Hybrid Tail Lights

[soulsea]

Quick q for those with Tahoe and base Yukon hybrids ...

I'm trying to figure out if my tail lights are working properly or if I'm missing something ...

When I look at the tail lights of regular tahoes at night I see them operating as follows:

Upper red: Dim light while driving, bright light when braking
Middle: Reverse
Lower red: Dim while driving, bright when turn signal on

Now as you know the hybrid tails have leds as the top light ... what I am getting on mine is as follows:

Upper red leds: Dim light while driving, bright light when braking
Middle: Reverse
Lower red bulb: Completely off, and only turns on as turn signal.

Basically at night, my lower red doesn't stay dim. This results in very low light output at night because unless I am braking or signaling, the only rear lights that are on are the leds on dim setting and the tiny little side lights.

So I'm not sure if this is how it is meant to be or if I am either using the wrong bulb or wiring setup. I don't think it's the wiring because I have the entire setup, harnesses and all, back to stock.

Anyhoot, if someone can test this for me to let me know if theirs is the same I'd much appreciate it.

Cheers!

 

[soulsea]

Okay so I got the answer from somewhere else and it turns out that all hybrid tails operate like mine ... now I'm wondering if something can be done to change it.

What I want to happen at night is to have both the uppers and lowers on dimmed.
But I'm wondering if it will look right with upper dimmed LEDs and lower dimmed incandescent. Of course I could swap out the lower bulbs for led ones and add resistors ... but do you think the lowers can be wired to handle three functions for night driving (dimmed/brake/turn signal)?

 

[edgaranah1]

Of course it can be done. I had aftermarket led tails on my 07 charger. And they were like u want them. Dim at night, bright when using brake, and bright when signaling. I know its a different tail but im sure it can be done.


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[soulsea]

Of course it can be done. I had aftermarket led tails on my 07 charger. And they were like u want them. Dim at night, bright when using brake, and bright when signaling. I know its a different tail but im sure it can be done.

Okay ... so now the question is how?

I already have dual circuit incandescent bulbs in that lower section (I think they're called 'dual circuit' as they have two contact strips at the bottom) ... so I guess one would have to run whatever wire controls the dim night feature on the top leds to the bottom section.

Am I thinking about this right, or is there something else involved that I'm missing?

And does it matter that the dim night lighting will be led on the upper section and incandescent on the lower?

Thanks.

 

[soulsea]

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I present you with the first of its kind:

 

[THE YETI]

Awesome Serge!! Glad he got the wiring figured out!!!

 

[soulsea]

Thanks bud ... basically what had to happen is we had to change the socket to one that is the same as one of the lower ones in the front headlight, ground, and run a wire from the adjacent side marker light. Also we didn't cut away the existing socket so now I have two at the end of the harness enabling me to switch from this setup to oem at will. Finally we ended up going with the standard two filament 3157 bulb and not led. This is because the led was way too bright so it did not match the light output of the upper in dim mode.

Amazing though that such a little detail makes me so happy ... almost m0ar so than the headlights.

 

[Timmy]

that's awesome, Serge!

 

[felixgun]

can we see a before and after pic?

 

[soulsea]

Thanks Timmy.

Felix, obviously the 'after' pic is posted above ... here's an old 'before' pic: