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I got these depo led tail lights and even though I'm not too good with electrical components, I decided to give it a go. 03tls btw.
I have the instructions and I can't figure out what box they mean in picture 4 of the diagram provided below.
The metal box at the bottom of the picture controls my backup cam.
I tried to install connecting the new headlight to the gray box circled in red and wasn't able to get power with everything hooked up. I didn't have the other tail light connected at the time and the light i was currently testing wasn't screwed in when trying for power yet i don't think that matters.
I just wonder if picture 4 is a different box thus my issue. The instructions are for a 99-01 tl even though depo sells them as 02-03 lights. Not sure if these are good instructions.
I also have no idea what to do with the 2 connectors circled in yellow, one looks like it plugs into a car ash tray. I'm probably in over my head with all this wiring haha.
You need to cut and splice in your own male and female connectors individually. Use whatever tpye you want.
Yellow area is your brake-grn/wht and the running lamps are red/blk.<br/><br/>Blue area is turn signal-grn/yel rt side tail light ; grn/blu lt side tail light.<br/><br/>Red area is reverse lamp do not cut, use as is.<br/><br/>Cut as marked at red vertical lines and splice into the LED Depol lamps.<br/><br/><br/><br/>
A little more complicated than I thought. will have to wait for my friend to help.
Anyway, I blew my drivers side tail light out trying to install the led headlights. I need to put the originals back on for now because I have to be somewhere tomorrow and don't know what to do. I checked the fuses under the hood and they're all in tact. When trying to get power to the new tail light, I did hear electrical sounds coming from under the hood.
My passenger tail light functions as normal (never tried to install an led tail light on this one) yet my drivers side tail light does not work at all including the brake/running ect. With fuses looking ok and the other tail light working fine, what would this point to?
Probably a bad left tail light... maybe defective. That's my pc answer.
Test both LED lights by powering it straight from the battery. However, if the left oem lamp is working fine after swapping it back in then definitely a bad LED lamp.
When installing the tail light you shouldn't need to supply power, the tail lamps already have power when activated.
update - the turn signal works on the driver side but the tail and brake light are out, are they on the same circuit? The passenger tail light works fine but the brake light also does not work. Does this change the line of troubleshooting?
update - the turn signal works on the driver side but the tail and brake light are out, are they on the same circuit? The passenger tail light works fine but the brake light also does not work. Does this change the line of troubleshooting?
^ Do not list good lights and bad lights then leave some lights out. The lights thats left out, am I to assume they are good or bad?
Instead list only the bad lights and say the rest are good or visa-versa. Also state the condition for both tail lights bc most lights share a common power/ground. It will help narrow down where your problem may be.
update - tried testing bulbs and somehow I blew all bulbs but the passenger tail light and blinkers on both lights. Didn't expect that to be a possibility but swapping bulbs made that obvious. 01 acls thanks so much for you help! you as well dual saber.
Anyway, for the led tails, could I splice into the existing splice for my back up camera so I wouldn't have to figure out what wires to cut or would it have to be a fresh splice to power these led tails?
I took my car to the local mechanic to install and they wouldn't do it as they weren't familiar with led swaps of this nature. I would think this type of electrical work would be common knowledge to a mechanic.
I have been messing around with LED'S on many of my cars.
Sometimes they interfere with the factory settings, most of the time you'll get hyperblinking, (nothing a resistor won't fix), or @ worst you'll see smoke.
I'm assuming the mechanics won't install the LED'S for liability reasons. If something goes wrong on their end they're hooped for replacing wires/harnesses. Messy work. Lol
The back up camera is not in play here when you're installing the LED Depol lamps. Nor should you need to use power from the backup circuit or from any other source.
Each of the rear lamp sub sections have their own power source so no need to add a power source. Just connect the right wires to the right sub section of the LED lamp... positive to positive (red color) and negative to negative (black color). You can test the Depol lamp by doing that at the battery with two wires. If you can do that then you will understand how the lamp works.
TURN SIGNAL
BRAKE LAMPS
RUNNING LAMP<br/><br/>Note: If amber is bright as the turn signal then don't use as part of running lamps.
There may be two amber lights. A hi and a low amber.
Hi Amber is for turn signal.
Low Amber is for running lamp (low amber and low red both on at same time-as shown in the Running Lamp pic).
If you want a shop to do the installation then go fine an "automotive electrical repair shop".
Thanks - also, do you know what type of mail and female electrical connector I would need to get once the splice is complete? Also I would have to splice on both tails, not just one right?
Actually, you can use butt connectors bc they don't need to be disconnectable. That's actually a sub harness, it unplugs from the main harness at the lamp.
Actually, you can use butt connectors bc they don't need to be disconnectable. That's actually a sub harness, it unplugs from the main harness at the lamp.
Yes, you need to splice both tail lights.
Thanks again!
Last question - Will I need to buy new led bulbs rather than stock to make these visually pleasing?
If you bought the housings in the pics above(near the top) they should have the leds built into them. You're using your OEM harness to connect to your new housing.
The led replacement bulbs in your last post are for replacing OEM bulbs, in an OEM housing.
I've replaced all mine with LED's you don't see a difference really, they might be a bit brighter @ best.
P.S.: No such thing as "last question", as all you need, & someone will chime in.
Quote from G.I. Joe"
"Knowing is half the battle."
Tails installed, I'll post a pic at night as well. I didn't have to splice anything. All I had to do was take the stock harness off and plug all those weird connectors on the new light directly into the oem harness where the existing bulbs were originally. Was the easiest thing ever.
Why 2 mechanics refused to do this is beyond me laff.
Tails installed, I'll post a pic at night as well. I didn't have to splice anything. All I had to do was take the stock harness off and plug all those weird connectors on the new light directly into the oem harness where the existing bulbs were originally. Was the easiest thing ever.
Why 2 mechanics refused to do this is beyond me laff.
also have no brake light warning like the taillight listings state may occur, not sure why that would happen if installed correctly. Honestly, there's no need to even remove each wiring harness. It can be done with them remaining in place. 30 minute job and truly is plug and play which I doubted. This video made it clear for future diyers.
03-31-2016, 03:08 PM
