity weather as DRL or Highbeam and was thankfully able to cancel the order.

I did order the Phillips fog lights through XenonDepot as well as the headlight kit that did finally come in. I have to admit the foglight LED's made a HUGE difference. There was no doubt that they were on as the area just in front and to the side was very, very well lit.

The headlights, I have to admit let me down a little bit at first but I think I just wasn't used to something closer to the blue-white spectrum. It felt as if, in traffic, other's headlights were brighter than mine but it turns out that they are just more "yellow" in comparison and easier to distinguish whereas the LED's I could tell were definitely lighting up overhead signs and other road signs way brighter than the cars in front of me closer to the signs. Once alone on a dark street it was definitely a brighter, blue-white swath of light being thrown in front of me so I am pleased with the results.
 
leigh.martin.77 said:
I have Cree LEDs as my DRLs and they work perfect as DRLs, funny thing is, they are terrible as high beams. I had a very rapid (almost undetectable) flicker for the first hour, then it went a way and never came back. On my '15 SR5P, they match my 6000k HIDs and my LED strips perfectly but they don't "throw" light like the regular halogen high beams do.
Click to expand...


Interesting....when I talked to Xenon Depot they told me the adapter was to prevent the flicker during DRL mode, and would help dim the LED. Apparently they latter is false. When the drivers side one was on, it was super bright. So much so that I'm not sure I could use it in DRL mode.
 
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