LED head light conversion problem

Hey guys, kind of new here. I joined this forum back in 2018 and I've been finding everything I needed without asking for help/ advice, but I'm finaly stumped.

I did a head light conversion on my girl, but I can't get them to work properly. These LEDs have a white halo and flash orange when turning, but for some reason they stay orange. when I use the turn signal, the left front ( drivers side ) will flash both colors, but the right front (passenger side) will stay orange and the back of the vehicle works fine,EXCEPT THE SIDE MARKERS.

I know there's a ground problem somewhere and I think it's coming from the guage cluster. The turn signal switch, light switch, and the circuit board on the back of the cluster are NEW, but the only thing that's not is the cluster relay ( but I'm waiting for that to come in the mail)

I tested every bulb and checked the grounds and the only thing I found was this

1. If I ground the rear side marker lights to the body of the car, they turn on and the corresponding head light works perfectly fine. And I mean only the white light stays on and it only turns orange when I use the blinker, as it should.

2. Also, on the back of the guage cluster, on the harness that plugs into it. If I get a peace of wire and tuch the white/blue cable and the black cable that head light works perfectly fine and same thing with the green and white. There's no need to ground the side markers to the body.


If anyone had this problem, please help me.

Thank you.

 

I used LEDs for all my side and tail lights. The design of the Ford lighting circuit used the bulb on the opposite side marker as a pathway to ground. LEDs do not have a filament and cannot complete the connection. When I did mine years ago, I had Cougars Unlimited make a special adaptor to allow the LEDs to work. I don't know if he still sells them.

Cougars Unlimited LLC Home Page (thuntek.net)
Turn signal lights illuminated? | Page 2 | Maverick/Comet Forums

Micah

 

Thanks Micah

So from what you're telling me is that the reason that my head lights aren't working properly, is because there isn't a turn signal element any more?

And I need side marker adapters like the picture below to complete the ground?


Also I opened up that link you sent me, and it scared the poop out of me with that cougar growl. My volume was full blast hahaha

 

Not knowing exactly what headlights you are using and how they are wired, I would investigate if this is your problem. The owner of the Cougar site is quite knowledgeable. I would suggest reaching out to him for an opinion.

Micah

 

Hey Micah,

I just reached out to Rick from cougar unlimited, and you're completely right. He also said he had another guy with a 1970 maverick reach out to him a couple of years ago with the same problem, and im assuming it was you .

So.. to the people that will one day have/ having the same problem as me. Please read below⬇️

So what he told me is that the head lights are the main ground for the side markers, and with the new led head lights, they're not grounded properly some how. He also said some really smart things about how the electrical current flows that my tiny brain couldn't remember.

Basically, for anyone running Led head lights ( like the halo Ring ), will need relay adapters on all four side markers for the headlights to work properly. You would also need to replace the back side markers sockets with cougar sockets.

I'll attach screen shots below with everything they need to do this conversion.


Thanks Micah for the support and information you gave me, I really appreciate it

 

Thank you for posting this info - already bookmarked!

 

No problem. I hope other people find this thread helpful too.

Oh and by the way, I know this would work on a 70-73 mav, because they're basically the same ( from what i read) , but for 74 and up I wouldn't know for sure how the wires are ran so I don't know if it would work. I assume it would though.

Best of luck

 

Glad to help.

Rick was a big help. I purchased a Cougar controller for the sequential LED taillights I was making. This was several years ago before anything was on the market. I was also converting all other lights to LED, except the headlights and my Lucas "Sport Lights." I ran into the same issue. It took Rick and I a while to figure out the issue. He created those adaptors for me and then decided to sell them. I hope he has been able to sell a few.

Micah

 

Thanks. I have all LED except the head light for this reason. Good to have a solution.

 

Victor Yarberry, is the owner of Cougars Unlimited. He has extensive experience and designs his electronics himself. He is a valuable resource in the Cougar community. His company solves sequential turn signal and LED problems.

 

Got my ground adapters in today. Picked up some slotted light sockets for the trunk side markers. Hope to get them in soon. Gotta do the turn signal switch first.

 

Hell yeah man. I'm glad this thread is helping people out.

 

crap on a stick. I put them in on the drivers side front and back. It fixed the side marker lights ok, but didnt do jack for the bumper turn signal or the tail light turn sig. They still dont work when the headlights are on.
Edit:
He emailed me and said his Cougar adapters cant power a 1157LED. So uggg. Not sure what I am going to do to get the bumper turn signals to work.

 

Well I was poking around with my test light and found if its in parallel with the 1157 turn element, then both front and back work with the headlights on. So that might be a work around.

 

Gets back to the bulbs are suppling ground. There were resistors sold for such conversions but as you have found, all that's necessary is add a incandescent. Bulb current draw will have an effect on the results but if something like a #1895 works OK that's what I'd go with.