1895 incand. bulb LED replacement NOT working!

[Mike Magee]

I get it now. Thanks!

[Paul Chet]

Kenny,
Yeah ... sometimes the most simple thing is the solution. Here I was ready to take the frame off and rebuild my truck in hopes that those darned LEDs would light up!

[Thomas G.]

Trouble shooting advice:

When you hear hoof beats, think horses not zebras.

[Wallo]

I cut the wires and reversed them and it worked

As one who is thinking of using LED's, does the wiring ALWAYS have to be reversed if changing to LED'S? Or is it the type of LED's that determine reversal?
Thanks,
Alice

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Wallo

I cut the wires and reversed them and it worked

As one who is thinking of using LED's, does the wiring ALWAYS have to be reversed if changing to LED'S? Or is it the type of LED's that determine reversal?
Thanks,
Alice

You should not have to reverse the wires. Standard wiring practice is for the center connection on the bulb to be positive.

The issue above was caused by nonstandard wiring.

[Wallo]

Thanks for the clarification. Now it will be easy to change the bulbs without worry.

[Orlen Wolf]

Some LED assemblies have what is called a full-wave bridge rectifier as part of the assembly. They don't care about input polarity since the circuitry will "sort it out" automatically. Maybe the manufacturer thought the bayonet style sockets would always be wired correctly so they didn't add that feature.

As previously stated, incandescent bulbs don't care which way the current flows and are pretty forgiving of voltage spikes. LEDs are a bit more picky about what, and how, you feed them. And they sometimes express their displeasure by becoming flash bulbs.

[Paul Chet]

this makes even more sense (even though i am amazed at how much people know about things!). i know where i got these and how much i paid for them, and since they were $.88 and not the $2.50 i saw here in the U.S. ... they must lack the above stated full-wave bridge rectifier assembly. it was very cool however, to simply swap wires, re-solder, and then see them all light up!

regarding voltage spikes ... thats a whole different issue. at least if i see flashes in the night i will now understand why. thanks for all of the great info Orlen!

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Paul Chet

..........<snip>.......regarding voltage spikes ... thats a whole different issue. at least if i see flashes in the night i will now understand why. thanks for all of the great info Orlen!

You don't need to be a rocket surgeon to regulate the voltage to your LEDs. Just solder in one of these:
LED light testing

[Paul Chet]

Brilliant! I can save my spares conceivably a bit longer ... I'm off to evilBay to protect my humble investment!

[Perry J]

I've seen some buyer beware comments about Chinese LEDs.
I have switched 3 trailers to the Chinese 36 panel lights.
That's approximately 30 cheap Chinese LEDs.
It's been over 3 years and the first ones are still burning bright.
I'm a nut about lights working and no electrical problems.
My first project on every trailer is soldering and shrink tubing every wire connection and cleaning or replacing the light sockets and making sure each light is properly grounded.
It's been my experience most trailer electrical problens are due to poor grounding.
It's a lot of work but it makes for more enjoyable trips.
There's nothing wrong with the imported Chinese LEDs on ebay.
Two or three Chinese LEDs cost what one domestic costs. You can afford to have several extras around.
I think most of the LEDs from domestic sources are probably made in China.

John