So you’ve just upgraded your vehicle lights to LED bulbs, and they now act as if they are burned out. What is going on?
What you are likely experiencing is the effect of a drop in your vehicle’s circuit resistance. This is a very common issue when upgrading your vehicle bulbs to LEDs. Lucky for you, there's an easy fix for that!
LED bulbs draw significantly less power than incandescent bulbs, and this causes a drop in the circuit’s resistance. The reduced energy draw of LED lights causes your vehicle to think that your light bulbs are burned-out. Internally, you may see a “bulb out” warning light. Externally, you may also observe hyper-flashing.
There are three ways to fix your “bulb out” or hyper-flashing issues on your car or truck. Check out these techniques below.
How to Turn Off Bulb-Out Warning Light After LED Replacement
1. Install CAN Bus LED Vehicle Lights
If your vehicle uses a CAN Bus system, you can eliminate any bulb-out issues by installing CAN Bus LED bulbs. CAN Bus, or Controller Area Network Bus, is an electronic system in your car that allows different parts of your vehicle to communicate with one another. By installing bulbs that are CAN Bus compatible, you won’t have to worry about bulb-out issues since the CAN Bus system can read that the LED bulbs are installed and working. Check with your vehicle manufacturer to see if your car has a CAN Bus system.
2. Fix “Bulb Out” Warning Light with an LED Load Resistor
This method may require the use of power tools and drilling holes into your vehicle.
- Disconnect the vehicle battery.
- Gain access to the lights and electrical wiring
- After removing the light, locate the ground wire for your light.
- Insert the ground wire through the run on the terminal splice tap. Do not cut any wires.
- Insert the resistor’s wiring into the wire’s tap location.
- Use a pair of pliers to push the metal insert into both wires.
- Install the load resistor against a metal surface on your vehicle. Make sure not to touch any paint, plastic, or other components as load resistors heat up.
3. Fix Internal “Bulb Out” Indication with an LED Flasher Relay
This process only applies to turn signal bulb-out warning lights and to vehicles with compatible flashers. Adding an LED flasher relay is done without the need to deal with any wiring during the connection process.
- Locate your flasher relay
- Disconnect and remove the existing flasher relay
- Install the new flasher relay in the socket
- Mount the new relay, if needed, and you are ready to go!
Upgrading to LEDs can also cause hyper-flashing to occur in your turn signal lights. Watch our video guide below for more information or discover how you can fix this problem here.
If you would like additional assistance, our product specialists at Super Bright LEDs would be more than happy to help. Feel free to give our team a call toll-free at 866-590-3533. We are available from 8:30 AM to 6:00 PM CDT Monday through Thursday and from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM CDT on Fridays.
