rear led taillamp question

Hey there fellas I have a question for y'all meybe sum one here has an answer. On my 82 maxim I replaced the tail/brake lamp assembly with a rear led assembly, it has separate wires for tail lamps, brake lamps, and turn signals.anywhos all wires hooked up and it works flawlessly buttttt my tail dash warning lamp is always flashing now. If I hook up the old lights problem goes away so I'm sure it has something to do with the low voltage draw from the LEDs. My question is how do I get that warning light to not come on? Its driven me bats hit crazy that I can't figure it out

 

Having never attempted before, if faced with the same problem I would start by using my trusty meter to find the resistance across the old tail light. Then I would unplug the new LED light and find the resistance across that one (make sure to unplug it or you get the resistance across the light OR resistance through the bike, whichever is less). Once you know the difference, I would make a little resistor pack out of parts readily available at Radio Shack and wire that in series with the LED so as far as the warning light is concerned, nothing is different.

Just a thought though, I have no idea if that would actually work.

 

The low resistance trips the computer warning system. You can do one of two things. Add resistors to the tail lamp circuit or unhook the led computer part of the instrument cluster. Either case you will need to know electronics and how it all works before attempting this project.

 

IF you're going to add resistors to it, you HAVE to make sure it's not dimming it out at all afterwords.

 

Thanks for the imput guys. I did try resistors but i was losing alot of brightness from my leds using that process. I thought if i wired in an 1157 pigtail the same as the old taillight in line with the leds and place it in my false oil tank and running the wires to the leds that would make the light go out. Didnt work as i planned tho if i wire up just the 1157 pigtail it works great and no warning light. But run the wires to the led assembly and i have brake lamps but it cuts out my led taillamps. The 1157 socket works perfectly tho. So i think im close to figuring it out

 

If you want to "fool" the computer's monitoring circuit, you'd have to put your old 1157 in PARALLEL with your new LED, not in series.

Same goes with using a load resistor. But either way, you would be wasting the energy in the form of heat.

The proper way, with some surgery to the monitor circuit, is to place a diode in place of the copper wire coil(s) in the monitoring circuit to create a voltage drop across that point in low current, such as replacement by the LED's.

 

put some tape over the warning bulb or take it out

 

If you scroll down to Part 2 in SQLguys write up you will find another solution: http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic ... +leds.html
I did this a while back and it solves all the problems: no warning for the leds, does warn when the leds are out, and I have changed back and forth from leds to 1157's with no problems. I did have the the benefit of his pictures still being up when I did the surgery, but he describes the procedure very well. I thought I may have printed the pictures but can't find them. Might open mine up and snap a picture if it would help anyone.
Good luck!

 

Thanks for the imput guys. I did try resistors but i was losing alot of brightness from my leds using that process. I thought if i wired in an 1157 pigtail the same as the old taillight in line with the leds and place it in my false oil tank and running the wires to the leds that would make the light go out. Didnt work as i planned tho if i wire up just the 1157 pigtail it works great and no warning light. But run the wires to the led assembly and i have brake lamps but it cuts out my led taillamps. The 1157 socket works perfectly tho. So i think im close to figuring it out

 

Hey peps, I have this problem too. Could someone upload an image of what needs shorting witching the warning circuit to disable / fix the tail issue.. That's if there isn't a quick resistor fix link you can supply :0)