Park Light Issue “I NEED HELP”

[Winston]

I have one of those LED rope lights between the hood and grill. I have it wired into one of those aftermarket pigtails added to the park light harness behind the headlight fixture. I have auto headlights and when I unlock the truck, the light comes on with the park lights. When I remote start the Truck the light comes on with the park lights. When I get in and activate the ignition, the dam light turns off and the park lights are still on. I am pulling hair out on this and I can’t figure out why it’s doing that. Does anyone know if the park lights have some sort of variable voltage or something? Has anyone else had this issue? How did you fix it? Thanks

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[HammaMan]

Try the blinker and see what happens

 

[KTM753]

^ This. If it does come on with the turn signal, your truck doesn't turn on turn signals with headlights on. Only when activating turn signal.

That is probably confusing because the turn signals both turn on in the scenarios you outlined. But I recently found this out too trying to get my halogen equiped truck to use turn signal as daytime running lamp instead of low beams.

 

[Winston]

I have the quad beam headlights. The turn signal is separate from the side marker/park lights. But for another example, like today, when I leave for work it’s still dark and while I’m driving it starts to lighten up. When I left the light wasn’t working but when I got to work, it was on. I don’t know at what point it decided to turn on but at this point I may just have to deal with it or just hook it up to ignition power. Blah!!

 

[HammaMan]

I think you think the light is on because they're in retroreflectors and you can't see them in the light.
Real simple trick, manually turn the parking lights to on, does the strip work? Turn them to off, now what?

I believe the harness you used is for connecting up raptor style grille markers which are tied into the parking lamps which do not run during the day (though I believe forscan can change this). The DRL circuit is its own discrete circuit on a FET and not accessible at the parking lamps. Haven't looked into this as I don't have/haven't desired such a product.

 

[Winston]

I think you think the light is on because they're in retroreflectors and you can't see them in the light.
Real simple trick, manually turn the parking lights to on, does the strip work? Turn them to off, now what?

I believe the harness you used is for connecting up raptor style grille markers which are tied into the parking lamps which do not run during the day (though I believe forscan can change this). The DRL circuit is its own discrete circuit on a FET and not accessible at the parking lamps. Haven't looked into this as I don't have/haven't desired such a product.

Thats not it. I only want it to come on at night with the parklights while the headlights are on. When I turn them on manually, the strip still doesn’t come on. It’s like temperamental, only comes on when it wants to lol. I might just say screw it and hook it up to ignition power. ??‍

 

[KTM753]

Maybe it's a supply voltage issue? Or ground?

Try putting 12 volts to the strip with a separate power supply and try it several times. See if it consistently turns on.

 

[HammaMan]

Hrm, sounds rather strange

 

[Winston]

I originally had it hooked up to ignition power in the fuse box and a chassis ground. Then I bought this pigtail. I’ve tried power from the pigtail and chassis ground. I’ve tried power and ground from the pigtail/ parklights I am kinda thinking it’s a variable voltage issue and something else, like a regulator chip of some sort needs to be added. I will look into that.

 

[HammaMan]

They're on FETs so they can vary the voltage/duty cycle depending on design. LEDs can pulse fast while a fet on an incandescent will act like a dimmer switch. If your light bar isn't designed for that it might not be happy.

 

[Winston]

Hmm. So maybe if I swap out my parks for LED that might work. I think it’s worth a try

 

[HammaMan]

Not sure where that idea came from but no, using an LED for a bulb likely won't change anything.

 

[Ford Motor Company]

I have one of those LED rope lights between the hood and grill. I have it wired into one of those aftermarket pigtails added to the park light harness behind the headlight fixture. I have auto headlights and when I unlock the truck, the light comes on with the park lights. When I remote start the Truck the light comes on with the park lights. When I get in and activate the ignition, the dam light turns off and the park lights are still on. I am pulling hair out on this and I can’t figure out why it’s doing that. Does anyone know if the park lights have some sort of variable voltage or something? Has anyone else had this issue? How did you fix it? Thanks

Hello! Send us a private message with your VIN and current mileage. Allow me to see what I can do to assist. Thanks!

 

[Gomex3]

So did you ever figure this out? I'm in the same boat.

 

[SilverPigeon]

...when I leave for work it’s still dark and while I’m driving it starts to lighten up. When I left the light wasn’t working but when I got to work, it was on.

This is "autolamps" behaviour, except that your added light is working opposite to intended. Maybe your pigtail has the wires crossed or some other oddity but it sure sounds like inverse autolamps to me.

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