4th Gen LED to LED Morimoto Harness Help

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beardoctane

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Hello guys, new to the forums here. So I apologize if this should be posted elsewhere etc. With that being said, any/all help is greatly appreciated!

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I have a 2016 Ram 1500 Laramie that comes stock with LED Tail Lights. I came across a good deal on the Morimoto Tail Led Tail Lights, as I already have the Morimoto Head Lights, and am trying make the lights match up. Now, as many of you already know where this discussion is going, I am looking for some help with creating a harness that will allow for the Morimoto tail lights to work with my current setup.

I did some bench testing, and here is what I determined for wire color coding: (if I'm incorrect on these, please let me know)

STOCK LED HARNESS: (harness that is actually connected to the stock tail light)
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • Yellow - Running/Park (+)
  • Purple - Reverse (+)
  • Green - Turn Signal (+)
MORIMOTO LED HARNESS: (harness that is actually connected to the morimoto tail light)
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • White - Reverse (+)
  • Blue - Running/Park (+)
  • Red - Turn Signal (+)
With the above info, from what I can tell is accurate, would I be able to simply create a new harness? I've been reading about the "bulb out" warning in relation to the central body controller (cbc). I've also seen suggestions of adding a relay, a voltage reducer etc.

Has anyone actually created a harness for this type of setup, and if so, was it successful? I am looking to create my own and want to just confirm the wiring layout/configuration. I'm not a wiring expert but get the concept. Again, I am new to this model and am looking to come up with a solution because I've searched high & low and reached out to several harness companies with no luck at this time. There has to be a way lol

I have some wiring parts coming in tomorrow, so I will do some more testing and update my findings. Again, any input is welcomed!

~joe
 

chrisbh17

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I'll verify the listed pinouts later but your theory is sound. Ultimately there aren't really that many required connections for most taillights

I've never made this specific harness but I think the mating version of the 6 pin led connector on the truck is available so you could make it as clean as a factory install

Since you have a 16 I believe the is a setting available in alfaobd to disable the rear lighting dtc, which should ignore the lamp detection lead. When I converted to factory led taillights with my own harness, I did not run the lamp out detection wire.... Changed the setting in alfa and never got a warning. I went from factory halogens to factory LEDs. No resistors or error cancellers, just wire, a few connectors and some changes with alfa

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RedSRT4Me

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Hello guys, new to the forums here. So I apologize if this should be posted elsewhere etc. With that being said, any/all help is greatly appreciated!

-----

I have a 2016 Ram 1500 Laramie that comes stock with LED Tail Lights. I came across a good deal on the Morimoto Tail Led Tail Lights, as I already have the Morimoto Head Lights, and am trying make the lights match up. Now, as many of you already know where this discussion is going, I am looking for some help with creating a harness that will allow for the Morimoto tail lights to work with my current setup.

I did some bench testing, and here is what I determined for wire color coding: (if I'm incorrect on these, please let me know)

STOCK LED HARNESS: (harness that is actually connected to the stock tail light)
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • Yellow - Running/Park (+)
  • Purple - Reverse (+)
  • Green - Turn Signal (+)
MORIMOTO LED HARNESS: (harness that is actually connected to the morimoto tail light)
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • White - Reverse (+)
  • Blue - Running/Park (+)
  • Red - Turn Signal (+)
With the above info, from what I can tell is accurate, would I be able to simply create a new harness? I've been reading about the "bulb out" warning in relation to the central body controller (cbc). I've also seen suggestions of adding a relay, a voltage reducer etc.

Has anyone actually created a harness for this type of setup, and if so, was it successful? I am looking to create my own and want to just confirm the wiring layout/configuration. I'm not a wiring expert but get the concept. Again, I am new to this model and am looking to come up with a solution because I've searched high & low and reached out to several harness companies with no luck at this time. There has to be a way lol

I have some wiring parts coming in tomorrow, so I will do some more testing and update my findings. Again, any input is welcomed!

~joe

Can you just repin the tail light harness side ( swap the middle pins so they match reverse, running/park ) and should be good to go?
 

chrisbh17

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Can you just repin the tail light harness side ( swap the middle pins so they match reverse, running/park ) and should be good to go?

Since the Morimotos were made for non-LED-taillight trucks, Im guessing the wiring connectors will not match even after moving the pins.

Depending on what connectors/pins they used the pins might actually fit in place into the correct mating connector, but I doubt they used the exact same pins as what would go into the factory connector.
 

chrisbh17

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This should be the correct mating connector (opposite "gender" of what comes from the truck side):

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Aptiv-formerly-Delphi/54200612/?qs=HumNWfwekiFsaZcq2LmuwA==

The pinout for the connector already on the truck:

upload_2021-1-15_16-15-7.png



With that, they would remove the connector from the Morimoto taillight, crimp on the correct pins for the factory mating connector, insert them into the mating connector so they match up with the above pinout when connected and thats it. Just need to make sure you know what lead on the Morimoto is what (OP seems to know already but can verify with a 12V power supply).

There is no fault sense lead on the Morimoto, but disabling the rear lighting DTC setting should take care of that.

The beauty of this solution is no resistors, cancellers, etc and it plugs in just like stock. The drawback is having to cut the Morimoto harness, but those could probably always be re-bought if necessary.
 

RedSRT4Me

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This should be the correct mating connector (opposite "gender" of what comes from the truck side):

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Aptiv-formerly-Delphi/54200612/?qs=HumNWfwekiFsaZcq2LmuwA==

The pinout for the connector already on the truck:

View attachment 234041



With that, they would remove the connector from the Morimoto taillight, crimp on the correct pins for the factory mating connector, insert them into the mating connector so they match up with the above pinout when connected and thats it. Just need to make sure you know what lead on the Morimoto is what (OP seems to know already but can verify with a 12V power supply).

There is no fault sense lead on the Morimoto, but disabling the rear lighting DTC setting should take care of that.

The beauty of this solution is no resistors, cancellers, etc and it plugs in just like stock. The drawback is having to cut the Morimoto harness, but those could probably always be re-bought if necessary.

Now all we need is the schematic of the Morimoto tail light to match it all up.
 
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beardoctane

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Chris, thanks for the great info! Before seeing your post, I did order the connectors from amazon (much more expensive obv, but wanted to make a clean install). Since we are getting the ball rolling, I'll try to take pix of everything as I go along. As I got a chance tonight to sit down and start to repin the test connectors that I picked up.

Here is the stock tail light harness attached to the stock headlight assembly, with the following info learned from bench testing:
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • Yellow - Running/Park (+)
  • Purple - Reverse (+)
  • Green - Turn Signal (+)
  • Red ? - Have to retest this...just caught that I don't have it listed here!
IMG_4945.jpg

Now, here is the Morimoto tail light assembly, with the following info learned from bench testing:
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • White - Reverse (+)
  • Blue - Running/Park (+)
  • Red - Turn Signal (+)
IMG_4944.jpg
IMG_4943.jpg


Here are pix of the actually tail light wire harness coming from the truck, which would then plug and play into the stock led tail light pigtail harness that's connected to the actual tail light itself:
IMG_5071.jpg

IMG_5070.jpg

So, with these photos, here are the wire colors for the right side tail light (passenger side):

TRUCK HARNESS | TAIL LIGHT HARNESS | PIN (According to Connector Diagram)
Black | Black | 1 - Ground
White/Green | Green | 2 - Stop Lamp Driver
White/Brown | Red | 3 - Fault Sense
White/Orange | Yellow | 4 - Backup Lamp Driver
White/Blue | Purple | 6 - Park Lamp Driver


Now...with the diagram Chris provided for the connector/pin descriptors, Pin 3 (White/Brown | Red) is Fault Sense wire.

I think tomorrow I will do a little more bench testing to confirm everything and get an update to you guys. As I want to make sure my wire coding is correct 100% from bench testing. My biggest concern/mystery I would like to solve (if possible), is the fault sense wire (Pin 3 - White/Brown | Red). As my goal is to be able to create a "true" plug and play harness. Whether that is with a resistor, relay etc hardwired into the harness or not. As I am not sure if it is full 12 volts or if I need to bring it down to 3 volts...? In theory, the remainder of the wiring should be a simple repin and/or new connectors to make it a clean harness, if at all possible...

Or do we just simply match up the pins with a clean harness, but still have to use that software to keep it from reading the light out warning...?

I'll update this thread with my results tomorrow. Seriously appreciate everyone's input, stay safe!

~joe
 
Last edited:

chrisbh17

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Chris, thanks for the great info! Before seeing your post, I did order the connectors from amazon (much more expensive obv, but wanted to make a clean install). Since we are getting the ball rolling, I'll try to take pix of everything as I go along. As I got a chance tonight to sit down and start to repin the test connectors that I picked up.

Here is the stock tail light harness attached to the stock headlight assembly, with the following info learned from bench testing:
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • Yellow - Running/Park (+)
  • Purple - Reverse (+)
  • Green - Turn Signal (+)
  • Red ? - Have to retest this...just caught that I don't have it listed here!
IMG_4945.jpg

Now, here is the Morimoto tail light assembly, with the following info learned from bench testing:
  • Black - Ground (-) (x2)
  • White - Reverse (+)
  • Blue - Running/Park (+)
  • Red - Turn Signal (+)
IMG_4944.jpg
IMG_4943.jpg


Here are pix of the actually tail light wire harness coming from the truck, which would then plug and play into the stock led tail light pigtail harness that's connected to the actual tail light itself:
IMG_5071.jpg

IMG_5070.jpg

So, with these photos, here are the wire colors for the right side tail light (passenger side):

TRUCK HARNESS | TAIL LIGHT HARNESS | PIN (According to Connector Diagram)
Black | Black | 1 - Ground
White/Green | Green | 2 - Stop Lamp Driver
White/Brown | Red | 3 - Fault Sense
White/Orange | Yellow | 4 - Backup Lamp Driver
White/Blue | Purple | 6 - Park Lamp Driver


Now...with the diagram Chris provided for the connector/pin descriptors, Pin 3 (White/Brown | Red) is Fault Sense wire.

I think tomorrow I will do a little more bench testing to confirm everything and get an update to you guys. As I want to make sure my wire coding is correct 100% from bench testing. My biggest concern/mystery I would like to solve (if possible), is the fault sense wire (Pin 3 - White/Brown | Red). As my goal is to be able to create a "true" plug and play harness. Whether that is with a resistor, relay etc hardwired into the harness or not. As I am not sure if it is full 12 volts or if I need to bring it down to 3 volts...? In theory, the remainder of the wiring should be a simple repin and/or new connectors to make it a clean harness, if at all possible...

Or do we just simply match up the pins with a clean harness, but still have to use that software to keep it from reading the light out warning...?

I'll update this thread with my results tomorrow. Seriously appreciate everyone's input, stay safe!

~joe

If you have AlfaOBD at your disposal, I would just go with disabling the rear DTC warning and not connect the fault sense lead to anything. To try and mimick how the stock setup works will require stuff other than just basic wiring. I know its not hard or complicated, but having only wires and connectors is a lot cleaner and pretty much impossible for things to go wrong.

I built a taillight harness that uses the 3 pin and 2 pin from the truck and attaches directly to the factory LED taillights. Didnt even convert to the 6 pin first, even saved some $$$ because the taillights were sold without those impossible-to-find pigtails. No resistors, error cancellers, etc.

My truck did not have the fault sense lead (trucks without factory LEDs dont have the lead), but I disabled the rear lighting DTC anyway.

BTW, the Morimoto plugs seem to be what would match up with the halogen-based trucks (expected). The pinouts for those connections on the truck side are:

upload_2021-1-19_10-44-40.png


upload_2021-1-19_10-45-17.png
 

RedSRT4Me

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So I have a couple questions.

I was under the impression the signal was using 5v vs 3v?

Aside of that what's known is the voltage would be the same on both styles of trucks? At least that's how I'm reading it.

Where it differs is the additional wiring needed for the LED system or is it the pwm feature enabled with LED?
 

chrisbh17

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If you are referring to 3v or 5v in regards to the "fault sense" I do not know, as I dont have a truck with the fault sense on it.

I did not make any changes to Alfa other than enabling LED taillights (maybe that changes PWM and voltage?) and disabled the rear lighting DTC feature.

I tested the taillights on a bench before installation, using my 12V power supply. They didnt blow up, so Im thinking there is not a voltage difference based on the taillights being set to LED or not.
 

RedSRT4Me

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If you are referring to 3v or 5v in regards to the "fault sense" I do not know, as I dont have a truck with the fault sense on it.

I did not make any changes to Alfa other than enabling LED taillights (maybe that changes PWM and voltage?) and disabled the rear lighting DTC feature.

I tested the taillights on a bench before installation, using my 12V power supply. They didnt blow up, so Im thinking there is not a voltage difference based on the taillights being set to LED or not.

Correct alfa sets the appropriate settings with pwm dtc etc
 
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beardoctane

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If you have AlfaOBD at your disposal, I would just go with disabling the rear DTC warning and not connect the fault sense lead to anything. To try and mimick how the stock setup works will require stuff other than just basic wiring. I know its not hard or complicated, but having only wires and connectors is a lot cleaner and pretty much impossible for things to go wrong.

Can't argue with that Chris! I'll try to pick up an AlfaOBD and see if I can disable the fault sense connector that way.

BTW, the Morimoto plugs seem to be what would match up with the halogen-based trucks (expected).

Yes, exactly correct as they are plug & play for the halogen tails. Do you know where I could find these connectors by chance? As I may grab a couple to just make an overall clean harness, then finish it up with the AlfaOBD.

Thanks Chris, truly appreciate the feedback!
~joe
 

chrisbh17

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Can't argue with that Chris! I'll try to pick up an AlfaOBD and see if I can disable the fault sense connector that way.



Yes, exactly correct as they are plug & play for the halogen tails. Do you know where I could find these connectors by chance? As I may grab a couple to just make an overall clean harness, then finish it up with the AlfaOBD.

Thanks Chris, truly appreciate the feedback!
~joe

The mating connector for the 3 pin that is on the truck is basically impossible to find an exact match. I used this instead, carefully cutting off the "wings" that prevent it from connecting. If you do it right it will become an interference fit that will take a lot of effort to remove, so it should stay in there pretty well:

https://www.amazon.com/TOMALL-Connector-Headlights-Retrofit-Extension/dp/B07KYFB7ND

IIRC you'll need to swap 2 of the leads so they line up correctly with the truck side. Ground on the truck is not in the center of the connector. Or leave them as-is but use different color electrical tape to signify which is which.

The mating connector for the 2 pin is easy to find (need 2, buy 3 or 4 just in case):

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/molex/34675-0001

and the pins for that connector (need 4, buy extras just in case):

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/molex/34080-1204
 

Houston Peterson

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Any update with the harness you made up? I just recieved my set of morimotos and wasn't aware I had factory leds. I came up with the same idea as you but have had a hell of a time finding the factory halogen connectors to build my own harness as well. So is it a resistor in the harness that came with the taillights? I tried the plug and play by bypassing the harness they sent obviously plugs don't match and had identical results with the taillights going out and an error about parking light being out. Hope you've got some good news and the idea works with a quick flash of the computer. Thanks brother!
 
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beardoctane

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Hey brother, actually I was able to create my harness! After a few re-pins & soldering, I made a clean plug & play harness. I did get the “bulb out” warning on the cluster. I’ve been slammed at work, so tomorrow I’m going to go through and shut the signal off with the obd-mx+. So I’ll update you guys asap this weekend, hopefully with a more direct way to handle the led tails > led morimotos.
 

Houston Peterson

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Sounds good . You don't by chance have a direct link for the 2 and 3 pin Female connectors to plug into the morimoto h harness do ya? Those links were to a generic page and there's tons of options, not exactly sure how to narrow it down. Good luck with it man! Hope to hear some good news!
 

chrisbh17

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Sounds good . You don't by chance have a direct link for the 2 and 3 pin Female connectors to plug into the morimoto h harness do ya? Those links were to a generic page and there's tons of options, not exactly sure how to narrow it down. Good luck with it man! Hope to hear some good news!
https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...KIuloyba55LF6atPJdu0covSY4EBkNKK2%2BYdIlUEw==

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetai...TTPqv8kRQtZaRx9LkfVCkxb%2BQp%2BArC5TyggKVJQ==

Try those... Not sure why the old ones broke but these should work.

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