LED taillight problem - Hello, electrical experts!!!

[jrelliott]

If you reversed the polarity of the LEDs, they tend to burn out quickly. The original Model A's wiring to the tail lights are green for the yellow stop portion of the tail light and black is for the red running lights. Check that you have voltage on the black wire from the A's wiring to the tail lights. You did say that you have voltage on the green wire from the stop light which should go to the the yellow portion of the tail light. As others have said check the tail light assembly with a known voltage sourche and a GOOD ground. I ran seperate grounds from the tail light bucket to the frame inside the looms. No problems.

 

[Marshall V. Daut]

Problem solved! The new LED lenses arrived yesterday and were installed this morning. I clipped the green wires in both taillights so that only the red portion would light up when the lights were on, not the entire lens. This way, the upper amber only works as the brake light. After hooking everything back up and crossing my fingers, I depressed the brake pedal. SUCCESS!!! The brake lights came to life! The upper LEDs in the former lenses were in actuality dead, which is why I could not get the brake lights to come on.
Save yourself the wasted time I spent chasing after all possible causes of that no-brake light situation and if you have LED taillights with dead brake lights, chances are great that the upper portion is dead. It's cheaper to buy just the replacement lenses rather than the entire taillight. And it's a no-brainer to install the new lenses. Simply plug and play. A very well-thought-out design from a servicing standpoint - if only the LEDs weren't subject to failure now and then.
Marshall