Interesting Fog Light Issue

[Robert Fassett]

2015 Ram 1500, 4x2, Crew Cab, Hemi 5.7, Bright White, 105k miles

Aftermarket LED's installed. Just acquired the truck, so don't really have much history.

Fog lights were working fine, then suddenly the driver side fog light went dark. Ok, easy - I'll just replace the light. Turned the truck off, then back on for something else.. and wait a minute, the fog light turns on. But only for a moment, then it flickers and goes dark again. Might flicker a time or two, before staying dark.

Weird part is, it always turns on when the truck turns over, then turns off.

Meanwhile, the passenger fog light is working fine. It responds to the fog light switch, it comes on stays on, it turns off.. yada yada. Just the driver side is acting wonky.

I fiddled around with the wiring, but it all looks good. Unplugged from the harness, shook loose any dirt, wiped it down and plugged everything back in. Again, it turns on when the truck starts up, then turns off.

I speculate that the fog light itself has gone bad, but wanted to send a message out to the ether and see if anyone had any suggestions.

My next troubleshooting item would be to completely unwire it and see if turns on straight to the battery. And great if it works. But have absolutely no idea what to do if that's the case.

 

[Daw14]

Don’t know how its wired but maybe a relay issue.

 

[lpennock]

Did you try swapping the bulbs between sides?

The way the truck checks the bulb is why it come on and then turns off. It is only done when truck is running. The truck will turn off the circuit for too high current draw (desirable protection) and too low current (brain dead design). If previous owner just used CANBUS bulbs your bulb has probably dropped below minimum current.

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[Robert Fassett]

Was able to get the original owner to send me info of the LED’s he bought, so I could 1, replace if needed and 2, get the info..

So here’s the info:

Amazon

iJDMTOY Dual LED Pod Light Fog Lamp Kit Compatible With 2013-18 Dodge RAM 1500, Includes (4) 20W High Power CREE LED Cubes, Foglight Location Mounting Brackets & Wiring/Adapter Harnesses


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[NJMOPAR]

So you have replacement Chinese fog 'pods'.
I'd just replace both with OEM style and some nice LED bulbs to go in them.
Something like these:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01H823N4M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6h3MFbRV6NWP6

 

[Robert Fassett]

I will go that route of some troubleshooting doesn’t yield results. In talking with the previous owner, he admitted that his wiring skills weren’t too great. So I’m going to take it all apart and re-wire them to see if that helps.

Thank you for the direct link!


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[JB1]

Your truck is working like it should, with the led bulbs low resistance it thinks you have a bulb out. Put halogens in or add a resistor and it'll probably work fine. The 2015's seem to be very sensitive to the canbus system.

 

[Robert Fassett]

I bought the load equalizer and installed.. good news, I can get one of the dual led cubes to light up. If I add in the other light, it goes back to flashing.

So I ran 2 load equalizers, 1 for each light. But doesn’t help.

I can only get one or the other to work, but not both.

I’m 75% of the way there!


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[Robert Fassett]

Any suggestions on how to wire for both cubes?


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[Robert Fassett]

Been messing around with the wiring and here’s what I’ve tried:

4 cubes, 2 per side.

All 4 lights connected, no load equalizers = both passenger on, driver side off.

Load equalizer connected to either driver side cube = both passenger on, driver single cube

Load equalizer connected to both driver side cubes each = both passenger on, both driver off

No load equalizers at all, single cube connected on each side = both driver and passenger on

Driver side cubes wired together with load equalizer, duplicated on passenger side = both passenger on, both driver off

Still trying to figure out how to get all 4 cubes to turn on.



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[Robert Fassett]

I’m over it. Just going to leave it as a single cube on both sides. Will replace them with halogens down the road and go back to oem replacements.

I’ll stick these LED’s on my Jeep as rear facing lights


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[NJMOPAR]

I'd just toss them and start fresh on both vehicles.

 

[lpennock]

Any suggestions on how to wire for both cubes?


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I would use the load resistors on the solenoid side of a relay which is connected to the truck lead.. Then wire the pods to the switched side of the relay.

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[Robert Fassett]

I'd just toss them and start fresh on both vehicles.

Haha.. the Jeep is perfect - no issues there and nothing to replace. I’ve been wanting to add rear lighting for crawling.. so it’s a win win and I’ll just hook them up direct to the battery and a flip switch inside the cab.

The Ram is just to tow the Jeep and a daily driver. I’ll go back to OEM for the fog lights and put an end this over-bleeping-complicated fog light debacle.


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[lpennock]

Or use one pod per side as fogs since you have them working. Swap the other pod over to spots to run with your thigh beams.

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[JB1]

I bought the load equalizer and installed.. good news, I can get one of the dual led cubes to light up. If I add in the other light, it goes back to flashing.

So I ran 2 load equalizers, 1 for each light. But doesn’t help.

I can only get one or the other to work, but not both.

I’m 75% of the way there!


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Looks like your not the only one who has had this issue

https://www.amazon.com/iJDMTOY-LED-Light-Foglight-Harnesses/dp/B01LYZ1IFZ?th=1



Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2019
Style: Compatible w/ 2013-up Dodge RAM 1500Verified Purchase
The lights will not work as described. I wired and plugged into OEM plug, the lights flash on and off 2x and then nothing works. My OEM light won’t work now either.

Update 7/16. Customer Service is working with me to resolve the issue, that is a plus!

Update 7/22. Customer service has resolved my issue by suggesting I purchase iJDMTOY (2) 9006 HB4 LED Headlight Anti Flicker Resistor Canceller Decoders (Plug-In-Play). They now work perfectly. I am adding 2 stars for their help. Had the anti flicker been part of the original package I would give 5 stars

 

[Robert Fassett]

Update after everything:

I bought the things from Amazon (Canbus correctors) specifically for those fog lights.

Didn’t work.

Here’s what did work, and maybe someone can explain why:

Unwired everything, removed the canbus correctors.

4 cubes, 2 per side.

Drivers side, wired them in a series (harness positive to led1 positive, led1 negative to led2 positive, led2 negative to harness negative)

Passenger side, wired them parallel (all positives connected, all negatives connected)

All 4 cubes now light up. No resistors. No anything other than the way I’ve wired everything up.


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[ptc60]

I am having this same problem with my 2015 1500 Ram - I added a LED 42" light bar on the front and connected it directly into the fog light circuit. I still have the halogen bulbs in them (for now). The exact same thing happens as yours, passenger one fine, driver side flashes on and off 3X exactly and then will do that every time you turn on the key. It is a programming thing with the ECM. But like somebody else said, the CANBUS system is sensing an under/over voltage situation because of the lamps being "odd".... I now have the ALHAOBD program setup on my phone and a OBD bluetooth receiver so I am going to try and reprogram the thing AFTER I put all LED Lamps into the truck. I think and have been told you just have to go in and switch all the LED LAMPS for all the exterior light locations to "ON", instead of "OFF" which is standard on the trucks with halogen bulbs. Glad you are having the same problem, it now confirms my own!!!! Ill let you know how it works out.

 

[ptc60]

Update: I wired my light bar in series like the OP stated and the light bar works fine on the factory fog light switch with one issue still. The driver side fog lamp (halogen bulb still) is dimmer than the passenger. I suppose because it is seeing the load of the 42" LED Light bar. But that light bar is BAF!!!!! Its like daylight at night time! Going to change out all bulbs to LED next.