Brake lights not working - Except third brake light (Fault sense removal)

[Oskar_Swede]

Hello!
Im new to the Ram platform and so far quite happy with my Ram 1500 Laramie 2016, coming from BMW X5.

Yesterday i installed some AliExpress 5th gen replica tail lights but have some small issues. The main one is my brake lights. They work for a few seconds but then stops working, and the fuse box stops recieving power to the asscociated fuses. I need to disconnect my battery and reconnect again for them to work for a little bit again, then the same happens. All the time my third brake light on the cab is working. The car has a bit of a rebuilt harness for our euro laws, so thats probably also messing with all of this.

I assume there is a PDM that controls the power to the fuse box and that detects some kind of fault in the circuit and cuts the power. Is is possible with some kind of software to disable the "fault sense" of the brake light circuits? (common and i do this on my BMWs). That would be the easiest!

I have seen AlfaOBD, would that do the trick?

Sorry for some noob questions..

Greetings from Sweden!

 

[Dredger]

Hello!

Yesterday i installed some AliExpress 5th gen replica tail lights . . .

Honestly, there's your problem. Return them if it's possible and get a better set. There are many threads on here about which aftermarket taillights work with these trucks. Maybe someone will chime in about what they've used.

 

[09SilverRam]

I installed VIPMotoZ LED tails and haven’t had issue with them. They were listed as having a resistor to keep the computer from triggering bulb out on LED. I don’t see the ones I bought on Amazon any longer.

The sockets corrode though, replacing the sockets is key. I just used Dorman sockets from Rock for like $14 for a pair.

 

[04fxdwgi]

The fuse box IS the PDM and has a full board of electronic components in there.
If you went to LED lights from std incandescent lamps, Use AlfaOBD to change the lamp type in the BCM (body control module).
BCM knows when lamp current is not correct (usually).

PS: Aliexpress is usually super cheap for a reason. Chalk it up as a learning experience and trash those things.