DEPO LED Tail Lights Problem
 

Alright, this is a last ditch request on these aftermarket LED tail lights. I spliced the wire for the LED space where the rear fog light goes into the LED wire for the brake lights in order to make both LEDs light up when I braked. Upon inserting the tail light into the system, I only get both LEDs to come on if I hit the brakes hard, any soft braking only lights the left LED light. Has anyone set up their LED tail lights in this format and if so have you run into this problem / do you have a fix? I really don't want to take a $160 bath on these lights to update the look of my 2001.

what do you mean by "both" lights? you mean the left side and right side light?


{light assm} ----------trunk-------------{light assm}

or do you mean the left/right side on the housing itself?

{white/smoke}
{led}{led}{led}

Inside each housing so:

{backup light}{turn signal}
{led}{incandescent}{led}

yeah, i just re-read what you posted and it was clearer.

sorry, i can't be of any help. i left mine as-is with the teeny-tiny brake light.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1326157228.jpg


though i did just learn (5 minutes ago) that the brake light doesn't come on when the car's not on - so i guess that's my 986 forum lesson for the day.

Thanks for checking Tony. Nice looking car btw, great color choice ;) Anyone else have any ideas?

That teeny-tiny light is very bright, I have it and it's great.

jwbriney - Kind of cool that is you are braking for an emergency it would be brighter! I would like it like that.

Yeah, I thought about that but my concern is if the left and right don't do it together it'll look like I've got a tail out on one side and I'll constantly be getting pulled over.

Here's the updated right with the left still stock:

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1326158121.jpg

I love the look but I think I'm gonna scrap them if I can't get both LEDs to light up on each tail light.

Man that looks nice - I hope you can get it figured out - I was looking at purchasing a set of these (smoke colored on top) for my 2002.

Success!
 

Well we went back to the drawing board today, and decided to scrap the idea of having both sets of LEDs light up when braking. Instead I ran wire from the left tail light to the right one and spliced it into the working rear fog light. I guess I will now use the fogs all the time now (even though with the xenons I never found that I needed them). Below are the finished product.

Right side Fog and Parking turned on:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1326242651.jpg

Shot of both with fogs on:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1326242691.jpg

Shot of both under braking:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1326242723.jpg

I have to give thanks to Dad in the background, who shares the same passion for his 2003 Boxster that I do for mine. His is on the right:
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1326242756.jpg

The fix for LED brake lights
 

I wanted both LED cluster to turn on my new Depo LED Tail lights. I rewired the pin on the car so that the fog lights are wired in parallel. When I plugged in the lights I still only had one LED cluster that would light up. The fix was to add a 50W 1 ohm resistor in parallel with one of the tail lights. Now both LED cluster on both tail lights come on when I apply the brake. I hope this helps!http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1354810423.jpg

Can you give me a few more details on how you did this? Where did you wire the 50W resistor? On the left or right light? Any pictures? Thanks.

What I did for my Depo hack was make the furthest out LED set be my turn signals and left the rest alone. Works great! Now NO one can tell me that they did not see me signal to make a lane change. Hahah

So I just bought a pair of these and am not sure if I'm missing something or what, but when I turn my lights on (I've turned ALL of them one to ensure I'm not going crazy or missing something) but there seems to be no 'tail lights' illuminating...period. The brake lights work when the brake is depressed. The turn signals work, check. The driver's side 'rear fog light' works, check. But no LEDs or any light coming out of them at all from what I can tell. Am I missing something? Is there a bulb maybe I should replace? I can't figure this one out!

So you are not getting this?

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1362072870.jpg

This is with the ignition off and the lights on.

Where did you get the LED center brake light?

my Depos just arrived. Can't have mismatching lights!!

nope not at all

I assume they were working on the old lights right? Fuse check?

are you using your old bulbs or you replaced them with LED ones?

thanks for the help guys..for some reason after I replaced the bulbs on both they both started working. Not entirely sure how they both went out at once but that seems to be the case. Thanks so much for the help!

Glad they are working. Now, if you can figure out how to make the outside LED's light up as brake lights, let me know. I haven't had a chance to play with them yet.

Instructions on doing the blinker hack
Anti-Bling Porsche Boxster DIY's: Boxster, Depot brand tail lights, make turn signal LED

I am fine with the blinker the way it is. I would rather have the outboard LED's come on with the brakes.

my smoked set just arrived. THe build quality on these is really good. Definitely looks OEM. I'm impressed for the $150 price.

Question, the orange bulbs are old school Edison bulbs. Can these be swapped for orange LEDs?

no.
the polarity on the boxster tail light is reversed.

Not plug and play, but it's not even slightly difficult to switch the polarity. I'm going to make my own ;)

I never saw an answer for the LED center light. How did you do that?

I looked at the anti-bling reference and the instructions call for resistors but I could not find a size anywhere. I cannot figure out how to respond to the anti-bling site. Any idea on what size resistor to use?

Bumping this - I just purchased a LED third brake light from eBay seller sportscarextras, here's a link to his inventory of 986 brake lights. The original item was listed as: "PORSCHE 986 BOXSTER /S CLEAR/SILVER LED 3RD BRAKE LIGHT"

Have you installed it yet and are you happy with it?

I just got these lights, and I am having the same issue as everyone, where the outer lights do not come on with brake. The person who solved it with the 50Watt resistor did not explain what they did to make it work.

The fog lights are not supposed to come on with the brake lights. Use them as designed and the problem goes away. :p

I have the smoked ones on my 2001 and love the looks. I’ve had them about a year. I also have the LED projector headlights and a smoke LED third brake light.

Here’s my problem. My wife was driving behind me the other night and she told me one of my brake lights has stopped working. That’s the inside (toward the license plate) LED bank, of the passenger side (right) assembly. I don’t really know where to begin troubleshooting.

*solution*
 

I know this thread died long ago, but for anyone who is having trouble with the DEPO LED tail lights and the outer brake lights not working, there is an easy fix.

1. Cut off the bulb adapter for the outer brake lights.
2. Cut the wire for the inner brake lights and leave about 2 inches from the bulb adapter.
3. Cut a 7" long piece of wire to connect the outer brake lights to the inner brake lights.
4. Attach the extension wire to the outer brake lights wire.
5. connect the inner brake lights, the extension wire and the bulb adapter wires together.
6. DONE! The inner bulb socket now powers both the inner and outer.

Works 100% on my car.

Hope this helps!