LED tail light HOT HOT HOT ... Literally

[ZL1LEGEND]

I put a set of LED tail lights on my Z and although they look great I smelt them burning tonight. They have a resistor block attached to them and it was extremely hot. It is a white resister that was actually burning and turned brown.

Any one have his problem?

[christianmotox]

Yep, I had the same issue a few months ago, one of the wires was a little melted, but this happened after waiting at the border crossing for about 3 hours, one of the lights went bad. I had the. Replaced and they have been working fine ever since

[ZL1LEGEND]

Hmmmmm. All 4 of mine are hot and look like they are on the verge of melting. Didn't feel the wires but the little block was too hit to touch and turning brown. Same on all 4. I think they are coming out.

[mmarx82]

For reference, which ones did you buy?

[sjmautoprod]

The resistors getting hot is what happens. They are using up the power that normal bulbs would to fool the computer into thinking the bulbs are good. You need to be careful how you mount/position them so that they don't touch anything that can melt or burn.

[christianmotox]

Originally Posted by ZL1LEGEND

Hmmmmm. All 4 of mine are hot and look like they are on the verge of melting. Didn't feel the wires but the little block was too hit to touch and turning brown. Same on all 4. I think they are coming out.

Oh yea, those resistor boxes have been hot ever since i first installed them, i wonder if other members have noticed that on theirs

[ZL1LEGEND]

These are the lights i purchased:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-2012-CAMA...05%26rk%3D1%26

So from what Im reading in the comments, the block like resistor is meant to get hot to absorb the unused power. This being the case, i see why they get hot. BUT should they get so hot they smell like they are melting/burning?

I will try to take a pic of the resistor. If i were to describe it, there a a few white resistors combined and possibly daisy chained inside a heat shield (rubber boot). They are connected tot he back of the LEDs. The white resistors are connected with a few wires. The wires and the area around them look burnt brown and have a little bit of yellow gew.

[ZL1LEGEND]

[ZL1LEGEND]

[BBQdDude]

I actually like how those flash for the turn signal.

[christianmotox]

Never mind then, i got the Technostalgia Taillights. I have no personal experience with those lights

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

dude, those resistor blocks are Chinese CRAP..

I had something similar on a motorcycle a few years back that I put LED turn signals on and it caught fire while I was riding.. luckily the only thing damaged was those crappy resistors.


you need to get a set of GOOD resistors, with heat syncs.. like these:





http://www.v-leds.com/Load-Resistors/c343525/


you need a 6 Ohm 50 watt on EACH lamp, so you need 4..

they are sold in pairs, and you can get them with or without the mounting frames. if you get them without you will need to be sure to mount them to metal and not around any plastic. .


I have no affiliation with v-leds, but they make quality stuff I've used their stuff on several cars.

[christianmotox]

Originally Posted by Mr. iNCREDIBLE

dude, those resistor blocks are Chinese CRAP..

I had something similar on a motorcycle a few years back that I put LED turn signals on and it caught fire while I was riding.. luckily the only thing damaged was those crappy resistors.


you need to get a set of GOOD resistors, with heat syncs.. like these:





http://www.v-leds.com/Load-Resistors/c343525/


you need a 6 Ohm 50 watt on EACH lamp, so you need 4..

they are sold in pairs, and you can get them with or without the mounting frames. if you get them without you will need to be sure to mount them to metal and not around any plastic. .


I have no affiliation with v-leds, but they make quality stuff I've used their stuff on several cars.

Thats what technostalgia uses, but the put 2 resistors per heat sink.

[Mr. iNCREDIBLE]

Originally Posted by christianmotox

Thats what technostalgia uses, but the put 2 resistors per heat sink.

same logic.. 1 resistor per bulb car has 4 bulbs, they just tie them together thru one heat sync..