03 tahoe LED dome light

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angel.arteaga

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Hi, I have a 2003 chevy tahoe. I just sqitched all my dome light and door light bulbs to LED blulbs. After this, I noticed that when they come on automatically when a door is opened, they are incredibly bright, which is wat I wanted, but when I turn them on manually with the button on the over head domelight consoles, they are not as bright. Has anyone seen this happen before, know what the issue might be, or know how to fix it ???
 

bkboatnsleds

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mine does this too

---------- Post added at 09:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 AM ----------

i think it has to do with the resistance change
 
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angel.arteaga

angel.arteaga

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Well it had never occured to me to clean the contacts, they looked pretty clean to me, i'll still give them a clean tho, any ideas on how to fix the issue if cleaning the contacts doesnt work ?

---------- Post added at 11:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 AM ----------

Atleast its nice to know im not the only one with this issue !! XD
 
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angel.arteaga

angel.arteaga

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Anyone ?? Lol

---------- Post added at 02:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 PM ----------

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

---------- Post added at 03:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 PM ----------

Can this be fixed with relays ?
 

Tahoewhat

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Its a common problem for some reason when switching to leds. When open door they are nice and bright, when pushed manually, not bright at all. Happens in all of them that i have found, read, researched and have not found a sure answer of why and how to correct it. B/c i dont see how a factory bulb will work just fine and then led wouldnt ?
 

chauncey0337

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I remember reading a thread about this issue before. I don't recall a solution. Maybe try some different leds because my leds don't have this problem.
 

bkboatnsleds

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They work fine on 02 and earlier (Different electronics) I think it has something to do with the amount of draw that is pulled (so much lower on an LED) same reason your cruise control does not work with the LED tail lights (Assuming no resistor is installed or included on light)
I think when ALL the lights are on its got the proper draw... Perhaps a resistor would work.. Just my thoughts..
 

Danzigman

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I think it has something to do with the amount of draw that is pulled (so much lower on an LED) same reason your cruise control does not work with the LED tail lights (Assuming no resistor is installed or included on light)


Really I haven't heard of this problem. I was think of adding a set of the x3 racing led tails that everyone has. Is this a problem with those tails?
 
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angel.arteaga

angel.arteaga

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OK, for everyone that is having this problem, i did something last night that fixed the issue, here it goes:

What I figured was that either the GND or the switched 12v was dropping when pushed manually, so i dropped down the front roof console on my tahoe and tested the two wires that went into the bulb connector, it was a yellow and a black wire, I did this on the front passenger side bulb, but in my opinion it shouldnt matter if it is done on the drivers side bulb, so i tested those two wires with the volt meter, and sure enough, the black wire is the positive and the yellow wire is the negative, the voltage was dropping down from 12v to 8v on the black wire when pushed on manually for some unknown reason. SOOOOO, my initial thought was that I would have to install an SPDT Relay on each manual switch on all roof domelights to help push the voltage when switched on, so I installed the relay on the front passenger side bulb switch and to my surprise, with that one relay now all the LEDs come on nice and bright when switched on...... So here is how i installed the relay............

Terminal 86 - GND
Terminal 87 - Constant 12v
Terminal 87a - Not Used

Now here is what I did for terminals 30 and 85 on the relay, Like i said before, when i dropped down my front roof console where the front domelights are, each switch button has a black wire and a yellow wire going from the switch button to the bulb, on my truck the black wire was the positive and the yellow wire was the negative, so I cut the BLACK WIRE, and connected the side that is comming from the vehicle side to Terminal 85 on the relay, and the wire that comes from the bulb side to Terminal 30 of the relay.

Note: I did get the Constant 12v for terminal 87 from that same dome light area, im not sure if it makes a difference if it is gotten from somewhere else.

So i did this and now all LEDs work perfectly fine, However, when all the LEDs turn on by an open door or from the driver side main domelight switch, you will hear the relay clicking in a wierd manner when they turn off. Also, you will notice that the bulb u install the relay on will turn off first, followed by the rest of the LEDs. This is what i did for my 03 tahoe, im pretty sure it will be the same procedure and same wiring diagram for all models 03-06, but if you all want to try this frist verify everything i said with a volt meter.

---------- Post added at 12:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:16 PM ----------

Feel free to ask me any questions.
 
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BillBlatt18

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awesome! I have also been looking for a solution for this. Any chance u can post some pictures?
 
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angel.arteaga

angel.arteaga

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Sure thing. I am new new to this forum, so as soon as i find out how to upload pics i will post them. i was surprised that all that needed to be done was install one relay. LOL
 

chauncey0337

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Nice work!
WFA.gif
 

Tahoewhat

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yes do post pics of it, im more of a visual person. Understand the relay, but pics would be great help.

glad someone found a fix, b/c i hate having to turn on all the lights just for a sec.
 

bkboatnsleds

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Nope those lights work juust fine - they have all the stuff built into them..

I put a different set on my Yukon, and had to add a resistor to make my cruise control work
 
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angel.arteaga

angel.arteaga

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Hey I never found how to upload the pics right here in the discussion, so I uploaded them to an album in my profile, so just look at my albums in my profile, pics are there, feel free to ask anything else guys XD

Can some one show me how to upload them here in the discussion ?????
 

MrBalll

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Just grab a link to the image and in the reply box just click the little yellow box with a mountain in it on the mid-right. It should have an image link inside tags like below.

angel.arteaga images below.
[ATTACH=full]288863[/ATTACH]
"In this picture, on the bottom right side, u can see a rectangular white connector with 3 wires coming out of it. On the bottom left side of this picture u can see the black plastic dom that houses the passenger side domelight bulb, u can also notice that this black plastic dome has 2 wire terminals on it, the wires coming out of these 2 terminals are yellow and black. The black wire coming out of the terminal on this black plastic dome goes directly to the white rectangular connector on the bottom right of the pic, which I mentioned before. This is the wire that I cut between the black plastic dome and the white rectangular connector, it is already cut in this pic. The side of this black wire that comes out of the white rectangular connector goes to Terminal 85 on the relay, and the side of the black wire that comes out of the black plastic dome terminal, goes to Terminal 30 on the relay."

[ATTACH=full]288864[/ATTACH]
"This is a better pic of the little white harness where I got the 12v constant as u can see this little harness has 6 pins (3 on the top row and 3 on the bottom row). I tapped the wire coming from Terminal 87 on the relay to the orange wire on the bottom row to the right side, u can see an empty pin on top of this wire that I used."

[ATTACH=full]288865[/ATTACH]
"This brown wire u see here with an in-line fuse installed is the wire that comes from terminal 87 on the relay, Constant 12v. I tapped it it to an orange wire on that little white harness u see on the pic"

[ATTACH=full]288866[/ATTACH]
"This is the wire that comes from Terminal 86 on the relay. I just got the GND from that top metal bracket."
 
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