AlfaOBD Support For 06~12 Rams

[N8033Fox]

Hi. My research is providing me mixed answers. Does any one know if it is possible to enable LED turn signal support using AlfaOBD on a 2010 Ram 1500? The couple of options that I find when searching for "led" under 'car configuration change' while in the BCM (TIPM) do not seem to be having an effect as I am still getting hyper flashing and 'rear turn signal' bulb out messages. Thanks in advance.

 

[RamDiver]

Hi. My research is providing me mixed answers. Does any one know if it is possible to enable LED turn signal support using AlfaOBD on a 2010 Ram 1500? The couple of options that I find when searching for "led" under 'car configuration change' while in the BCM (TIPM) do not seem to be having an effect as I am still getting hyper flashing and 'rear turn signal' bulb out messages. Thanks in advance.

The LED front turn signal option is not available for the MY2006-2012 Non-PowerNet.
These are the only LED options for those years.
It looks like you can tweak the rear turn lamps to fix any flickering and bulb-out problems.






To correct any flicker for the LED front signal lights, you will have to provide a clean power feed from the battery B+. You would have to check the schematic to see if there's any practical method of completing this mod.

And you will require a resistor kit for each light to prevent the bulb out messages.

The flicker is caused by the Pulse Wave Modulation (PWM) signal created for the Halogen bulbs.
And the bulb-out message is caused by a smaller load from LED bulbs compared to incandescent bulbs.


The LED Front turn lamps option in AlfaOBD starts with the MY2013 PowerNet and every year thereafter.




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[N8033Fox]

The LED front turn signal option is not available for the MY2006-2012 Non-PowerNet.
These are the only LED options for those years.
It looks like you can tweak the rear turn lamps to fix any flickering and bulb-out problems.

Thank you for your thorough and detailed explanation. I probably should have been more thorough in my OP. I recently replaced my factory style incandescent tail lights with the 13+ factory style LED tail lights. Knowing about the error messages and hyper flashing and prior to taking this task on, I checked AlfaOBD and saw the two entries: "Vehicle Config 4: Rear Led Stop..."; to which I thought I would be able to enabled the rear LED lighting and not have those problems and errors.

I bought new connectors and tail lamps and wired everything up and it works well, with the exception of the errors and hyper flashing.

Unless I am doing it incorrectly, when I make the change from "not present" to "present" on either rear LED setting, it does not seem to "stick" or apply. It seems to be married to "not present" for some reason, unless I am missing some steps somewhere. I believe that if I can get the change to reflect, that the issues would go away. Meanwhile, I did order resistors for the rear just in case. And if I ever want to replace the front with LED's; at least now I know how. ;-)

Cheers.

 

[RamDiver]

Thank you for your thorough and detailed explanation. I probably should have been more thorough in my OP. I recently replaced my factory style incandescent tail lights with the 13+ factory style LED tail lights. Knowing about the error messages and hyper flashing and prior to taking this task on, I checked AlfaOBD and saw the two entries: "Vehicle Config 4: Rear Led Stop..."; to which I thought I would be able to enabled the rear LED lighting and not have those problems and errors.

I bought new connectors and tail lamps and wired everything up and it works well, with the exception of the errors and hyper flashing.

Unless I am doing it incorrectly, when I make the change from "not present" to "present" on either rear LED setting, it does not seem to "stick" or apply. It seems to be married to "not present" for some reason, unless I am missing some steps somewhere. I believe that if I can get the change to reflect, that the issues would go away. Meanwhile, I did order resistors for the rear just in case. And if I ever want to replace the front with LED's; at least now I know how. ;-)

Cheers.

You're most welcome.

In my experience with AlfaOBD tweaks not staying applied, there is either a conflict with the requested settings or an AlfaOBD connection issue.

The conflict could be another setting elsewhere that is contrary to enabling the LED setting or a tweak that is not available on your vehicle.

That said, I did search for LED settings and posted the limited results above.

We should search for tail lamps to see if there's another setting that conflicts with setting the LED as present.

If the adjustment isn't available, AlfaOBD should provide a notification. Or, sometimes I see a failure to complete.

When you set the LED option as present, does the task complete as successful?

Then if you attempt to set it as Present again, AlfaOBD should inform you of the current state as already configured as Present.

I always verify tweaks by making a repeated request. I've also noticed with at least one tweak, the task completes almost instantly when there's usually a delay of 2 or 3 seconds for changes.

Then when the request is repeated, AlfaOBD indicates the option has not changed from the default and asks if you want to proceed.

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[N8033Fox]

When you set the LED option as present, does the task complete as successful?

Then if you attempt to set it as Present again, AlfaOBD should inform you of the current state as already configured as Present.

I always verify tweaks by making a repeated request. I've also noticed with at least one tweak, the task completes almost instantly when there's usually a delay of 2 or 3 seconds for changes.

Then when the request is repeated, AlfaOBD indicates the option has not changed from the default and asks if you want to proceed.

In some instances, it does say that the task completed. In other instances, it says the operation cannot be performed under the current configuration. In all cases, when I attempted to verify the tweak by a repeated request, it reverted back to the original "not present". I am wondering if this is because the body configuration is different from the LED parameter. The LED configuration parameters state "present for RT"; and if I recall correct, the RT is a caravan/t&c body...so that may be the limitation.

I already had Alfa so I was not out any cost on that, but I did end up having to wire up resistors to the rear turn signal/brake circuit. But the ends are worth the means. I really enjoy the LED output.

 

[RamDiver]

In some instances, it does say that the task completed. In other instances, it says the operation cannot be performed under the current configuration. In all cases, when I attempted to verify the tweak by a repeated request, it reverted back to the original "not present". I am wondering if this is because the body configuration is different from the LED parameter. The LED configuration parameters state "present for RT"; and if I recall correct, the RT is a caravan/t&c body...so that may be the limitation.

I already had Alfa so I was not out any cost on that, but I did end up having to wire up resistors to the rear turn signal/brake circuit. But the ends are worth the means. I really enjoy the LED output.

You may be correct about the RT qualification. I see it refers to minivans.
The pre-2013 Non-PowerNet vehicles have limited LED tweaks available in AlfaOBD.

Were you able to correct the outstanding bulb-out issues by adding resistors?

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[N8033Fox]

Were you able to correct the outstanding bulb-out issues by adding resistors?

Yes. Adding one 6 ohm resistor to each rear corner on the brake/turn signal side of the circuit resolved the errors. I could have cleared them, but to ensure proper function, I activated each turn direction and waited for each message to "self clear" in the message center, to which they did. In my opinion, the self clear confirms a sufficient resistance to simulate the bulb for the TIPM. In my particular case, I did not have to provide a "clean" 12v to the lights, the OE harness coupled with the resistor seems to work just dandy.

 

[RamDiver]

Yes. Adding one 6 ohm resistor to each rear corner on the brake/turn signal side of the circuit resolved the errors. I could have cleared them, but to ensure proper function, I activated each turn direction and waited for each message to "self clear" in the message center, to which they did. In my opinion, the self clear confirms a sufficient resistance to simulate the bulb for the TIPM. In my particular case, I did not have to provide a "clean" 12v to the lights, the OE harness coupled with the resistor seems to work just dandy.

Thanks for the update and for providing the solution.

Do you have a link to the load resistors?

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[N8033Fox]

Do you have a link to the load resistors?

You're most welcome.

I do have the link, although I'm sure they all do the same thing comparatively. I have no basis for my selection other than the color preference. Time will tell how reliable they are; if I get a turn signal bulb out message in the rear then I'll know that it likely failed. Interestingly, when I checked the resistance of the original 3157 bulb through the socket and about 6 inches of wire (what I replaced with LED); the resistance came in much higher at closer to 250K Ohm ...but I think my meter battery is failing also.

Amazon.com

 

[RamDiver]

You're most welcome.

I do have the link, although I'm sure they all do the same thing comparatively. I have no basis for my selection other than the color preference. Time will tell how reliable they are; if I get a turn signal bulb out message in the rear then I'll know that it likely failed.

Amazon.com

Thanks, that's very helpful for others searching for a solution.

The next time you happen to have that area of the truck opened up, a few pics would be fabulous, too.

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[N8033Fox]

The next time you happen to have that area of the truck opened up, a few pics would be fabulous, too.

Whilst I did not want to detract from the original AlfaOBD support thread with photos of a personal project, interested parties can find the complete write-up here: https://www.ramforum.com/threads/wr...010-ram-myth-fact-and-lessons-learned.225262/

 

[RamDiver]

Whilst I did not want to detract from the original AlfaOBD support thread with photos of a personal project, interested parties can find the complete write-up here: https://www.ramforum.com/threads/wr...010-ram-myth-fact-and-lessons-learned.225262/

Thanks, that's perfect!

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