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Tailgate LED Lightbar

3K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  DannyFT 
#1 ·
Hi all, hope I'm in the right forum, been a long time since I posted.
For Christmas I got a single LED Tailgate Lightbar from LEDglow.com. Simple to install. On my 2016 F350 lariat.
They sold with it 3' of wire (4 wires + another wire for tapping into the reverse wire if I wanted) to plug into the 4 pin trailer plug. Before I installed it I plugged it in as per the instructions to make sure everything works. It does. I mounted it and plugged it in. Now part's one and two of this question I hope can be answered.
1. When I turn the right signal on it blinks REALLY fast. WHY? The left one blinks normal and fine.
2. Next, on the dash cluster/screen when the LED light bar is plugged in, I get the error message: "trailer right turn lamps fault, check lamps" All my lamps are good.

I called LEDglow and they said that from 2011-2016 Fords I can't plug this into the 4 pin as the computer always thinks there is a trailer hooked up to it. HHHMMMM...…… why don't they tell my wife when she bought the thing for me for Christmas then. Anyway, they also told me that to get rid of this error I need to further run wire forward up to the engine comp or the cab to find wires there to tie into. IS THIS TRUE? I really don't feel like laying under my pickup for god knows how long to find all this out.

I was hoping that if I could find the reason that the right blinker blinks so fast, then I could just hard wire it behind the trailer plugs and be good with it (being plugged into the 4 pin kind of sticks out in the way and doesn't look clean as the spring loaded lid doesn't close) but I'm also thinking that if I do this, it will also think that there is still a trailer always hooked up as well? TRUE OR FALSE?

Hope I made this clear enough that someone will have an answer for me? I know that it's kind of a long post with many questions.
Thank you in advance for ANY and ALL suggestions.

Corey Esson
 
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#3 ·
The only way the truck knows if there’s a trailer is if it has brakes. It doesn’t know there’s a trailer on the 4-pin.

As for your issue..... I’m not sure. Gotta think about it.


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Oh! So on the 4 pin, I should be ok to hard wire it to the rear of the plug and if not towning a trailer I should be fine? Of course it's not normal for a 4 pin type trailer to have brakes.

Long story short, a rock came off a dump truck yesterday and flew up and put a hole thru my front radiator as well as another put a big crack in my windshield. So, when my pickup is out of the body shop and dealer I'll check more around on the fast blinking. People are telling me that I HAVE to have a bulb out but I couldnt see one.
Thank you!
 
#5 ·
Ah! That makes way better sense to do it that way. And yes, it's not that bad to pop a tail lamp out to wire it there. I'll update when I get it back on Friday. Thank you!

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#7 ·
Update: Started this project again. Again I get the "trailer right and left turn lamps fault, check wiring". So I did learn that whether a trailer has brakes or not, and if a trailer is plugged into the 4 pin, it will be recognized on the dash cluster. Also even if it's just a 4 pin plug with nothing connected to that it will still register a trailer.....odd....
After an exhaustive Google search I find someone that had the same problem on their 2017 Ford Expedition. They "accidentally" fixed it by simply pressing the brake pedal. This cleared the error. They duplicated it and each time the brake pedal was pressed and released and the error cleared.
With all that done and said, I have successfully wired up my LED light bar to the rear tail lamps with no errors. Bottom line, I don't recommend buying anything from LEDglow when it reads "plug n play" without doing research. They also have been notified by me of how unhappy I am and they say they are going to research and change verbiage on their web site. WHEW!!

Corey Esson

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#13 ·
Yes this is what I ended up doing. Spliced into each individual wire for the respective wires. The fast blinking did go away but I was told that I may have to install a resistor to slow that down but it didnt happen again. So all is good now and all works great!
Thanks for all the help!

Corey

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#14 ·
If others want a clean way to run extra "Stop/Turn/Tail" lights there are two connectors on the frame mounted trailer hitch. These connectors are used to run the OEM harness when the OEM gooseneck/5th wheel frame hitch is installed. The OEM harness will run from the bed area to these two connectors.

I have been using this for my headache rack for awhile now with no issues. Plus it's "plug-n-play" (in a way), easily removable, and doesn't throw a dash message.
 
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#15 ·
Interesting then. Thanks and good to know because I've been wanting to install a plug in my bed for my gooseneck as well as my 5th wheel. Currently the cord is long enough to just drape over the tailgate but would be more convenient to put one in the bed.
Corey

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#18 ·
I just wanted to ad to this thread, my truck was giving me the fast blink right turn and sometimes error messages..
it turned out to be loose wiring at the connector/socket for the brake light bulb. I was out of town and the stores were closed so I had to figure something out, so i think I ended up shoving balled up paper behind the tail light assembly
and when the lamp housing assembly was remounted it created enough back pressure to push the wiring into
good contact in the socket. I think i had to fiddle with it with 2 or 3 tries. Just posting this for people who are coming to this thread for info.
 
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