Jamers Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 I'm can't figure out why these 30 MM Festoon LED's are pulsing in my Puddle Lamps. I have already successfully made the same swap in my 2013 Explorer and the Puddle lamps worked fine. I even plugged these into the Explorer and they worked fine. However when plugged into the 2013 Fusion they pulse. I'm guessing it is somewhow related to the current or resistance. Any ideas? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkTSlNB62gI These are the LED's I used. http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/festoon/de3175-led-bulb-4-smd-led-festoon/238/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx8402 Posted May 5, 2013 Share Posted May 5, 2013 I tried a bunch as well, and no luck. I think someone on fordfusiobclub had a square 12 led panel work, but that required modifying the housing since it was too large. Its due to the resistance, I bought a load equalizer that worked, but was too large to fit in mirrors along with the units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expresspotato Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 Did you try placing a resistor between the bulb and the input? My guess is since the bulb has such an insignificant draw it its causing a few problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadRock Posted May 6, 2013 Share Posted May 6, 2013 I would think you could measure the resistance of the factory lamp and calculate the needed resistor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.blackfoot Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 I had Dan at DAYTIME BrightLites, LLC make me up a set and we had the same problem; LEDs pulsing. He tried a couple different LED bulbs and also installed a resistor on one set, still had problems. You might want to send him an email and see if he solved the problem yet. info@DAYTIMEBrightLites.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamers Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 This has also been discussed on www.fordfusionclub.com and no one there seems to have figured it out yet either. They have tried virtually every festoon bulb type available. One guy claims he used a resistor and it worked but the resistor was too big to fit in the mirror. I just ordered a Digital Multimeter from Amazon and I plan to find out how much current draw these LED's use. Will help from some Youtube videos I might be able to calculate the proper resistor required. I know the stock bulb is 12v and 6 watt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx8402 Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 This has also been discussed on www.fordfusionclub.com and no one there seems to have figured it out yet either. They have tried virtually every festoon bulb type available. One guy claims he used a resistor and it worked but the resistor was too big to fit in the mirror. I just ordered a Digital Multimeter from Amazon and I plan to find out how much current draw these LED's use. Will help from some Youtube videos I might be able to calculate the proper resistor required. I know the stock bulb is 12v and 6 watt. That guy was me The ones I tried were 1 watt and 1.5 watt, some with and without built in resistors. I am trying to find out the wattage of the panel another person said worked, but I guessing it was 2.5 watts. I haven't found the specs for exact one he used, but similar ones are 2.5 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamers Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 Jinx, this resistor thing is confusing me. Youtube videos I have watched suggest the resistor in connected along the positive wire however I have seem this post where someone soddered the resistor across the positive and negative connectors of the LED. http://www.cobaltss.net/forums/how-guide-43/194-ebay-led-load-resistors-237103/ How did you connect yours? By the way, I tried using a 1 kohm - 1/8 watt resistor along the positive on the puddle lamps and all it did was make the LED get dimmer. The pulsing remained although I think it got slower. Do you know what ohm rating your resistor had? I'm new on this electrical stuff so I'm not sure if there is a direct relationship between the ohm rating and the watt rating. I plan to go to Radio Shack this week to research resistors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx8402 Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 You connect a load equalizer across the positive and negative. An 1/8 watt resistor is not going to add enough resistance, and it is so small that you may even risk it bursting into flames. The one I bought from Autozone was a 6 ohm, 25 watt resistor. I wouldn't suggest using that one because it has no heat sink and can get really hot. Use something like this: http://www.vleds.com/resistors/lr-park.html. Keep in mind this is even bigger than the one I used, so it definitely won't fit in the mirror housing. You will need to trace the wiring and place the resistor somewhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamers Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 (edited) Jinx, I picked up 3 resistors today from Radio Shack to test. When put inline with the positive nothing changed. When laid across the terminals I got the following results: Test #1 - 0.5 ohm 5 watt - puddle light turned off Test #2 - 1 kohm 1 watt - puddle light stayed on and continued to pulse, no change Test #3 - 10 ohm 1 watt - puddle light stopped pulsing. See Test #3 here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8DbRMDCYjg Clearly I have no idea what I'm doing but at least I got the puddle lamps to stop pulsing, if only for a few seconds before I nearly burned my finger. The resistor in Test #3 got hot very quickly. Not sure what to try next. I will wait until my Digital Multimeter arrives and I do some more internet research on resistance to understand these results. Edited May 7, 2013 by Jamers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadRock Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 It looks like you probably need about a 15 watt resistor at 10Ω 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamers Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 (edited) Thanks Badrock. That diagram helps. I just ordered a pair of 25 ohm 10 watts resistors from VLED's. I'll report back. Edited May 7, 2013 by Jamers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadRock Posted May 7, 2013 Share Posted May 7, 2013 No problem, those should work just fine. Even at 14.8vdc you should be just under 9 watts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamers Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 You connect a load equalizer across the positive and negative. An 1/8 watt resistor is not going to add enough resistance, and it is so small that you may even risk it bursting into flames. The one I bought from Autozone was a 6 ohm, 25 watt resistor. I wouldn't suggest using that one because it has no heat sink and can get really hot. Use something like this: http://www.vleds.com/resistors/lr-park.html. Keep in mind this is even bigger than the one I used, so it definitely won't fit in the mirror housing. You will need to trace the wiring and place the resistor somewhere else. Jinx, I got the resistors you suggested. I selected the 25 Ohm 10 watt. I connected them and measured the surface temp of the resistor at 242 degrees Fahrenheit after leaving the puddle lamp on for 2 minutes. That's pretty damn hot. Probably hot enough to start a fire if touching something combustible. The only good news is the flickering stopped and the LED lamp illuminated with ample brightness. I wonder if the 25 Ohm 25 watts resistors would be any cooler? Again, I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing so perhaps a higher or lower Ohm rating will affect the hot as well. The odd thing to me is my 2013 Explorer has the exact same puddle lamps and I swapped it out with LEDs and did not require a resistor. They worked perfectly with no flickering. Why do they flicker only in the Fusion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcats98 Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Jinx, I got the resistors you suggested. I selected the 25 Ohm 10 watt. I connected them and measured the surface temp of the resistor at 242 degrees Fahrenheit after leaving the puddle lamp on for 2 minutes. That's pretty damn hot. Probably hot enough to start a fire if touching something combustible. The only good news is the flickering stopped and the LED lamp illuminated with ample brightness. I wonder if the 25 Ohm 25 watts resistors would be any cooler? Again, I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing so perhaps a higher or lower Ohm rating will affect the hot as well. The odd thing to me is my 2013 Explorer has the exact same puddle lamps and I swapped it out with LEDs and did not require a resistor. They worked perfectly with no flickering. Why do they flicker only in the Fusion? I have seen a lot of the newer offered resisters for turn signals come with heat sinks. Odds are this is going to have to be places outside the mirror. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamers Posted May 10, 2013 Author Share Posted May 10, 2013 I happen to call the Tech at Putco today for some resistor advice and he told me their Festoon LED has a built in resistor and should work fine. http://www.amazon.com/Putco-231125-Universal-Lighting-Festoon/dp/B007RXI4JM/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1368215571&sr=1-1&keywords=231125+putco Anyone try this bulb yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadRock Posted May 10, 2013 Share Posted May 10, 2013 Why do they flicker only in the Fusion? ....and that my friend is the million dollar question! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamers Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 My previous test using the 25 Ohm 10 watt resistor from VLEDs resulted in no pulsing but the resistor heated up to 242 degrees in mere minutes. Today I tried a 10 Ohm 25 watt resistor. The good news is it also stopped the pulsing but quickly heated up to 266 degrees. So that make 3 different resistors I have tried which have stopped the pulsing but ended of getting way too hot. My next plan is to try the LED's recommended by Putco. http://www.amazon.com/Putco-231125-Universal-Lighting-Festoon/dp/B007RXI4JM/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1368215571&sr=1-1&keywords=231125%20putco&tag=viglink121730-20 I did get my Multimeter in today but don't really know how to use it yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jinx8402 Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 The resistors on those festoons are probably not enough to stop the pulsing. I bought a set from VLEDs that had resistors built in and it still pulsed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremynino Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Hi Jamers, any updates on the Putco lights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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