Blink Posted January 6, 2013 Share Posted January 6, 2013 Splice-wiring for LEDs has me stumped. I swapped a pair of 2-wire female plugs for outside mirror LED signals from one mirror harness to another. Soldered the joints with electrical solder. The passenger side works fine. The driver's side doesn't and I'm completely stumped. I tested the plug and I'm getting power through it, but my voltmeter can't keep up with the on/off flashing so I don't know what voltage I'm getting. I'll see 9.xx volts flash, then 12.xx, then 8.xx, so it's not clear. I cut the solder joints out, stripped the leads to visible bare copper, and twisted them together. Still nothing. The connection between the plug and the LED works and therefore is not the problem. Somehow I cannot get the correct power from the harness leads to the plug leads. The passenger side works perfectly with the same solder joints. Any ideas what is going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xplosivo1 Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Have you tried swapping driver to passenger and vise versa with the mirrors to see if the problem follows? I don't fully understand your description of whats going on. If the LED is in backward it will not work, have you tried reversing the direction of the LED? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 Agreed. Swap + and ground. The Crimson Dynamo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kred Posted January 7, 2013 Share Posted January 7, 2013 This reminds me, Blink. I've been trying to figure out how to wire in my turn signals for the mirrors you sold me a while back. I managed to get heating and power functions working in each mirror, but I have 2 wires left on each side for the turn signals that I don't know how to wire (it was much more complicated than just plug and play on my 2.5i). Do you know how I could wire these or anyone else who could help me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blink Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 @ kred - sent you a PM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blink Posted January 8, 2013 Author Share Posted January 8, 2013 Swap to passenger side - Yes, that may be what it comes to I'm afraid. Have been ducking that because it means pulling the mirror glass off to remove the scalp to remove the signal. Dunno about other folks who have done it, but I've done it twice with thin little screwdrivers prying to separate the mirror from the tilt table and each time I was sure the glass was going to crack before they separated. So, I am 100% sure the wiring is correct due to the following: Once I cut out the solder joints, I took 2 wire leads (an alligator clip on one end and bare copper on the other - useful to connect an accessory to a 12v battery) and put the alligator clips on the signal leads and the bare copper on the car leads. The light worked. I then cleaned up both sets of leads as best as I could without chopping too much wire out since they are short to begin with. Twisted them together and nothing. So I'm left wondering how to get a better electrical connection. Does anyone know if electrical solder reduces the voltage or current through the joint? I believe the harness provides 12v to the LED signal unit where it is stepped down inside the unit, not before. Perhaps I'm just shy on voltage or current? There's an explanation & solution here somewhere since the passenger side works, but I would like to avoid tearing that one apart (which would only confirm the signal unit works which I know it does) or replacing the signal wires in the driver's side mirror harness which can be done, but I'll have to remove the mirror to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JermTheElf Posted January 8, 2013 Share Posted January 8, 2013 It's normal for you to get a random values for a pulsing signal on a voltmeter, it tests potential at a certain time delay, and since the flashing of the turns is a capacitor saw tooth charge/discharge it will not always sample at the peak of the saw tooth. I'm thinking since you did pick up a potential across the harness in the mirror and the lights work on exactly 12V off the battery the issue may be something strange. It's possible that the ECU cuts power to that side if it thinks the bulb is blown. Most cars use hyper flash to alert the driver that a side is out. I would check to see if the original bulb works fine. If it does, you may need a load equalizing resistor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xplosivo1 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Can't you just run two jumper wires from the drivers side harness to the passenger side mirror? That would prove the problem is on the car side and not the drivers mirror side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blink Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 Since the other side works, it's likely something simple, and something I did wrong. Anyone know which of the 2 wires is the ground; white or green? I'll test mine to see, but need to determine what is correct. If the LED is in backward it will not work, have you tried reversing the direction of the LED? Xplosivo1 - Will plugging in the LED backwards cause damage or it just won't work? More testing is required. (sigh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blink Posted January 9, 2013 Author Share Posted January 9, 2013 I'm thinking since you did pick up a potential across the harness in the mirror and the lights work on exactly 12V off the battery the issue may be something strange. Thanks for explaining the readings on my tester. Whatever the issue is, it's specific to the LED since a conventional bulb flasher works just fine off of the mirror harness leads. Hmm... since the LED is polarity sensitive, maybe somehow the hot and ground did get reversed. Need to double-check that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xplosivo1 Posted January 9, 2013 Share Posted January 9, 2013 Since the other side works, it's likely something simple, and something I did wrong. Anyone know which of the 2 wires is the ground; white or green? I'll test mine to see, but need to determine what is correct. Xplosivo1 - Will plugging in the LED backwards cause damage or it just won't work? More testing is required. (sigh) No damage in this case, the current is too low. Just flip it around and if that was in fact the issue it will work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blink Posted January 11, 2013 Author Share Posted January 11, 2013 Yep, leads were reversed. Can't figure out how it happened since I took photos of the plugs before removing/reinstalling the leads, but there it is. Thanks for the help folks - you got me straightened out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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