led tail lights are glowing slightly

[billw47]

. . i replaced the tail/brake/backup light assemblies on our '88 lasalle, checking for proper operation of each light as it was wired. everything checked fine. a week later, at night, we noticed a slight glow from the running lights.
. . apparently there is some voltage being fed over from another source. has anyone experienced this? what did u do to fix it?
. . it does not appear to be enough current to drain the battery. after a week, it started right up.
. . each of the lights still works just right. quite well, as a matter of fact. if u stand behind it for long with the brake lights on, u will get a sunburn. these lights are bright.

thanks,
bill

[Shore2Shore]

I take it this glow is when you operate the brake & turn signals without having lights switched on? Are the marker lights led too or incandescent? Maybe a possible interference between light types ?

Also some led lights require a ballast resistor to work properly due to them pulling such low current, maybe fitting the resistors could help.

Just random thoughts so don't know for sure, also just out of curiosity what did you replace the rear lights with? Complete units or just led bulbs? Been looking at the bargman triple led unit #86 if I remember.

[justaroamer]

Try pulling the fuse, if they go off, suspect the light switch. What kind, type of coach/chassis. Do you have a smart wheel? Could be in the courtesy flash switch on the wheel.

[Jimary]

I have had that problem twice. Both times it was the cord between the coach and toad. The connector had gotten water in it and shorted out inside between the toad charge wire and tail lamp circuits.

[alvinc]

Billw47 I would not expect LED's on DC circuits to glow, AC I can understand, but not DC. There has to be some leakage someplace.

Story:
We replaced our stick house front door light bulbs with 120 volt LED versions; 3 blunt tip decorative bulbs, they are not on a dimmer. Yet after they are turned off there is a very distinctive glow.

In my previous experience with LED's in electronics, flashlights and automotive lighting; the LED's are instant on and off.

The problem, or answer, in our case is that the outdoor light is switched with a lighted switch. Even when the circuit is off, there is some current flow to operate the bulb in the switch. With incandescent bulbs the small current flow is not enough to light the bulb, but LED's are so efficient, this small current causes them to glow. We went from a 40 watt incandescent to a 5 watt LED. To correct the glowing we would need to replace the lighted switch with a non-lighted version. BTW, the lighted switch no longer glows when the circuit is off, seems the LED bulbs in series with the switch bulb does not pass enough current. But the LED's glow.

I don't know how this will affect the lifetime of the bulb.

Note: some have reported being able to remove an 120VAC LED from it's socket and it will still continue to glow for some time. This is because there is a capacitor in the electronics (in the base).

[alvinc]

Originally Posted by Jimary

I have had that problem twice. Both times it was the cord between the coach and toad. The connector had gotten water in it and shorted out inside between the toad charge wire and tail lamp circuits.

Good catch.

At 12vdc, enough current could pass to light the LED, but not trigger a fuse. Technically it is not a short, but is considered leakage. Thus the water is acting as a small resistor, something you should correct. If nothing else this is a source of corrosion (small electrical currents)

[billw47]

. . i googled this last nite and found lotsa folks with the same problem, on trucks, jeeps, hum vees, jaguars....
. . my problem occurs with everything off, and the rv locked up tight. the running lights continue to glow slightly.
. . i'm guessing some kind of semiconductor scr switch in the lighting circuit. i will try pulling the wires off the light switch. beyond that i'm not sure its worth the trouble to fix. if it gets irritating, i can always pull the wires off the battery. lead acid batteries are supposed to discharge themselves at about one percent a day, i think. this is probably not increasing that by much.
. . the chassis is a chevy p30 truck. if anyone knows where i can get a schematic, i would appreciate knowing.

thanks again,
bill