Quadratec LED tail lights driving me crazy

[Pavlos25]

Hi Jeepers,

Need your help!!! Purchased a pair of Quadratec LED Tail Lights but I have faced numerous problems in installing. At the beginning I did all as per instructions but the rear red driving lights wouldn't come on, the turn signals and hazards used the reverse light, the breaks used were fine and reversing used the red lights. I had installed the signal relay under my steering wheel (RHD).

I then decided to take Jeep to an electrician who fixed almost all the above but we are stuck at one issue. When I indicate to turn the red lamps blink like thy should but when I hit the brakes, blinking becomes extremely slow to the point you cannot really realise it (please see video) when I hit brakes. In the video you will see that whilst I indicate, as soon as I hit the breaks the turn signal blinking disappears.

Any ideas on what the problem is. I am located in Cyprus and my Jeep is a RHD.

Thanks.

 

[Black03TJR]

I’d bet that the wiring in your Jeep is different being in Cyprus and RHD, therefore the plug and play harnesses aren’t going to work correctly. I bet you can make it work, but you’re going to need to correct which wire goes where. Can figure it out with a voltmeter and a helper.

 

[jmo214]

did you ever find the problem? i recently installed these and didnt have any problem. I didnt do anything other than connect the tail lights and the thing behind the steering wheel.

 

[TheGanzman]

The first thing *I* would do is replace the relay - the overall "quality" of those relays in general has gone WAY downhill over the years...

 

[Pavlos25]

No I still have the p

did you ever find the problem? i recently installed these and didnt have any problem. I didnt do anything other than connect the tail lights and the thing behind the steering whee

No I didn’t find a solution yet. To be honest need to take it to another electrician but didn’t get the time. So annoying.

 

[Pavlos25]

did you ever find the problem? i recently installed these and didnt have any problem. I didnt do anything other than connect the tail lights and the thing behind the steering wheel.

Do you get the same problem as me or something different?

 

[machoheadgames]

Did your Jeep have the Euro tail lights with amber turn signals originally? I’m going to guess so based on your location and if so, that would explain why you’re having so many issues. On the old lights, brake/turn would be separate where as on Quadratec they are combined.

It would really be a good idea to take pics of the factory wiring to see what you’re working with. If you have 4-wire plugs, you need to go back to stock lights.

 

[Pavlos25]

Did your Jeep have the Euro tail lights with amber turn signals originally? I’m going to guess so based on your location and if so, that would explain why you’re having so many issues. On the old lights, brake/turn would be separate where as on Quadratec they are combined.

It would really be a good idea to take pics of the factory wiring to see what you’re working with. If you have 4-wire plugs, you need to go back to stock lights.

Ok thanks will take pic

 

[Pavlos25]

Did your Jeep have the Euro tail lights with amber turn signals originally? I’m going to guess so based on your location and if so, that would explain why you’re having so many issues. On the old lights, brake/turn would be separate where as on Quadratec they are combined.

It would really be a good idea to take pics of the factory wiring to see what you’re working with. If you have 4-wire plugs, you need to go back to stock lights.

 

[machoheadgames]

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I don’t need the wiring of the Quadratecs. I need the wiring of your factory Jeep plugs and some pics of your old tail lights if you still have them.

 

[jmo214]

Do you get the same problem as me or something different?

i didnt run across any problems. the installation was smooth.

 

[Pavlos25]

I don’t need the wiring of the Quadratecs. I need the wiring of your factory Jeep plugs and some pics of your old tail lights if you still have them.

Oh ok sorry I misunderstood. I have the old tail lights which I can photograph for you. Not sure what changes the electrician did after removing them and installing the new Quadratec. As I am not very familiar with the electrical of the Jeep, where exactly will I find the the factory Jeep plugs? I only bought this Jeep a few months ago and its my first Jeep. Thanks so much.

 

[machoheadgames]

Oh ok sorry I misunderstood. I have the old tail lights which I can photograph for you. Not sure what changes the electrician did after removing them and installing the new Quadratec. As I am not very familiar with the electrical of the Jeep, where exactly will I find the the factory Jeep plugs? I only bought this Jeep a few months ago and its my first Jeep. Thanks so much.

You’ll need to unbolt a tail light, pull the wiring through the hole in the tub, and take pics of the factory wires. I have no idea what your electrician did so it may not be useful anymore, but it should hopefully be.

I looked through some pics you’ve posted and you seem to actually have the standard American tail lights. So you should have a 3 wire setup. My guess is something is just wired backwards and the wires on the lights are being fed improperly. Once you get pics that should clear it up.

 

[machoheadgames]

It honestly may be as simple as you have a bad turn signal switch. The brake lights run through turn signal switch so that the turn signals can override the brake lights. You may have had a faulty switch for a while and only noticed it because you installed new tail lights and looked at them. If the turn signal switch goes bad, it could not be properly cutting off the brake lights to show the turn signal, like your video is showing. Not 100% on that, but certainly a possibility.

 

[Pavlos25]

It honestly may be as simple as you have a bad turn signal switch. The brake lights run through turn signal switch so that the turn signals can override the brake lights. You may have had a faulty switch for a while and only noticed it because you installed new tail lights and looked at them. If the turn signal switch goes bad, it could not be properly cutting off the brake lights to show the turn signal, like your video is showing. Not 100% on that, but certainly a possibility.

You couldn't be more helpful. I will take pics later in the afternoon when I return back home. Local time here now is 8:30am so should do that later in the afternoon. Thanks again.

 

[Pavlos25]

It honestly may be as simple as you have a bad turn signal switch. The brake lights run through turn signal switch so that the turn signals can override the brake lights. You may have had a faulty switch for a while and only noticed it because you installed new tail lights and looked at them. If the turn signal switch goes bad, it could not be properly cutting off the brake lights to show the turn signal, like your video is showing. Not 100% on that, but certainly a possibility.

3 pics old light and wiring, 3 pics new and wiring

 

[machoheadgames]

3 pics old light and wiring, 3 pics new and wiring

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Wow there is a LOT going on here. First of all, your old tail lights have the wrong lens on them. You have factory 4 wire tail lights with 3 bulbs: reverse, turn, and tail/brake. Somebody swapped your lens to American red tail lights and then flipped the lens upside down so that reverse would shine through the hole. What your stock tail lights should be would be these:

Euro Tail Lights

Now, those are still not a perfect swap because they have a YJ or 97 TJ plug on them. You can look at the pics and see the plug is different. But that's not a big deal or difficult to change.

So what's going on with your Jeep is that on the old tail lights, the 3 bulbs still sort of work, but barely. The turn signal and brake shine through the same portion (red) so really when your brakes are on, and turn signals are on, both bulbs are operating, and it will sort of work because the housing will get brighter as the turn signal kicks on, even with brakes on.

Quadratec lights are made for American 2-bulb Jeeps. So they are a 3 wire setup: reverse, turn/brake, and tail. The factory turn signal switch on an American TJ has a function inside it to shut off the brake light when you put on the turn signal, so that it can blink the brake light as a turn signal. Your Jeep does not have this function, it instead has a separate circuit to blink an individual turn signal bulb. Quadratec lights do not work with this setup because the Quadratec light does not have a separate turn signal function.

What your electrician did is installed a diode onto the turn signal wire. Diodes are like check valves for electrical: they let current go one way but not the other. He installed a diode and then merged the turn signal and brake wires together so that they both light the bright side of the Quadratec. But this doesn't work, because holding the brakes lights up the brake light solid, and there is no mechanism to shut off the brake light to let the turn signal go. So basically, your brake lights are covering up the turn signals because the light is already lit and nothing is shutting the brake off properly when you signal.

What I would do is have your electrician undo the wiring, I would order the euro tail lights from Quadratec and splice on your old plugs to make them plug and play. If you want LED, order amber, red, and white LED bulbs, one for each function. It's not as good as a true LED tail light, but you really don't have much options.

One other option would be you could install separate amber turn signals down in the bumper if you wanted. Then your tail lights could just be brake, tail, and reverse, and the bumper mounted turn signals would separately perform signaling. This would let you keep the Quadratecs that you bought. It may not be as good looking to have random signals down in the bumper but it would certainly do the job.

Hope all that makes sense and helps.

 

[davelkim]

Wow there is a LOT going on here. First of all, your old tail lights have the wrong lens on them. You have factory 4 wire tail lights with 3 bulbs: reverse, turn, and tail/brake. Somebody swapped your lens to American red tail lights and then flipped the lens upside down so that reverse would shine through the hole. What your stock tail lights should be would be these:

Euro Tail Lights

Now, those are still not a perfect swap because they have a YJ or 97 TJ plug on them. You can look at the pics and see the plug is different. But that's not a big deal or difficult to change.

So what's going on with your Jeep is that on the old tail lights, the 3 bulbs still sort of work, but barely. The turn signal and brake shine through the same portion (red) so really when your brakes are on, and turn signals are on, both bulbs are operating, and it will sort of work because the housing will get brighter as the turn signal kicks on, even with brakes on.

Quadratec lights are made for American 2-bulb Jeeps. So they are a 3 wire setup: reverse, turn/brake, and tail. The factory turn signal switch on an American TJ has a function inside it to shut off the brake light when you put on the turn signal, so that it can blink the brake light as a turn signal. Your Jeep does not have this function, it instead has a separate circuit to blink an individual turn signal bulb. Quadratec lights do not work with this setup because the Quadratec light does not have a separate turn signal function.

What your electrician did is installed a diode onto the turn signal wire. Diodes are like check valves for electrical: they let current go one way but not the other. He installed a diode and then merged the turn signal and brake wires together so that they both light the bright side of the Quadratec. But this doesn't work, because holding the brakes lights up the brake light solid, and there is no mechanism to shut off the brake light to let the turn signal go. So basically, your brake lights are covering up the turn signals because the light is already lit and nothing is shutting the brake off properly when you signal.

What I would do is have your electrician undo the wiring, I would order the euro tail lights from Quadratec and splice on your old plugs to make them plug and play. If you want LED, order amber, red, and white LED bulbs, one for each function. It's not as good as a true LED tail light, but you really don't have much options.

One other option would be you could install separate amber turn signals down in the bumper if you wanted. Then your tail lights could just be brake, tail, and reverse, and the bumper mounted turn signals would separately perform signaling. This would let you keep the Quadratecs that you bought. It may not be as good looking to have random signals down in the bumper but it would certainly do the job.

Hope all that makes sense and helps.

The help on these forums is wild and insane for how good and absolutely free it is.