Like a lot of other guys here, I replaced my taillights with the DEPO aftermarket ones.
The LED brake light, and the smoked top, verses the yellow OEM, really makes the car look more updated.
So why not go all the way (I asked myself)? I wanted to replace the running light, blinker and reverse bulbs to LED as well.
Got some cheep LED bulbs from eBay, installed them, and they didn’t work.
Got the expensive ones, with no different results.
OK.
I read in some places, a load resistor is needed.
Got some high quality resistors, still, the lights don’t work (bulbs do not turn on at all).
I even got the “special” relay for the blinkers without any different in results.
This weekend, I decided to go to the bottom of it.
Started cutting some wires, adding resistors, adding relays, changing ground points…..nothing makes the bulb light up.
To make a long story short, this is what I found.
To make the bulb work, I need to provide positive current to the bottom contact of the bulb, and negative to the side contact.
LED bulb, (unlike regular bulb), must be connected with the proper polarity in order for it to work.
Now, this is how the “circuit board” of the taillights looks like:
You can clearly see that the positive line (red) is going to the side contact of the bulb, and the negative (orange) to the bottom one.
There is no way, a standard LED bulb will work in my car. the polarity is reversed.
So I have 2 options.
1. Getting LED bulbs with reverse polarity (dose it exist?).
2. Building an alternative lighting system, that will be separated from the original one. (including Independent relays and fuses)
Any thoughts?