LED marker lights

[Peterjk]

Hi all,
Id like to replace these marker lights with LED lights.
Its for a 2005 Thomas HDX.

Can anyone point me to a source .
The size is 5 1/2 inches. I cant seem to find anything in that size.


Thanks!
Peter

[mmoore6856]

i use superbrightleds .com you may have to do some fabrication work

[TheHubbardBus]

We limited all our lights to those commonly used on busses as OEM equipment, though we did swap out everything for LEDs. If you wanted to do the same for the lights in question, you could go a couple ways.

Easiest / least expensive would be to simply replace the bulbs with LED versions. That's what we did with all our roof-line markers. Downside is this might produce a real bright pinpoint light source that doesn't illuminate the lens cover evenly, which might not be pleasing aesthetically speaking.

Second possibility is replacing the entire light with a LED version. We easily found same-sized replacements for every non-LED light we replaced. In many cases, depending on the manufacturer, the difference between a non-LED & LED light for the same application was a single-digit/letter suffix to the part #.

Check out Unity Bus Parts and TAC bus parts... both reputable online vendors.

[Peterjk]

Thank you both, Ill check out the sites you posted.
Ill post what i went with and picks once i get em.
Cheers!

[Peterjk]

I'm just returning to this project after taking time off for health reasons.

Does anyone have a how to video anywhere or instructions on how to remove these lights ? There doesn't seem to be any obvious way.

Peter

[Peterjk]

I also ordered a set of these as a test. If they work, Ill mask-over and eliminate the stock turn-signal and DRL light.

I found this video

which explains the wiring, should be pretty easy, once I figure out how to remove the head lamps that is.

[jimmythomas]

There's a screw at nine o'clock. Did you turn your bus on it's side to work on it?
My HDX has Hella H-4's. I am planning something as a driving light to go in that
running light spot. It's pretty low on the list.....

[Bobby]

I replaced mine with a light from the freightliner century class truck. I did have to separate both new and old lights from the chrome mounting bezels and attach the new light to the old bezel because the new light comes attached to a new chrome bezel and it won’t mount correctly. Lights are the same size and they appear to be exactly the same as the lights on our bus but the bezel are slightly different. I don’t know how to send pics on here but Google “frieghtliner century led parking light” and look for the “61 diode amber led running light” and that’s what I used. It’s been on my bus for well over a year now and there has been no issues. It even plugged directly into your stock harness.

[Peterjk]

So I am waiting for my Halo led headlights to come in, I thought I'd take apart the OEM lights to see what I was up against, glad I did.

The oem DRL lights were nearly burned out on one side, upper right pic, I have no idea how it even worked.
I cut the connectors off of the drl lights and noted they had 3 colors, upper left pic:
yellow, black , green.
Measuring voltage between the yellow and black OR green was 12.6 volts.
Measure between green and black was 0

I checked the turn signal next, lower right pic, they also have 3 colors:
Red, black, white.
I didnt check the voltage to see which one was the hot wire. Ill assume its Red.

When the helo led lights come in, they will plug/play into the OEM head-light 3 prong. They have 2 additional wires:
Yellow - makes the halo ring amber
Red - makes the halo ring white, this is the drl light

The plan is to wire:
the OEM turn signal RED wire into the halo Yellow wire. I might jumper it to have both work.
the OEM DRL light Yellow into the Halo drl Red wire.

[Peterjk]

Led's are in. It was pretty easy actually. Cost was 90$ from Amazon. The Led ring for the running light is pretty cool. I spliced the RED turn signal wire pictured above and sent it down to the led orange light wire. Now both flash. I left the oem DRL light disconnected since one of the sockets is burned out. I might try to replace them with mini fog lamps.

I might get rid of the oem turn signal light and just go w the LED. But first I want to see how reliable they are.
Right out of the box, one of the high-beans failed. I ordered a second set, and will replace the failed one later. Shown here is the remaining good high beam.

[Jamessmith0901]

The LED ring looks cool and splicing the wires was a smart move. Good luck with testing their reliability and fixing the failed high beam.

[Peterjk]

Cant figure why when I turn on the brights, the entire passanger side light goes off. Putting a tester on it, get me 13.3 volts on the low bean, which works fine, but drops rhe coltage to 5 on the high beam.
This is with the light plugged in.
If I unplug the light, I get 13 volts on the high beam pole.
Sounds like a relay?
Trouble is I cant find the relay . I have two panels under the driver window and one under the dash. Neither panel say anything about high beams.
Any suggestions?

[mmoore6856]

First put your ground test lead on a long wire and ground at battery this will test your grounds. If it remains the same then you have high resistance on the high beam wiring or relay related. I have a ground test lead 30 ft long and another 10 foot long always remember DC current needs to make it back into the battery

[mmoore6856]

And freightliner likes to make relays look weird

[Peterjk]

I can do that, ill make a 30* ground, then retest.
If I don't have a LED headlamp connected them I get 13 volts on the high beam side of the socket.
AND the old halogen high bean does work.

If I connect the LED, then the high beam voltage drops to 5 w high beams on.
Whats weird is the driver side LED works fine, which is why I am suspecting with the relay.

I just cant find a headlight relay on any panel.

[jimmythomas]

I think if you tried the left side light in the right side plug it might work. At which point you could say the right led is faulty. If it works with the original light, the led must be suspect. Good Luck!