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Truck Lite LED HL Anomoly

2K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  BigGun79 
#1 ·
Well..... I had something weird happen tonight. I have had the TL LED Headlights for 3 to 4 months now and I love them! I also installed the Anti-flicker harness with I put the lights in, I did notice that one side of the connection kid of just slid in and didn't snap in like the OEM did.

But anyway....they have been wonderful all this time and tonight we go out to get ice cream and on the way there I thought I saw a flicker for a split second and then all was fine. On the trip home however, about half a block from the house the R/S Headlight started flickering, When I pulled in the driveway I left the lights on long enough to get out and look and there was the passenger side light flickering on and off that it almost looked like a strobe light. Shut everything down, then restarted the JK and turned on the lights and I couldn't duplicate the problem.

Other than going under the hood in the morning and checking all of my connections I don't know what to do. It would suck to have this happen on the road or on a trip, it's not like a blown bulb where you can run in to the local Autozone or Advanced Auto Parts and pick up a bulb.

Any suggestions or theories? :pullinghair:
 
#2 ·
I've had similar problems with the JWS harness and solved it with liberal applications of zip-ties and silicone tape.
Some dielectric grease is a good idea too.
 
#5 ·
My truck-lites started doing this exact same thing recently. It has happened to me two times in a month now, but works fine the rest of the time. Looks like I have a strobe light instead of headlights. I did put dialectic grease on the harness when I installed them, will I need to take it back apart and put a lot more on? And what are you zip tieing? Just the connections together??
 
#8 ·
Hey there. I'm pretty sure this may be an apples to oranges comparison, but I thought I'd provide my two Lincolns. I bought a set of Lifetime LED headlight bulb replacements. As the title suggests, it's a kit that only replaces the OEM bulbs with a set if high output LED bulbs. They put out about 2200 lumens (That's what the box says) and are ridiculously brighter than the stock bulbs! I love them! They also come with a harness attachment for both bulbs. I think the bulbs themselves are a great product. A rep from the company even gave me a rundown of their heat dissipation qualities and how the harnesses can withstand extreme temps/waterproof, etc.

So after a few weeks. EFFIN FLICKER! It started on the passenger side, and then eventually the driver side. Messed around with the dielectric grease and even tried the whole zippy ties, as some others have suggested. They worked, only as band aid fixes until I found the root cause. Lifetime LEDs have cut corners when they fabricated the male plug of the harness that plugs into the female factory plug.

I can see how this was an oversight to the company. I still believe my lights are a great product, but it seems although Lifetime based in the US (NY I think), they outsourced their bulb production (Asia). - BTW, I have no problems with non-US factories.

Here were my two clues as to what led to my issues. Clue#1: When I first bought these bulbs, there was an issue with the bulb socket adapter. I believe the company makes these bulbs to be a universal H13 replacement for other vehicles, so the bulbs were facing at a weird angle (10 and 4) when they snapped in instead of 12 and 6 o' clock - like your Truck Lites/JWS. I took weeks, but the company finally told the factory(s) in Asia, and they came up with a Jeep adapter that fixed the bulb placement problem - whew!

Now onto my point with Clue#2. As I said, I believe the factory created these as a universal bulb for various H13 replacement applications. Well the wire prongs (There are three of them in the male plugs) are too thin! I found myself applying a "wiggle test" with the wires during troubleshooting and voila! The flickering reproduced. So here was the fix. Had to do a little "surgery to both the factory female plug and the male plug of the bulb harness.

There's a small housing that can pop off of the female plug that surrounds slots where the three male prongs of the male plugs slide into. I popped that off and gained access to the metal contacts that touch the prongs in order to bend them closer together for a tighter fit. A mini flat jeweler screwdriver could do the trick. Popped the housing back on and the female factory plugs were done. Now I also bent each of the prongs just slightly on the male harness plug in different directions. Started with the 1st prong on one end and bent it slightly south, the middle one north, and the last slightly south again. Took some elbow grease and secured the male plug into the female. And we're almost done!

I noticed that it was such a tight fit, that some of the prongs (with their wires) popped out from behind the bottom of the plug when I snapped them together. I said it was tight! So I used needle nose pliers and pushed the wires (with prongs) back into their respective slot. I turned on the low beam and BAM! SOLID LIGHT! I then turned on the high beams and the light was good! So I proceeded with the "wiggle test" again. No problems! I decided to zippy tie it anyways, but no problems since. I found it hard to believe that it was an issue with the LEDs themselves, so I was glad (I guess?) to see that it was an easy fix of adjusting/securing the connection of the wires/plugs.

This fix is going strong now for about two weeks, so I can follow up if anything changes. Anyhow, hope this maybe relates and helps your situation. Take care.
 
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