kerunt

Installed eBay LED tails a few days ago. These are the Angel Eyes brand, and this is the auction: http://www.ebay.com/itm/190995886844?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Here is the new tail light on the left, with the old one on the right:



These three guys are found on both lights. I'm guessing resistors of some sort, as they weren't present on the original lights.



Note the top three rows of LEDs not lighting up.



Right side. Also no lights in top three rows. Furthermore, while the bottom rows are on, they do not get brighter when brake is applied (and as the left side does); basically, no brake light on the right side.



Brakes applied. Note the difference between left and right side.



This is a connector which was originally connected from the car's harness to the "top" light on the OEM tails. The new tail lights do not have a connector for this guy, and only have a single "main" connection.



Close up of the connector that's now not connected.



Error messages that showed up and aren't going away:

Brake lamp, left
Brake lamp, right
Brake lamp, right Substitute bulb on
Brake lamp, left Substitute bulb on



Close up of left side. Again, note the top three rows of LEDs are not lit.



Close up of right side. As with the left one, top three rows are not lit.



So now I've got three issues:

1. Top three rows of both lights are not lighting up.
2. Right light's brake does not work.
3. Error messages on the computer.

I'm surprised by these. I was under the impression these would be plug and play. Perhaps these lights are meant for the '09+ models (mine is an '06) which have LED lights from the factory, and thus the connections and resistors are different? The auction said these would work on my '06.

Any advice on how to proceed? Already contacted the seller, but am not expecting to hear back until Monday-Tuesday.

kerunt

Solved all tail lights issues.

The large, main lights connector had an empty pin. I disconnected the positive (red on the left tail, brown on the right tail) pin/wire on the "unused" connector (which, on the OEM lights, was connected to the brake light socket), and connected it to the empty pin on the main connector. Having done this on the left side, one of the four error messages went away (but the "Brake lamp, left Substitute bulb on" message remained) and the tail lights continued to function as before - no change (I cycled the key a few times, too). After also doing this on the right tail light, all error messages went away, and the top three LED rows (previously non-functional) started working as break lights on both sides. Everything is working great now.

yister

How in the world do you release the pins?

Never mind, I just ended up using some taps. You sir are a Genius!!! Everything works fine for me as well, no error and all the leds light up now. Thanks again.
Randy

kerunt

I can't take the credit. I got the idea from the first attachment PDF in this thread: http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w164...-led-tail.html . That guy did the same thing for OEM tail lights. As soon as I read that, it just "clicked" in my head that this was the reason for all my problems.

Tapping is the simplest solution, but removing the pin isn't too bad, either. On most automotive connectors it's just a matter of sliding a thin screw driver (or needle, etc.) down the side of the pin to unlock a clip that holds it in place. On these Merc connectors, there are actually two pins (one on each side), but even that is not enough:

The first thing you want to do is "open" the connector itself. There will be a thin, plastic "flap" on the side of the connector (same thing on both the main & small connectors) that you can lift up and remove using a thin screw driver or knife. I believe this flap puts pressure on the pins and further restricts their movement. Removing it makes things a million times easier.

Once the flap is removed, grab a thin screwdriver and unlock the two clips on the pin (described above). Once you do that, the pin will easily slide out. With the flap removed you'll also gain access to the pin from a different angle, and you can use the same screwdriver to help "push" things along from that opening. I'm doing a poor job describing this, but once you look at it it'll all make sense.