Hi everyone. I’m going to get straight to the point. I’m trying to upgrade my ‘18 Kia Optima LX into LEDs so I decided to start with the strobe brake lights. I bought some iBrighstar leds and installation was really easy, no surprise there. At first the lights would strobe, all cool and dandy here, but when I tested them before heading out of work my dash screen popped a warning light saying “Check Brake Light”. When I called my coworker to press the brake pedal the leds wouldn’t come on. Now I’m new to these Kias and I would appreciate some advice if I should need resistors or some more stuff. In case of needing resistors, how would I know which one should I get. Thanks in before hand and y’all be safe.
Ponder on this...
Just a few years ago (before I bought my Mustang) I had a 2000 Grand Am GT. I bought an LED third brake light from a seller on Amazon. The seller claimed that it was spec & would work on that car. Long story short...it worked, yes...but the cruise control wouldn't engage...AT ALL! What the heck does a third brake light have to do with cruise control?? Turns out that LED's don't have the electrical resistance that conventional bulbs do & the car thought there was an electrical fault & wouldn't engage cruise control. I even tried an inline resistor but that got sooooooo hot that I could smell burning wire insulation & electrical ozone. I took it out immediately!
As soon as I swapped it back to the original OEM part, cruise was happy & so was I. AND NO CODES while the aftermarket LED kit was in place...which is weird. 0_o
The way some brake light warning systems work, is to test the resistance of the circuit multiple times during brake application. Even putting the wrong wattage bulb can cause an error, or the right wattage but not OEM bulb! That is where the brake warning is specifically for "Brake Lights" and the car may also have a handbrake warning and a braking system warning. If one light provides warnings for two of those duties, then the light circuit problem could display a brake system fault.
Sensors may also test for moisture in the brake fluid or brake fluid level. But in this case it is obviously the change you have made to the light circuit. If you were an electronics technician, you may be able to measure what the acceptable circuit parameters are, make a device with the equivalent load that also incorporates a relay to switch on the LED brake lights with another circuit.
Not recommended, because a) as Scotty says, the strobe lights could be illegal, and b) you are introducing non-standard complexities into what is a safety aspect.
It is even possible now for a computer in the car to read an electronic part number and record a fault if that number is not found. Petrol-heads will soon be relegated to building beach-buggies and go-karts and not customising road vehicles.
I'd pretty much give up on that one the LEDs are making the brake warning system activate and there's probably no way of fixing that if with those strobes cuz they're turning on and off confusing the computer. Some vehicles are just that way and you can't put those strobe lights on and actually in many areas the strobe lights are illegal
