Please HELP!

Heys new to the fourms and not sure if im posting in right spot or not but i need some advise ASAP. I have a 2005 that had MPH gauges and i swaped out a new cluster with KM. The dismantle when great no real issues until i got to the part where i was going to upgrade all my dash lights with LEDS...think the kit i ordered didnt have enough if the right combo of lights so i replaced what i could and left the rest stock. Now here is where the trouble started and what i need help figuring out...once new cluster was installed i started the car to make sure it was all working correctly and they were....untill i turned on the headlights then the gauges all went dead and started plusing???? Once i turned the lights off the gauges went back to working perfectly. Any ideas or suggestions as to what may be wrong or how i could fix it?

I don't think you can mix LEDS with regular lights. In fact, I think you may need some other thing for the LEDs to work correctly and not pulse.
I'm not 100% sure about this, but I think I read that somewhere.

Good luck!

Ron

thanks for the reply...i though that may have been a issue so i put all stock lights back in the main spedo cluster and just unplugged the hvac with the leds (again kit was missing lights thats why only did some) but even then still pulsed....only thing not hooked up during test was the little clip to my seat as i pulled that out for easier access (oh and sorry got leds in floor and in the mirror but cant see that causing any trouble) but id love to read that post if you could find the link

Are you saying the engine was running, gauges were fine, then you turned on the headlights and everything went haywire (with the engine still running)? First thing I would do is check the alternator. Make sure it is 14V.

Yes thats exactly how it happened and volt gauget showed 14 volts....until I turned on lights then they all go flat

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I'm disconnecting the battery now for few mins and see if that will reset things

OK so disconnecting the battery didn't help....car starts fine holds 14 volts on gauge all head lights and tail lights are good but still nothing lights up in dash only goes flat and pulses when lights are turned on

OK not to be annoying now but I checked everything there was to check expect putting the old cluster back in....what ya know everything works perfectly so guess that means the 700$ upgrade I bought was broken? Or is there a chance it works and isn't compatible with my year of car?

Lots of people do the LEDs and I have never heard of that happening. These days they tend to have the correct voltage draw.

Did you try it with ALL the LEDs or ALL the original lights? A guy on here, bolt on mods.com will sell you the LEDs for a good price.

Are we certain the new guage cluster is ok? Can you hook it up to a 12 volt source and see if it works? My other thought, and this is a longshot, is are the wires from the connection into the guage cluster too small such that when you turn the lights on there is too much impedance in the wires causing it to draw more amps, not an issue when the lights are off but when you turn them on it throws things off?
----again, longshot. I'm no wiring guru but I know when I wire somethig up to make sure I have thick enough wire there so it doesn't have to push too hard/cause heat.

Best Of luck

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Originally Posted by 05viper

thanks for the reply...i though that may have been a issue so i put all stock lights back in the main spedo cluster and just unplugged the hvac with the leds (again kit was missing lights thats why only did some) but even then still pulsed....only thing not hooked up during test was the little clip to my seat as i pulled that out for easier access (oh and sorry got leds in floor and in the mirror but cant see that causing any trouble) but id love to read that post if you could find the link

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If I remember correctly, it was not on a Viper. Sorry, but don't remember where I saw it.
Contact the LED seller and ask them about this.

Thanks for the input guys, for time being I'm going stick with the mph cluster and contact the guy I bought the other one from to try and get a replacement. As for the mix match of stock and led lights I put a few of the leds that fit (from bolt on mods) and left a few of the stock lights in and there was no issue with the mix match so I'm left to believe the cluster I bought was damaged internally....the project wasn't a total bust cause it had to come apart anyways for the shop to install a built in radar detector.

It's odd that the cluster works with out the headlights on. Seems to be related to the headlight current draw. Anyway I don't have a schematic of the 2005 to see if there is any common circuitry or a hint as to why this might happen.