LED's in my KJ

marc9976 · **Joined:** Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:08 am **Posts:** 65

So, i thought it would be cool and beneficial to replace all the lights in my 03 KJ with LED bulbs. I put LED's in the tail lights, good results, the BU lights are insanely bright, stop lights, the same. Blinkers work well too, but if i put LED's in the front blinkers, I get hyperflash and the fuse blows! Anyone make an electronic blinker unit for the KJ??? Another weird, but OK thing...I put LED's in the dome lights and guess what??? At night, it's kind of like being on an airplane, the lights stay on a little. Not distracting but just odd. This only happens when the ignition is on, voltage in the circuit that is not present when the ignition is off. Apparently somethin the engineers overlooked or didn't notice...Anyone else had a similar issue?

bugnout · **Posted:** Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:26 pm

Where did you buy them from? Are they direct replacements

DoverKJ · **Posted:** Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:27 pm

Got any pics of the taillights with LED's. Are they homemade taillights or are they aftermarket.

Pics

saxdogg · **Joined:** Fri Jun 02, 2006 7:26 pm **Posts:** 199

Yes, pics of tails please!!!

raceinfan · **Posted:** Wed Nov 29, 2006 5:54 pm

me too I wanna see pic's, I'd love to put LED's in my tail lights

tommudd · **Posted:** Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:48 pm

Yes we all want to know where to get them also!!!!!!!!!!!

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Wed Nov 29, 2006 8:19 pm

They had some LED tail light bulbs at the Kragen here.

marc9976 · **Joined:** Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:08 am **Posts:** 65

I'll try to get some pics up soon. The lights are stock with LED bulbs. I looked at all the local stores and tuner shops here and all their bulbs were expensive! Like $8-$10 a piece!! I found all the bulbs I needed on ebay for much less, even with shipping. All the tail bulbs and the front blinkers are 3157's. Here's a current listing on ebay for them, Item number: 150062791054. The markers, license plate and front dome lights are 194's, and that listing, Item number: 200053164048. Looks like the price has gone up recently but still cheaper! And just in case anyone didn't catch this in my original posting, if you replace the interior lights, they will glow a little when the ignition is on, even if you turn them off! It's kinda like being on an airplane :shock:

Jeger · **Posted:** Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:09 am

Are they legal?

Or did the package say "for offroad use only."

marc9976 · **Joined:** Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:08 am **Posts:** 65

I've NEVER heard of LED's Being illegal. They're not like headlights, with a max wattage rating. I would say for turn signals and stop lights, the brighter, the better! However, I was a cop for a while but am not a cop in your area now! Check your local laws if you're concerned.

bugnout · **Posted:** Thu Nov 30, 2006 12:31 pm

marc9976 wrote:

And just in case anyone didn't catch this in my original posting, if you replace the interior lights, they will glow a little when the ignition is on, even if you turn them off! It's kinda like being on an airplane :shock:

The interior lights are controlled by the BCM, it gives that slow fade effect etc. I'll bet the BCM is programmed to just reduce the voltage to minimum rather than cut it off like with a relay. Minimum voltage was probably set for the bulb, not the .7 volts needed to forward bias the LED's.

marc9976 · **Joined:** Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:08 am **Posts:** 65

I don't mind the glowing lights but the hyperflash is kind of annoying. Is there an electronic flasher unit available for KJ's? The flasher is integrated with the emergency flasher switch so swapping in an electronic flasher is not really an option. I was consedering getting all hi tech and swapping the internals of the switch out. Any ideas?

Goglio704 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:56 pm

You might try putting a resistor in parallel with the bulb. Seems like I heard about that once, but I've slept since then.

MikeD0106 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:08 am

greiswig · **Posted:** Fri Dec 01, 2006 1:08 am

MikeD0106 wrote:

In particular, pics that compare the brightness of the bulbs on one side with the LED's on the other. I bought some LED brake lights off EBay that were advertised as being "the brightest available." They were nowhere near as bright as the standard incandescents.

marc9976 · **Joined:** Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:08 am **Posts:** 65

Yes, pics are good. They're coming! I'm trying to get with a friend who still has incandescent bulbs in his kj for comparison shots. I hope to have them up tomorrow...
I did try resistors in series, that didn't work. I'll try paralell and see what happens.

stevezx2002 · **Joined:** Sat May 06, 2006 6:47 pm **Posts:** 6

if i remeber correctly it is a 3ohm resistor that will fix the flasing

fish eye · **Posted:** Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:16 am

The resistor will work for sure. When you wire it in, you only need one per side, not four altogether.

And also, it needs to be wired to both the neg and pos leads into the signal. Sounds weird, I know. I did this on my motorcycle. It works perfectly.

Oh, and you can wire it anywhere you want in the circuit, just as long as there is only 1 resistor per side.

The reason this works is because LED's require less load than regular incandescent lights. The lower the load on the bulb, the faster the flasher gets a full current that makes it trip. Incandescent lights slow down the time it takes to get enough current in the flasher to 'trip' it so to speak.

marc9976 · **Joined:** Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:08 am **Posts:** 65

So, i tried the resistor thing. They get pretty hot! I used 3 ohm- 1/2 watt resistors and am going to get something larger like 3 ohm- 10 watt resistors.
...Pics are coming...

Neal · **Posted:** Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:52 pm

if you parallel the 3 ohm resistor across 12 volts thats got to dissapate 48 watts! 4 amps will flow thru the resistor.

LED's in my KJ

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