acboone@verizon.net

After watching 'my corvette life' on Youtube, I decided to upgrade my c-5 low beams to LED. I choose the Lasfit led that was shown on the youtube video. Installation went very smooth in spite of my general clumsiness. I cleaned the connectors and plugged in the replacement bulbs and they tested OK. Then I placed them back in the housing as instructed.and they worked great.

I then turned off both the headlights and parking lights but the pop ups didn't retract. I double checked the connections and seating of the new bulb but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However I then noticed that the new LED lights were not turning off, only dimming when the headlight switch was in the off position.

After futzing around (including taking out and re-installing LED lamps) and looking at various forums, I re-installed the old lamps. Everything works OK.

Problems: 1) LED lights don't turn off in the off position. However they did in the parking light position. 2) The headlights wouldn't retract when LED lights are installed. (I suspect that the electronics don't permit retraction if they sense the light drawing current).

Any ideas what would cause these issues?

FX VETTE

The quick fix to the headlights not going down is to flash your brights. LEDs can cause some weird issues in C5s.

acboone@verizon.net

Thanks. I'll give that a try when I get time to reinstall the lights.

STRMLNE

Do a search in this. There are two recent threads talking about resistors that fix the problem.

yelloyello

I was directed to purchase the resistor to help with this. bought on Amazon: Xtremevision LED Anti Flicker Capacitor. So far no issues

jjc508520

acboone@verizon.net

I was able to correct the issue. The 9006 bulb worked OK once I installed an additional resistor. (O-NEX LED Resistor Kit HB4 9006 Relay Harness Adapter 50W 8 Ohm Anti Flicker Error Decoder Warning Canceller (fits: 9005, 9145, H10)). This resistor, I found out, is needed for the Corvette (Year 2003) retractable headlights to work with LED bulbs.

I haven't analized the circuitry but it appears that there need to be a certain draw on the relay for it to work. That draw is needed so the popups don't retract if there is a burnt out standard bulb. The LED's don't draw enough current for the relay to activate. Additional draw of current with the resistor in parallel to the LED's draw enough to trip the relay and let the headlight retract.

Thanks for the suggestions and guidance.

acboone@verizon.net

A similar resistor worked for me.

BlackHellcat

I have Marsauto LED low beams & LED everywhere else w/hyper flash harness. No problems

jjc508520

Do we have a sticky thread that captures all this stuff?

J. Kent

Wish I'd known about this when I installed LED bulbs in my '03. Had the same problem but my solution was to install the Bi-xenon Radioflyer ACA Projector Headlights. Nice headlights but MUCH more expensive than the resistor/capacitor harnesses. Oh well...

Vetteman Jack

Moved to C5 Tech.