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09-30-2019, 02:26 PM
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#1
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 7,033
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
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LED backup lights
I bought a pair of clear LED 7" lights for my backup lights. The original lights each had a single wire to them, so I assume they were grounded via their attachment to the frame. These replacement lights are sealed and all-plastic and have red, black and white wires on the back. I assume what I need to do here is connect the red wire to the original wire from the bus, and connect the white wire (which even has a handy grounding loop on the end) to the frame somewhere?
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09-30-2019, 02:59 PM
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#2
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Athens, TN
Posts: 1,573
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Amtran
Chassis: International RE
Engine: International T444e
Rated Cap: 76
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Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis
I bought a pair of clear LED 7" lights for my backup lights. The original lights each had a single wire to them, so I assume they were grounded via their attachment to the frame. These replacement lights are sealed and all-plastic and have red, black and white wires on the back. I assume what I need to do here is connect the red wire to the original wire from the bus, and connect the white wire (which even has a handy grounding loop on the end) to the frame somewhere?
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Wait, so the new, clear lights have three leads? Usually only red LED (brake) lights have three, my clear LEDs had two leads. On the two lead lights, I connected one to the chassis by screwing through it when attaching the light. On the three lead lights, one is chassis/ground and then the other two are high and low (brightness) respectively. You could connect just the highs to the existing leads, or, connect the lows to the existing leads.
As for color scheme, typically red is positive, black is negative with DC wiring- White may be low or high (positive), red being vice-versa.
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09-30-2019, 03:34 PM
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#3
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Ashtabula, Ohio
Posts: 1,494
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: International
Engine: T444E 7.3L
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I would assume the white wire is ground and the red and black are positive with one being brighter than the other. Test with a battery by holding white on ground and then test the red and black one at a time to see if there is a difference.
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09-30-2019, 03:40 PM
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#4
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
Rated Cap: 77
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Do you have a link for the light in question? It may be set up for a dual bulb and also sold as a single filiment fixture utilizing only 2 of the wires. I also suggest hooking a battery and checking what happens with each wire.
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09-30-2019, 04:48 PM
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#5
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 7,033
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
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Quote:
Originally Posted by o1marc
Do you have a link for the light in question? It may be set up for a dual bulb and also sold as a single filiment fixture utilizing only 2 of the wires. I also suggest hooking a battery and checking what happens with each wire.
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This is the light: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._title_o09_s00
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09-30-2019, 05:05 PM
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#6
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 7,033
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
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Looking at it now, I'm not sure it's a backup light? But it seems like all the other clear 7" lights have "backup" in the description.
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09-30-2019, 05:18 PM
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#7
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
Rated Cap: 77
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Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis
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Dude, Really? Those are not back up lights, the title clearly states they are Stop/Turn/Clearance lights.  Have you hooked them to a battery to see if they light up white, or Red?
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09-30-2019, 06:21 PM
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#8
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Bus Crazy
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 2,264
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: IH
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 14
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I'm going on the assumption the lights really are white. I recently bought some that were listed as turn signals and in fact had 3 wires coming from the circuit board, but they had no "low" function (taillight) so the black wire didn't really do anything. I figure some factory in China uses the same base circuit board for all the lights and simply installs whatever LED's and resistors needed for the end result.
Needless to say, mine were returned. Don't be surprised if one wire (either black or red) doesn't seem to do anything.
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09-30-2019, 07:02 PM
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#9
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: Dawsonville, Ga.
Posts: 10,482
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Genesis
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466/3060
Rated Cap: 77
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad_SwiftFur
I'm going on the assumption the lights really are white. I recently bought some that were listed as turn signals and in fact had 3 wires coming from the circuit board, but they had no "low" function (taillight) so the black wire didn't really do anything. I figure some factory in China uses the same base circuit board for all the lights and simply installs whatever LED's and resistors needed for the end result.
Needless to say, mine were returned. Don't be surprised if one wire (either black or red) doesn't seem to do anything.
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Did you look at the listing?
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09-30-2019, 10:32 PM
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#10
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 7,033
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
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My light is a back up lamp. This is the company's listing for the lights: https://grandgeneral.com/auto-parts/...led-bus-light/ and it shows "Back Up" as the function for the 82336. Since it's white, it obviously could not function as a stop or turn signal, so "Stop/Turn/Clearance" in the listing doesn't make any sense.  That's just the name of the game when China makes everything.
Interestingly, though, the package my lights came in contains an interesting disclaimer for the 82336: "*Does not meet DOT specs. Designed for interior or decorative use only." I wonder if that's true for all the other 7" white LED lights of this type, or only this brand?
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09-30-2019, 10:38 PM
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#11
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 7,033
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad_SwiftFur
I'm going on the assumption the lights really are white. I recently bought some that were listed as turn signals and in fact had 3 wires coming from the circuit board, but they had no "low" function (taillight) so the black wire didn't really do anything. I figure some factory in China uses the same base circuit board for all the lights and simply installs whatever LED's and resistors needed for the end result.
Needless to say, mine were returned. Don't be surprised if one wire (either black or red) doesn't seem to do anything.
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I think you're right. This is the product listing from the company that "makes" (i.e imports from China and Taiwan) my lights: https://grandgeneral.com/auto-parts/...led-bus-light/ and they're obviously all exactly the same just with different colors of plastic and LEDs.
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09-30-2019, 11:01 PM
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#12
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Bus Nut
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: Greater Boston
Posts: 503
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Quote:
Originally Posted by musigenesis
Interestingly, though, the package my lights came in contains an interesting disclaimer for the 82336: "*Does not meet DOT specs. Designed for interior or decorative use only." I wonder if that's true for all the other 7" white LED lights of this type, or only this brand?
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That's probably true of all the white lights of this type.
Generally speaking, the only white lights you can display on a vehicle are the headlights and the backup lights - both of which are DOT regulated. I get needing to see at night, but it's also nice not to blind everyone in the supermarket parking lot when you go to back up.
For a while, some states (had, maybe still have) rules that non-DOT lights need to be covered - which is why all these cool 4x4s drove around with little yellow smiley faces or KC logos covering all their off-road lights. If it wasn't DOT-approved, it had to be covered.
Even Marty McFly couldn't avoid it.
Now I'm not sure what the current laws are (I've seen enough idiots driving down the highway with a super bright LED bar turned on under the bumper), or if the police would even care on a bus or truck. Trucks in particular seem to get away with having a lot of extraneous lights that would never pass on a car.
The real question is weather or not the red/colored ones pass. . . .
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10-01-2019, 05:08 AM
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#13
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3,860
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Thomas Built Bus
Chassis: Freightliner FS65
Engine: Caterpillar 3126E Diesel
Rated Cap: 71 Passenger- 30,000 lbs.
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Here is a possible use for three wires ... ground, backup light, and running light. Of course, testing with the battery will tell the story.
We purchased small white LED lights as backup lights and then I added a couple LED lights to be on when the running lights are turned on. They are only a glow, but to provide markings to drivers behind our bus. The backup lights are bright though.
@Mark_MA ... the license plate lights are also white.
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10-01-2019, 06:54 AM
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#14
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Bus Geek
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 7,033
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Native
Here is a possible use for three wires ... ground, backup light, and running light. Of course, testing with the battery will tell the story.
We purchased small white LED lights as backup lights and then I added a couple LED lights to be on when the running lights are turned on. They are only a glow, but to provide markings to drivers behind our bus. The backup lights are bright though.
@Mark_MA ... the license plate lights are also white.
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I'm going to see how bright it is with the low and high voltage leads. If it's fainter with the low voltage, maybe I'll hook that up as the backup light and then rig a separate circuit to feed the high voltage lead - and use that to blind drivers behind me when they have their brights on.
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