Headlight help!

[ashofborg88]

I have a 2015 1500 and I cant get my headlights working. After hitting an elk I replaced the housings with aftermarket ones. Got everything put back together and my lights worked fine for a couple weeks. With said new headlights I also had to replace the grill, I got one with DRLs on it. So I tried wiring in those. Bam lights don't work. I take the wiring back to stock. Lights still don't work. I realize I stupidly plugged the harness in backward. (Highbeam/lowbeam to the blinkers and blinkers to High/low). I switched those back and got blinkers and lowbeam back for about 5 min then nothing. I've looked for fuses and cant find anything there. Looked online and tried a few things like checking connectors and all seems good. Any ideas on what could be wrong?

 

[blue ghost]

First i would check to see if you are getting any voltage to the lights. If you are check the after market lights. If not check fuses/ wiring harness. Then check the wiring. Good Luck.

 

[David H]

The 2015s do seem to be finicky when it comes to aftermarket lights. You may need to make changes to the vehicles configuration via alfaobd or similar and that is not a guaranteed fix.

 

[ashofborg88]

The new headlights are still halogen bulbs. I only replaced the lens/housing. I wouldn't think that would make a difference?

 

[RamDiver]

The new headlights are still halogen bulbs. I only replaced the lens/housing. I wouldn't think that would make a difference?

Please provide a link to the aftermarket headlight housings.
Have you reached out to the distributor for guidance and wiring recommendations?

If they're in the business of outfitting Ram trucks, they should have a clue about any required retrofitting tweaks.


And, to Ram Forum.

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[ashofborg88]

Hey everyone, I got functional lights again. Thanks for all the help. In my frustration I forgot to mention I had put LED bulbs in. So my fix was put the halogen bulbs back in and reset the BMC. I do have one question left. Why doesn't it like LED bulbs?

 

[DILLIGAF]

Why doesn't it like LED bulbs?

Because you didnt use Alpha ODB to set them

 

[David H]

Why doesn't it like LED bulbs?

I'm no expert but this is how I understand it. LED bulbs use so much less power the trucks computers think the light is not working and does odd things because of this. Some vehicles are more sensitive than others and the 2015 Ram seems to be the worst.
I've swapped nearly all my halogens to LED and have had zero issues...so far.

 

[D1DAVE]

Good job. I used a company called Fahren. Plug and play and really clean white light. Amazon has them. I can't find the link to show you which ones I bought. Think they have been superceded. No problems the last 18 months or so of use.

 

[Jacob Maguire]

the ol' CANBUS sensitivity of the '15!
Chineseium LEDs are prone to this, flickering, or erratic operation.
Quality LEDs help but may require CANBUS resistors or reconfiguration to LED within ECM/BCM.

I'm running HIDs with canbus resistors. 4 years later, minimal issues. Replaced bulbs once or twice over that time.

 

[dpinvidic]

the ol' CANBUS sensitivity of the '15!
Chineseium LEDs are prone to this, flickering, or erratic operation.
Quality LEDs help but may require CANBUS resistors or reconfiguration to LED within ECM/BCM.

I'm running HIDs with canbus resistors. 4 years later, minimal issues. Replaced bulbs once or twice over that time.

The resistors you are talking about are simply resistors that are in parallel with the LED 's. Since LED's use much leass current, the resistors are needed to pass more current so the BCM (electronics) thinks it is a normal incandecent bulb. Without the resistor, it thinks the bulb is burned out, this causes Hyper Flash on your turn signals.

The CAN bus "does" have resistors, but only two of them, one at each end of the CAN bus for proper termination

 

[Big_Bill]

Please!!
If the buckets are designed for halogen bulbs, do NOT put LEDs in them. Those buckets have different shapes and lenses than those used for LEDs. You will blind everyone you approach, as well as fuel the dislike for LED headlights.

 

[14ramdjh]

Hey everyone, I got functional lights again. Thanks for all the help. In my frustration I forgot to mention I had put LED bulbs in. So my fix was put the halogen bulbs back in and reset the BMC. I do have one question left. Why doesn't it like LED bulbs?

its the brand of led my 2014 likes them just fine

 

[CaptOchs]

My 2013 occasionally shows a headlight out on the dash since switching over to LEDs that are "Canbus approved."

The resistors you are talking about are simply resistors that are in parallel with the LED 's. Since LED's use much leass current, the resistors are needed to pass more current so the BCM (electronics) thinks it is a normal incandecent bulb. Without the resistor, it thinks the bulb is burned out, this causes Hyper Flash on your turn signals.

The CAN bus "does" have resistors, but only two of them, one at each end of the CAN bus for proper termination

That explains it. I have a 2013 and switched over to LEDs last summer. I get a popup that a highlight is out even though it's not. They also flicker slightly when starting up. They are marketed as "canbus approved" so I took a chance on them. Do you either have a link to the resisters or link to bulbs that work without issue?

 

[RamDiver]

Hey everyone, I got functional lights again. Thanks for all the help. In my frustration I forgot to mention I had put LED bulbs in. So my fix was put the halogen bulbs back in and reset the BMC. I do have one question left. Why doesn't it like LED bulbs?

If you would like to try and sort out your LED bulbs, we will need more information.

Please post a link for the aftermarket housings and LED bulbs that you're having a problem with. The Projector-style housings are the best type for upgrading to LED.

Some LED bulbs are plug-and-play; some are not. Also, for a 2015 truck, you may require a few tweaks to have success.

I have both Auxito and Fahren LED bulbs in my truck. They were plug-and-play, but after about 6 months, I noticed an ever-so-slight flicker in one of the low beams.

After upgrading to LED bulbs in the reverse lights and third brake light, I set everything to LED using AlfaOBD. No more flicker.

One bonus for your 2015 truck is that you will not require a security bypass cable to use AlfaOBD.




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[RamDiver]

My 2013 occasionally shows a headlight out on the dash since switching over to LEDs that are "Canbus approved."

That explains it. I have a 2013 and switched over to LEDs last summer. I get a popup that a highlight is out even though it's not. They also flicker slightly when starting up. They are marketed as "canbus approved" so I took a chance on them. Do you either have a link to the resisters or link to bulbs that work without issue?

If you already have the LED bulbs installed and they are flickering, that is a configuration issue that can likely be sorted with AlfaOBD. See the AlfaOBD setting posted in the previous post.

When our trucks are configured for incandescent lamps (halogen), they use a PWM signal (pulse-width modulation), which creates a flicker effect on many LED bulbs.

By changing the configuration to an LED bulb present, the PWM signal is disabled, and a steady DC power is supplied to the bulbs.

The bulb-out dashboard notifications seem to be a hit-and-miss, dependent on the specific LED bulb and truck vintage. A few members have lucked out after switching the BCM to LED present and had no further grief; others have required an end-of-line resistor.

As previously mentioned, I've had success with low-profile Fahren and Auxito bulbs, but I would recommend starting with using AlfaOBD to change the configuration to LED. You wouldn't be too impressed if you changed the LED bulbs and still had the same issues.

You should know that 2012 & 2013, I suspect, are the most challenging years to obtain success with LED upgrades. They are a complete hit or miss, so why not live on the edge and try it?

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[Carib909]

Because you didnt use Alpha ODB to set them

What is “Alpha OBD”?

 

[Carib909]

Will this work?

 

[RamDiver]

What is “Alpha OBD”?

AlfaOBD

The recommended interface types are listed on this site.

AlfaOBD allows you to tweak the settings in the BCM and other modules, allowing customizations to your preferences.

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[FAAQ2]

Hey everyone, I got functional lights again. Thanks for all the help. In my frustration I forgot to mention I had put LED bulbs in. So my fix was put the halogen bulbs back in and reset the BMC. I do have one question left. Why doesn't it like LED bulbs?

It may be like my Can am, Spyder - you can't change to after Market bulbs as the system detects a change that it determines is a defect. Halogen bulbs and LED bulbs are not the same - LED bulbs are much lower energy use. IMO !