IMPORTANT LED Replacement Bulb Info For 02-06 rams

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Demon-HeMi

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I made this post on other forums so i copied and pasted it here for anyone who is wanting to add "plug in" style LED bulbs in their tail lights, so if you have any questions ill be happy to help...


"Ok, for anyone who wants to add LED replacement bulbs to our rams, and they have a 02-06 ram with the circut boards on the tails, most charts will tell you to use a 3057 bulb, more commonly known as a 3157, well what most wont know is that there are whats called a 3157 SRCK bulb, so what that means that the 2 bulb types share plug sockets but the wiring in the sockets are different, now why is this little bit of information important, because the use of a regular 3157 LED bulb can cause a few different things to happen, some as simple as the bulb just not working, but also a bulb i tested actually caused a short in the system, which had it been hooked up to the truck, it would have shorted out the FCM, and we all know the FCM is not something to mess with on our truck, and its not a cheap part to mess up on a regular basis, so in short if you are going to replace the bulbs in your tails with LED bulbs BE VERY CAREFULL, if you get the wrong one it can be a costly mistake.

now this only applies to the TAIL LIGHT CIRCUT BOARDS, of an 02-06 ram, no where else is this a concern to our trucks, if you have an 07-up, you dont even need to be reading this

Below is a few PIX that show the difference in the wiring between the 2 bulb types"
 

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wedge775

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How do you know what bulb to get? Just compare the bulbs in the rail to the one in the pics? The ones in my rail all look like the 3157 with the four leads
 
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Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

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its a matter of SRCK and regular bulbs, if the LEDs do not say SRCK when you are buying them, then they arent compatable with the tail lights boards of the 02-06 rams
 

TexasCornBread

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Demon-hemi is very knowledgeable about lights he is a light god . I have several sets of lights from him . He is a personal fried of mine but he backs any work of his and helps people out suck as this post .


If you can't dodge it RAM it !
 

03MopaRamman

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Thanks, good info, years back I tried an Led and it didn't work, maybe I will start with a 3157 SRCK if I can find one around here.
 

jdram

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even for the reverse lights?
 

Hemiram

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Do I have to worry about this if I am buying a regular incandescent?
 
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Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

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Do I have to worry about this if I am buying a regular incandescent?

no with halogen bulbs there is no problem with any of them
 

Stangshcky12

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So I ordered a set of LED bulbs before I saw this
You can apparently use regular 3157 LED for the reverse. They only have two prongs in the socket while the others have 4 prongs

I tried the LED bulbs that I got, blew the left side taillight fuse as soon as I turned the lights on.
Dan will the 3157 bulb work for my dads 4th gen brake lights?
 
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Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

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So I ordered a set of LED bulbs before I saw this
You can apparently use regular 3157 LED for the reverse. They only have two prongs in the socket while the others have 4 prongs

I tried the LED bulbs that I got, blew the left side taillight fuse as soon as I turned the lights on.
Dan will the 3157 bulb work for my dads 4th gen brake lights?

they should work on a 4th gen, they work on an 07-08 so i have no reason to suspect them to not work on an 09 and up
 
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Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

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yes
 

EWC88

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I know this isn't the tail lights, but is there anything I should look out for when doing LEDs for license plate and interior?
 
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Demon-HeMi

Demon-HeMi

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License plate lights on a 3rd gen, ive never had any issues with anything, just plug and go, the interior lights you may or may not need a small resistor in them to keep them from having a slight glow to them at all times, it all varies on the LED and how its made as to if you will need one
 

JAMMAN

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I put a LED middle stop light on mine, it included whites for the bed light. It does glow faintly all the time (the white ones), so far I just live with it. Anyone know what the highest ohm resistor I could put in there to stop the glow? Seems like too low would heat up or cause other problems.

I wish there was a way to reprogram the thing that alerts you when a light is out to simply feel for less of a draw, putting resistors on LED's seems like it is defeating one of the purposes of a LED in the first place.... lower amperage draw. I tried LED turn signals in my clear lenses in the front, hyperflash and a message. I kinda expected it though.
 
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What about aftermarket led brake light assembly's will that fry the circuitry they plug into the light harness.
 

Rebelemtp

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Thanks for the information! would have saved money if i had found this post. but now at least i have bright backup lights. now to get the right ones for the break and turn signals.
 
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