Thanks Thanks:  6
Likes Likes:  11
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11

Thread: Diode Dynamics Failure

  1. Top Of Page | #1
    Mariner's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Diode Dynamics Failure

    I figured my safest best at LED upgrades would be my personal made in America favorite, diode dynamics. I waited a month for the Labor Day sale to grab some SL1 headlights, back up lights, and plate lights. Installed them all at once, then hopped in to run errands.... holy cow let the chaos begin! None of the lights were even on, driving down a 3 lane state road at 70mph when I noticed the radio volume was wayyy lower than usual, even when turned all the way up. Wifey pressed the apps button on the radio to check audio settings, and without warning the radio started BLARING a non-changing tone, almost sounded like a weather alert tone. I about drove off the road it jumped us so badly, and it was a full 10 seconds of chaos before I realized it was controllable with the volume knob. I could barely still hear music behind the continuous tone. I pulled over and tried to restart the truck, no change. So we took it home, and I tried all 3 led upgrades individually, cycled the ignition each time, and they all caused the tone.

    Strangest thing I’ve ever heard. I expected an issue with the back up lights due to the lower resistance, but the headlights? I mean... the plate lights!? I started to do a little research, and learned about the CBC, the extremely picky can bus, etc. I packed up all the lights and sent everything back. What a massive bummer. If DD sells those lights, then some people must not have issues but wow did I have everything it that. I’ve looked into HID a little bit but this experience was a pretty big turn off from lighting upgrades. I searched all over the internet and couldn’t find anything about the radio going haywire, so I figured I’d share my experience.


  2. Thanks watersupply189 thanked for this post
    Likes watersupply189 liked this post
  3. Top Of Page | #2
    MOD watersupply189's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    Quote Originally Posted by Mariner View Post
    I figured my safest best at LED upgrades would be my personal made in America favorite, diode dynamics. I waited a month for the Labor Day sale to grab some SL1 headlights, back up lights, and plate lights. Installed them all at once, then hopped in to run errands.... holy cow let the chaos begin! None of the lights were even on, driving down a 3 lane state road at 70mph when I noticed the radio volume was wayyy lower than usual, even when turned all the way up. Wifey pressed the apps button on the radio to check audio settings, and without warning the radio started BLARING a non-changing tone, almost sounded like a weather alert tone. I about drove off the road it jumped us so badly, and it was a full 10 seconds of chaos before I realized it was controllable with the volume knob. I could barely still hear music behind the continuous tone. I pulled over and tried to restart the truck, no change. So we took it home, and I tried all 3 led upgrades individually, cycled the ignition each time, and they all caused the tone.

    Strangest thing I’ve ever heard. I expected an issue with the back up lights due to the lower resistance, but the headlights? I mean... the plate lights!? I started to do a little research, and learned about the CBC, the extremely picky can bus, etc. I packed up all the lights and sent everything back. What a massive bummer. If DD sells those lights, then some people must not have issues but wow did I have everything it that. I’ve looked into HID a little bit but this experience was a pretty big turn off from lighting upgrades. I searched all over the internet and couldn’t find anything about the radio going haywire, so I figured I’d share my experience.
    I hate to hear you had problems with your LED lights. I have Diode Dynamics LED tag and reverse lights and have no issues. If they didn’t work did you try to pull them out of the socket and turn them 180 degrees and plug it back? They only work one way. As for the LED headlights they need to have an canBUS adapter added to them so the headlights would work correctly. DD sells them. Now I’ve tried those exact LED headlight bulbs in my 2016 and couldn’t get them to work half the time even with the canBUS adapters but put them on a 2015 Ram truck and they worked perfectly.
    I went and purchased Diode Dynamics HID headlights 35w at 5,000k with the canBUS adapters and haven’t had any issues at all with my headlights.
    Now the noise you had in your radio I have no clue what that could be? The tag and reverse bulbs you purchased were they canBUS adaptable? If not that could be why your radio was acting weird but I’ve never heard of LED lights causing that kind of issue before.



    2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, MM3 by Double R Diesel, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!

    2016 RAM 3500 4x4 Laramie Crew Cab
    Cummins,G56, Rough Country level, Morimoto LED fog lights, LED headlights, Lund Attitude Steps sprayed with Line-X, DRL's Activated, 35x12.50R18 Falken Wildpeak ATW3, Fuel Vapor Wheels Matte Black w/Dark Tint, A.R.E. Truck cap and swing boxes

  4. Top Of Page | #3
    Mariner's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    Quote Originally Posted by watersupply189 View Post
    I hate to hear you had problems with your LED lights. I have Diode Dynamics LED tag and reverse lights and have no issues. If they didn’t work did you try to pull them out of the socket and turn them 180 degrees and plug it back? They only work one way. As for the LED headlights they need to have an canBUS adapter added to them so the headlights would work correctly. DD sells them. Now I’ve tried those exact LED headlight bulbs in my 2016 and couldn’t get them to work half the time even with the canBUS adapters but put them on a 2015 Ram truck and they worked perfectly.
    I went and purchased Diode Dynamics HID headlights 35w at 5,000k with the canBUS adapters and haven’t had any issues at all with my headlights.
    Now the noise you had in your radio I have no clue what that could be? The tag and reverse bulbs you purchased were they canBUS adaptable? If not that could be why your radio was acting weird but I’ve never heard of LED lights causing that kind of issue before.



    2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, MM3 by Double R Diesel, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!
    Right, so that was also super strange, all the lights worked! I made sure of that after I installed everything. They looked great, in fact. It was really depressing having to take them all out. DD is by far my favorite aftermarket light source, and I’ve been using their stuff for 5 years now.

    The headlights had anti-flicker links, but I’m not sure if that’s what you’re talking about. I wish I’d done research before I waited a month to buy them LOL I feel I could have made more of an informed purchase.

    The back up lights were the XP80s, and I anticipated needing resistors but I wanted to test the lights before I hacked my wiring, but after the radio thing I decided it wasn’t worth it. Plate lights were the HP3s. Again, I’ve never ever seen an issue with plate lights, even shoddy chinese junk. After I read up on the CBC and how modifying rear lighting without a dealer flash “can possibly cause permanent damage to the CBC resulting in expensive repairs,” that pretty much put the end note on it.

    This was a pretty disappointing endeavor. On the plus side I’ve learned how to dismantle my grille and headlights in about 5 minutes LOL.

    In the future I was going to jump for the TRS Mopar Elite HID kit, but it’ll be a while, if ever. Sucks the lighting on a 70k truck has to be so terrible.


  5. Thanks watersupply189 thanked for this post
    Likes watersupply189 liked this post
  6. Top Of Page | #4
    MOD watersupply189's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    Quote Originally Posted by Mariner View Post
    Right, so that was also super strange, all the lights worked! I made sure of that after I installed everything. They looked great, in fact. It was really depressing having to take them all out. DD is by far my favorite aftermarket light source, and I’ve been using their stuff for 5 years now.

    The headlights had anti-flicker links, but I’m not sure if that’s what you’re talking about. I wish I’d done research before I waited a month to buy them LOL I feel I could have made more of an informed purchase.

    The back up lights were the XP80s, and I anticipated needing resistors but I wanted to test the lights before I hacked my wiring, but after the radio thing I decided it wasn’t worth it. Plate lights were the HP3s. Again, I’ve never ever seen an issue with plate lights, even shoddy chinese junk. After I read up on the CBC and how modifying rear lighting without a dealer flash “can possibly cause permanent damage to the CBC resulting in expensive repairs,” that pretty much put the end note on it.

    This was a pretty disappointing endeavor. On the plus side I’ve learned how to dismantle my grille and headlights in about 5 minutes LOL.

    In the future I was going to jump for the TRS Mopar Elite HID kit, but it’ll be a while, if ever. Sucks the lighting on a 70k truck has to be so terrible.
    Right! The lights do suck on these trucks.
    No need to hack into any wiring on the truck. I bought the XP80 for my reverse lights and have 0 issues with them. Works every single time and are very bright.
    Tag lights didn’t need anything special either. Just plugged them in and they work great.
    The headlights LED does have that anti flicker built in but you also need the canBUS adapters added to it. It’s all plug and play. DD sells them for $30 for the pair.


    2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, MM3 by Double R Diesel, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!

    2016 RAM 3500 4x4 Laramie Crew Cab
    Cummins,G56, Rough Country level, Morimoto LED fog lights, LED headlights, Lund Attitude Steps sprayed with Line-X, DRL's Activated, 35x12.50R18 Falken Wildpeak ATW3, Fuel Vapor Wheels Matte Black w/Dark Tint, A.R.E. Truck cap and swing boxes

  7. Top Of Page | #5
    Mariner's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    Quote Originally Posted by watersupply189 View Post
    Right! The lights do suck on these trucks.
    No need to hack into any wiring on the truck. I bought the XP80 for my reverse lights and have 0 issues with them. Works every single time and are very bright.
    Tag lights didn’t need anything special either. Just plugged them in and they work great.
    The headlights LED does have that anti flicker built in but you also need the canBUS adapters added to it. It’s all plug and play. DD sells them for $30 for the pair.


    2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, MM3 by Double R Diesel, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!
    Haha maybe my truck just has an attitude. Even if I had magic lights I’m sure the radio would still yell at me. It was the oddest thing ever. Luckily the list of mods I want to do extends far past lighting so I’ll just move along for now. Thank you @watersupply189 for the input!


  8. Thanks watersupply189 thanked for this post
    Likes watersupply189 liked this post
  9. Top Of Page | #6
    DDP's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    This is a first i have heard of this as well. Normally the 2015 trucks gives everyone trouble but not the 18's. Hm... Have you tried the supernova's in your truck? I sell quite a few of those and have not had any issues yet.

    Matthew 6:9-13, 2 Corinthians 5:20
    See what we are up to on:
    FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM
    Or Email us at:
    sales@ddpmotorsports.com
    www.ddpmotorsports.com


  10. Likes watersupply189, Mariner liked this post
  11. Top Of Page | #7
    MOD watersupply189's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    Quote Originally Posted by Mariner View Post
    Haha maybe my truck just has an attitude. Even if I had magic lights I’m sure the radio would still yell at me. It was the oddest thing ever. Luckily the list of mods I want to do extends far past lighting so I’ll just move along for now. Thank you @watersupply189 for the input!
    You know come to think of it the HID lights come with an extra wire for grounding if there is static/noise in the radio. I wonder if the LED’s had that same extra grounding wire?


    2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, MM3 by Double R Diesel, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!

    2016 RAM 3500 4x4 Laramie Crew Cab
    Cummins,G56, Rough Country level, Morimoto LED fog lights, LED headlights, Lund Attitude Steps sprayed with Line-X, DRL's Activated, 35x12.50R18 Falken Wildpeak ATW3, Fuel Vapor Wheels Matte Black w/Dark Tint, A.R.E. Truck cap and swing boxes

  12. Top Of Page | #8
    Mariner's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    Quote Originally Posted by watersupply189 View Post
    You know come to think of it the HID lights come with an extra wire for grounding if there is static/noise in the radio. I wonder if the LED’s had that same extra grounding wire?


    2016 Ram Laramie 3500, G56, 6.7, MM3 by Double R Diesel, Rough Country Leveling, HID headlights, Morimoto LED fogs plus a whole lot more!
    There wasn’t anything more included in my SL1 package besides the lights and the anti-flicker links, and it was all plugs.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dude's Diesel Performance View Post
    This is a first i have heard of this as well. Normally the 2015 trucks gives everyone trouble but not the 18's. Hm... Have you tried the supernova's in your truck? I sell quite a few of those and have not had any issues yet.
    No, I’ve never heard of them. I’m kind of leaning more HID though after reading LED reviews in general.


  13. Thanks watersupply189 thanked for this post
    Likes watersupply189 liked this post
  14. Top Of Page | #9
    Daily Grinding! RamIt's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    You're experiencing a common issue with CANBUS vehicles. Your truck doesn't just switch 12v to operate electronics, its more complicated than that, involving 5v data reference signals. I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole here, but feel free to research this for a more involved explanation.

    I had a similar issue with my Rigid aux lights on my 4th gen when using the OEM fog light switch. They would turn on, and then out of no where, turn into the most obnoxious strobe show ever....problem was fixed by rewiring them off the OE harness and direct to battery. As far as the rest of your issues go, with the radio and all, as mentioned, you're probably experiencing a grounding issue of some sort. The CANBUS interconnects everything in the truck, so when you start changing things, other things go nuts.

    That said, DD products are pretty high up on the quality list, but not totally free of issues (just take a look at the bumper marker incident for the 6g Camaro). It's unfortunate that you experienced these issues, you should have better luck with HIDs.


  15. Thanks watersupply189 thanked for this post
    Likes AK Bob, watersupply189 liked this post
  16. Top Of Page | #10
    Mariner's Avatar

    User Info Menu

    Re: Diode Dynamics Failure

    Quote Originally Posted by RamIt View Post
    You're experiencing a common issue with CANBUS vehicles. Your truck doesn't just switch 12v to operate electronics, its more complicated than that, involving 5v data reference signals. I'm not going to go down the rabbit hole here, but feel free to research this for a more involved explanation.

    I had a similar issue with my Rigid aux lights on my 4th gen when using the OEM fog light switch. They would turn on, and then out of no where, turn into the most obnoxious strobe show ever....problem was fixed by rewiring them off the OE harness and direct to battery. As far as the rest of your issues go, with the radio and all, as mentioned, you're probably experiencing a grounding issue of some sort. The CANBUS interconnects everything in the truck, so when you start changing things, other things go nuts.

    That said, DD products are pretty high up on the quality list, but not totally free of issues (just take a look at the bumper marker incident for the 6g Camaro). It's unfortunate that you experienced these issues, you should have better luck with HIDs.
    I hear what you’re saying... I fried a dash cam once by hardwiring it to my mirror and turning the key, and a millisecond later realizing I needed a mini step down transformer...

    A grounding issue does make sense. Perhaps I was a bit rash in immediately sending everything back before coming to the forum.. lesson learned. Regardless, I will be doing much more research into the CANBUS issues and ways around them for our trucks. Thanks for the help.


  17. Likes watersupply189, RamIt liked this post
Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •