Need help choosing a resistor again.

MisterBill2

Joined Jan 23, 2018
18,167
My initial concern with the LEDs being on when they should off was that this was not known information. In all the years of people owning these trucks, in the literal millions of threads posted on forums, not once have I ever seen this mentioned. It isn't mentioned in the factory service manual which actually states that the lights are off when that mode isn't selected.

Basically not one single person knew that these LEDs remain on in when they're supposed to be off. I just had a number of people surprised when I brought this up and they actually went to look.

So what bothered me initially was that I thought I had done something wrong and the LEDs were remaining lit due to a fault of my own, but if this is how they function normally then I'm ok with that.

I would like to crank down the brightness a little bit, they're 13,000 MCD, they're brighter in their "off" state than the original LEDs were in their "on" state lol. That's why I've ordered a couple of different varieties of blue LEDs, I'll see which one works best and appears dimmest while "off" and brightest while on, leave it at that and call it done. :)

As for the guys on the dedicated forums....well I don't know, they know their stuff for sure, just not when it comes to electrical at all and even the people who know you need resistors when converting to LEDs never mention it to the guys who's lights are flickering.

There is a TON of parroting going on. For instance, with the cluster:
everyone says you can buy a cluster from the wreckers and have a dealership send it back to be reprogrammed for the correct odometer and engine hours.
You can't, or at very least the dealerships won't send it in....3 major dealerships and a call to the company directly verified this information.

Everyone also says many companies can reprogram the cluster. Again, some calls and fact checking later it turns out this model year cluster has it's chips locked and cannot be accessed even by third party companies.

The clusters have a self test feature. EVERYBODY has said this is a calibration, and if you're needles are out of whack (or literally any other problem) just run this calibration and it will fix it.
It does not. I have a video literally proving this and showing 100% that it is only a test...... everyone gives me flak for breaking my cluster, still says its a recalibration.

That's just a "small" example of the kind of crap I keep having to deal with while doing any kind of modification work.....successfully...... on my own vehicle.

It is indeed amazing the stuff that gets repeated and repeated until some believe that it is true. All with no insight to back it up , none at all. BUT JUST WAIT!!! When the computer driven cars come out with all of that buggy code and then they try to download patches over the unprotected internet and hackers get in and things get REALLY BAD.
 

Thread Starter

GRNDPNDR

Joined Mar 1, 2012
545
It is indeed amazing the stuff that gets repeated and repeated until some believe that it is true. All with no insight to back it up , none at all. BUT JUST WAIT!!! When the computer driven cars come out with all of that buggy code and then they try to download patches over the unprotected internet and hackers get in and things get REALLY BAD.
oh yeah I can't wait for this, everything is too easy for just any random person to access things that they really shouldn't have access to.... I suppose that's how some people feel about the relatively simple things I'm doing......simple to me anyway.

It's simple LED swapping, and technically repair because many of the soldered on bulbs are filament bulbs and they've long since burned out.

I've also illuminated parts of the vehicle that people didn't even know were illuminated like the knobs.....factory lighting was all there, just needed to replace the bulbs.
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
It is indeed amazing the stuff that gets repeated and repeated until some believe that it is true. All with no insight to back it up , none at all. BUT JUST WAIT!!! When the computer driven cars come out with all of that buggy code and then they try to download patches over the unprotected internet and hackers get in and things get REALLY BAD.
Hi,

Yeah i guess that is true and something else to think about. Maybe one of those cars will be used in an assassination attempt one day.
 

Thread Starter

GRNDPNDR

Joined Mar 1, 2012
545
Hi,

Oh yes very nice. Cant see the dim light in those pics so it must be very dim now.
Sure you can. Here's a pic with the ignition off. no power to the switch. IMG_7450[1].JPG



And here it is with the ignition on. Power to the switch, 2WD mode selected. The 4HI and 4LO LEDs are in their "off" state. IMG_7444.JPG
 

shortbus

Joined Sep 30, 2009
10,045
Probably stated but I missed it, what brand of truck is this? The 4x4 GM I had, the indicators were triggered when the transfer case was in the correct gear, not by the switch it's self. If the transfer case didn't shift, the dash light wasn't on.
 

Thread Starter

GRNDPNDR

Joined Mar 1, 2012
545
Probably stated but I missed it, what brand of truck is this? The 4x4 GM I had, the indicators were triggered when the transfer case was in the correct gear, not by the switch it's self. If the transfer case didn't shift, the dash light wasn't on.
2004 Dodge Ram

The indicators do trigger when the transfer case is able, and has made the shift. If it isn't possible to make the shift then the infractor will blink until the conditions are met for the shift to take place.
If I switch that over to 4HI it'll light up the indicator LED to full brightness and make the shift.

There's no problem here, it's working as it should and as intended by Chrysler.
 

Thread Starter

GRNDPNDR

Joined Mar 1, 2012
545
From you pics, I believe the partially on LEDs are intentional.

Bob
Ya me too. However I (and everyone else) was unaware of this at the time of my original post. This was only discovered through the progression of this post.

since it's a normal function it proves that I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm happy leaving it as is, I'm just waiting for some dimmer LEDs to arrive in the mail.
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
Ya me too. However I (and everyone else) was unaware of this at the time of my original post. This was only discovered through the progression of this post.

since it's a normal function it proves that I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm happy leaving it as is, I'm just waiting for some dimmer LEDs to arrive in the mail.
Hello again,

Yes intentional, and possibly for another reason too besides an error check. That is, to show the positions that are NOT selected as well so you can see at a glance which one IS selected.
In the dark you may not be able to see the writing, so if only one LED was lit all you would see when you looked in that direction would be ONE single LED lit up, and it would be hard to judge whcih one it actually was with no other light in the car. With one very bright and two dim, you can instantly see which one is bright and so you know it is left, center, or right, because the other two give you a reference.
This actually happens to me with my AC unit. I cant tell from a distance if the fan is high, low, or med, because in any case only one LED is ever lit.
 

Thread Starter

GRNDPNDR

Joined Mar 1, 2012
545
Another thought. Are the lenses clear? Roughing the up with sandpaper would soften the light.

Bob
the LED lenses are clear, but I actually have sanded them to frost them. A couple of the bulbs actually needed to have the top/dome part shaved down to fit in the available space and diffuse the light.

Hello again,

Yes intentional, and possibly for another reason too besides an error check. That is, to show the positions that are NOT selected as well so you can see at a glance which one IS selected.
In the dark you may not be able to see the writing, so if only one LED was lit all you would see when you looked in that direction would be ONE single LED lit up, and it would be hard to judge whcih one it actually was with no other light in the car. With one very bright and two dim, you can instantly see which one is bright and so you know it is left, center, or right, because the other two give you a reference.
This actually happens to me with my AC unit. I cant tell from a distance if the fan is high, low, or med, because in any case only one LED is ever lit.
The lighting is illuminated when the headlight switch is turned on, but in most cases the bulb burns out after a couple of years because they aren't LEDs. I replaced that light already so the text is very brightly visible.


still waiting for my replacement LEDs to arrive though :\
 

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
the LED lenses are clear, but I actually have sanded them to frost them. A couple of the bulbs actually needed to have the top/dome part shaved down to fit in the available space and diffuse the light.



The lighting is illuminated when the headlight switch is turned on, but in most cases the bulb burns out after a couple of years because they aren't LEDs. I replaced that light already so the text is very brightly visible.


still waiting for my replacement LEDs to arrive though :\

Hello again,

It will be interesting to see how the new ones work out, being more like the originals.
 

Thread Starter

GRNDPNDR

Joined Mar 1, 2012
545
It works great now!!! Looks a lot more like factory, I swapped out the ultrabright LEDs with SSL-LX3054USBD and they're great.

The only thing I need to tweak now is a way to diffuse the light for the text above the indicators because right now the 4HI text is more of a hotspot and the 2WD and 4LO text is a bit dimmer.

The image is what the light diffuser looks like looking down from the top. It's a crystal clear piece of plastic. I used some lacquer thinner to frost the backside of it, and then painted those surfaces white, and also put a dot of white paint in front of the led to help reflect light back.

With a filament bulb this lights up evenly and perfectly, but being I'm using LEDs and only have a 60 degree viewing angle it tends to focus the light too much over 4Hi. Making the changes I have almost lights it all up evenly but 2LO isn't evenly lit.... it's a little dim on the L and O.

I also filed down the LED into the shape shown to try and help diffuse light more towards the sides.
 

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MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,389
Hi,

OH yes interesting. You might also use some aluminum foil to reflect some of the light back.
Sounds like it is finally working out nicely overall though.
 

Thread Starter

GRNDPNDR

Joined Mar 1, 2012
545
I may still eventually make some tweaks to make the light reflect more evenly but for now it's a finished project.
Here's the result for anyone interested.

 
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