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Old 01-04-2009, 09:53 AM
tomgtv tomgtv is offline
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My LED's work perfectly, here's why

Quote:
Originally Posted by shaunatl
Sorry to bump such an old thread, but...

I connected up to my new trailer (with LED lighting), and I had all the symptoms mentioned in the thread (fast blinking, lights blinking even when car is off, and the rear PDC not disabling when the trailer is connected). I then tested with a trailer with conventional lighting, and everything behaves perfectly.

In the absence of a better solution, and to get everything functional, I replaced the tail/stop/blinker on my new trailer with old fashioned bulb units. At the risk of stating the obvious - the "always on" lights have no effect on the behavior. I left those as LEDs. Everything now works the way it should - normal blink rate, no flashing when car is off, rear PDC is disabled when trailer connected and immediately re-enabled when trailer is disconnected.

I don't think it has been mentioned, but if your blinkers are flashing too quickly when the trailer is connected, chances are the X5 has no idea a trailer is there (which is the reason PDC isn't disabled properly). In addition, this almost certainly means that the trailer stability control program won't be enabled.

Given that this thread is over a year old, has anyone come up with a clean solution for the LED lighting issue? A resistor wired inline prior to each LED tail seems like the most cost effective solution available currently.
I refused to pay for that $200 circuit board that BMW recommends for towing lights. My hitch guys just hardwired the light harness (running lights, left/right brake/turn) to the cars wires which run to the appropriate lights.

We used a "converter" that takes the three wires of the car to the two wires of the trailer. Worked fine with single jetski trailer with reg lights. I bought a double jetski trailer with many more lights and I had issues. I switched to LED's which draw much less current and it works fine.

Hidden Hitch makes a whole line of these converters. The best way to go is to get the "power converter". It runs a line directly to battery for power. It only relies on vehicle light circuits for the "signal". Therefore shouldn't screw up BMW diagnostics. http://www.hiddenhitch.com/
you can buy them online for $40 at
http://www.trailerhitches.com/electr...tion118176.cfm

I have an 01 X5, maybe they've done something else since, but I doubt it to prevent use of this product.

From attached install instructions:

Some vehicles combine stop and tail light
functions onto 1 circuit and then also have
an additional tail light function wire that is
independent of the stop (such as the BMW X5).
These vehicles will require that you attach the
trailer light power module red "stop" wire to
the same combined circuit on the vehicle and
then attach the brown "tail light" circuit to the
independent circuit on the vehicle.
Attached Images
File Type: pdf N119191.pdf (504.4 KB, 297 views)
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