07-09-2017, 01:15 PM
I had the same problem several years ago, and spent some time sorting it out, including returning the original units back to the supplier, who sent replacements that were supposed to have cured the problem, but didn't!
The problem is within the light boards themselves, the brake & tail light circuits leak current, because of the low requirements for the LED to work any leakage will illuminate or switch off other lights - applying the brakes gave rise to the side lights coming on (if LEDs are fitted, normal bulbs don't have the problem as there is insufficient current for them to illuminate).
The other issue was that with the ignition turned off, and the side lights turned on, the brake pedal applied (become live with the ignition on, but with ignition off, the lights were "dead"), the tail lights would dim down, leakage from the light boards causing the current to reduce and causing the dimming.
It was not an earth issue on my car (it was all brand new wiring), but an internal wiring problem with the light boards.
However, it was all fixable, I inserted a diode into each connection to the light board wires so that the current could only flow in one direction only (previously, it was free to go both ways).
This has solved the problems and everything works now as they should.
The diodes cost pennies and I just soldered these into the respective wires and put heat shrink over & re-connected, simple to do!
The problem is within the light boards themselves, the brake & tail light circuits leak current, because of the low requirements for the LED to work any leakage will illuminate or switch off other lights - applying the brakes gave rise to the side lights coming on (if LEDs are fitted, normal bulbs don't have the problem as there is insufficient current for them to illuminate).
The other issue was that with the ignition turned off, and the side lights turned on, the brake pedal applied (become live with the ignition on, but with ignition off, the lights were "dead"), the tail lights would dim down, leakage from the light boards causing the current to reduce and causing the dimming.
It was not an earth issue on my car (it was all brand new wiring), but an internal wiring problem with the light boards.
However, it was all fixable, I inserted a diode into each connection to the light board wires so that the current could only flow in one direction only (previously, it was free to go both ways).
This has solved the problems and everything works now as they should.
The diodes cost pennies and I just soldered these into the respective wires and put heat shrink over & re-connected, simple to do!