I have a 75th AUII Ghia. I bought two 1157 CREE LEDs which fits nicely into the brake lights. The brake lights has two circuits, one for parking and one for brakes. Do these circuits operate with the same voltage? I tested the lights on a brake lights holder connected to a DC 12V adapter in the house and it operates nicely. When two positive wires are both connected to the power source - the light gets brighter simulating where you push the brakes. When only one is connected to the DC12V - the light is dim red as it should when parking lights are ON. I love the brightness and reliability of the CREE LED lights but just cant figure out why they don't work in the car.

In the car when the CREE LED bulb is inserted - it doesn't light up when parking lights are turned ON. It only operates when I press the brakes and it operates at a very bright RED. Anyone has tried the same pls let me know if I have missed something thanks

How about including some photos of the in house set up... the globe... and the globe holder + contacts in the car?

I am leaning towards something along the lines of a mix up between a BA15S and a BA15D socket...

Cheers,
Tim

I dont know of the problem you speek of intimatly. But L.E.D.s are polarity sensitive. IE. They must have the current flow in the correct direction...... Hope this helps. Daz

Thanks for the prompt reply

The whole Ghia is on LEDs from cluster, switches inside, map readers, doors, window switches, parking, reverse, indicators (with low wattage flasher), dome, boot - no halogens on this car so I do know something about polarity.

However - Timmy - here's some info and pics for you. I also thought of maybe low amps coming through to the parking lights as the CREEE needs 7W but it works in the house with my low power remote control car charger so it doesn't make sense. Im open to suggestions.

Here's what I know.
It's definitely not BA15S - BA15S are 1156 single circuit lamps and are not keyed for the brakes. I use two of these on my REVERSE lights - and they work like a charm.
It wouldn't also be a BA15D - eventhough BA15D is a double filament socket - the pins on the side are at the same height which make them not fit into the AU brake light holder where one pin is higher than the other. These are 2x BAY15D Super Bright "CREE" LEDs. Would it make a difference that they are 7W each?

The setup I have in-house is a BAY15D holder from a AUII Fairmont which has two input (+) wires and one (-) wire. By default I have one (+) and one (-) connected up 'live' which simulates - parking lights - ON. If I want to simulate where I press the brakes - I then hook up the second (+) wire to the 12VDC power source. I'm assuming this is how it works with the brakes and it does make the CREE LED work as it should - DIM with parking, BRIGHT with brakes and parking both ON and using the same socket/holder as the one in the Ghia.

I specifically like CREE LEDs they're brighter with a more solid design and wiring than the normal LEDs where they melt-out easily. At present I have two 36 SMD LEDs in but some of the SMDs have burned out in only months.

Here are some pics for some thought if you might have and let me know, cheers

 

 

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That's cool...

All BA15D have staggered height pins... But I have seen people force BA15S globes into BA15D holders... No doubt if you could force one way you could force the other way... Wanted to make sure that wasn't an issue...

Also orange tinted BA15S blinker globes have offset pins to stop people putting normal white BA15S globes into their blinkers and vice versa...

They're real simple... One base pin is brake lights, one is parkers and the shell is earthed out...

If it works in house in an identical socket to what's in the car I'd suggest there is an issue with the pins contacting the globe in the sockets in your car...

These are 7 Watt... Normal BA15D are 21/25Watt or something of that nature... It's destroyed your old LED globes... Have you tried just normal incandescent globes to make sure there is no issue there? If they work then it's really hard to put a finger on... If they don't then something is suss in the car...

Get a led test light and check the two power wires at the globe and see if it will light a led test light... maybe AU ghia's had something in the BEM that shut the globes down if it saw only very little current flow... The fairlanes in the EF/EL models had brake light fail indication in the cluster, not sure what series AU's carried this designation...

If normal globes work fine you may need to hook a globe socket in parallel so you can use an incandescent globe as load then a LED as the globe in the tail light... Trying to find yourself some 25W resistors as a load may also work...

Hard to diagnose without having it all here in front of me... But yeah... try normal globes and rule out car wiring... Make sure with no globes installed you have 12V on both wires in the globe socket with each relevant circuit on... See how we go?

Cheers,
Tim

Thanks

BA15D and BA15S pins are positioned at the same height.
Only difference is - BA15D is a two-circuit globe. BA15S - single circuit globe eg: Reverse lights

Indicators are BAU15S, single filament type circuit but pins are keyed to only go in one way (pins positioned at an angle round the globe 135 deg or 225deg from each other.

Brake lights are BAY15D. The normal halogen works fine. I'm thinking of something in the BEM that's shutting it down as you said if the current is too low making the circuit for the brakes the only one working. I'll see if I can try with a resistor or hang one socket with a halogen globe off in parallel to pick up the load and see if this makes the Cree LED work in parking lights ON position.

what was wrong with the brake lights how they were originally?

All original brake lights worked perfectly
Even after I changed to LEDs (36 SMD BAY15D 1157) they still worked
Until I try to change to CREE LEDs and only 'braking' function now works
Parking (dim circuit) doesn't

The same 1157 socket from an AU I have in the house hooked up to a 12VDC adapter to simulate both parking and braking on the CREE LED globe - both dim and bright on the LED light works.

In the car - only 'braking' circuit works for this CREE LED

an update - the CREE LEDs for the brake lights I was installing were "CANBUS" LEDs. Does this mean that the car has CANBUS system/lights monitoring from ECU? If so can this be disabled - would this be the system that gives errors when lights are gone ? I don't get beeps or errors on the Ghia Im assuming it would be if the lights are not working. Normal halogens work still but would love to use the CREE LEDs as they are the brightest and longer life than halogens

from what i read & what i saw ages ago .... pretty sure what your askin re about the CREE leds that they are around. try a specific search

Anyone has any more ideas about using cree leds (canbus) on a AUII Fairmont