Dodge RAM owners have had many challenges trying to find effective LED or HID headlight kits. This is especially true with the 2015 Ram model, which is known to have significant CANbus issues.
Most Dodge Ram LED headlights and HIDs on the market will not work properly with the 2015 model of the car. After installation, they could do one of the following:
- not turn on,
- turn on and start flickering, or
- turn off completely while driving.
If you own a Dodge Ram and are struggling with any of these issues, we are here to help you find a long-lasting solution. Our topic today is not only focused on LED issues, but we will address HID issues, as well.
In this post, we highlight the CANbus issue that affects a significant number of Dodge Ram owners and offer viable solutions.
The CANbus System Issue Explained
Dodge Ram uses a CANbus electrical system that can sometimes cause flickering or bulb-out warning when LED headlights are installed. But what causes this problem? Let’s see how it happens.
The CANbus system measures the resistance on the circuit to check whether the LED bulb is working or not. When your CANbus system tries to measure resistance, it will detect unusual figures. This will cause a warning light or message to be displayed on the dashboard.
Sometimes, the system will limit the power supply to the circuit. The result? Your good Dodge Ram LED headlights will fail to turn on. So, how can you address this problem?
Dodge Ram LED Headlights Problems Solved!
As mentioned earlier, Dodge Ram uses a CANbus system for its headlight system. Try any of the following methods to solve the flickering or lamp out issues.
- Use CANbus compatible LED bulbs: The first and easiest solution to this issue is to fit your car with CANbus compatible LED. These bulbs are built with extra resistors to help in adjusting the features of the bulb.
This feature brings them closer to the parameters that your CANbus system needs. CANbus ready bulbs act as a direct replacement for your existing bulbs, and in most cases, they will solve the issue.
In case your vehicle is fussy and still throws up errors after replacing your bulbs, try the other options listed below.
- Relay harness: The primary function of a wire harness is to provide power directly from the car’s battery to the lighting system. This allows the HID ballast or LED bulb to operate independently of your car’s wiring system.
A relay harness is used in aftermarket HID light conversion kits to override factory wiring and deliver higher current to bulbs. It is fuse protected and pulls a signal from the headlight connector that triggers the power to be drawn from the battery.
Any lighting bulb can benefit from increased current capacity in the wiring.
- Resistor kits: If you decide to use resistors to solve this issue, then you will need to go for high-quality resistors. Resistors turn off the lamp out illumination bulb and store no codes in the car’s computer system.
Resistors are used on each low beam wire and each high beam wire because the passenger and driver sides are on independent circuits. This means that you will need up to four high-quality resistors to get the job done.
Adding resistors to the circuit ensures the connection is in parallel. This adjusts resistance to the required amount without affecting the bulb itself.
- Capacitors: These are premade plug and play units that reduce the flickering effect. In this case, no relay harness is needed.
When the voltage in your car’s electrical system is too high, the capacitor will store the extra power. When the voltage drops, the capacitor discharges stored power to keep the current flowing. However, you should keep in mind that a capacitor may not solve frequent flickering.
Furthermore, capacitors tend to cause a massive spike in electrical current on start-up. It is this rush in charge that tricks the power-train control module (PCM) into thinking that there is a good bulb drawing current on the other end.
Over time, this mechanism will start to wear down the contacts of your switches a. Therefore, you need to be careful if you decide to use capacitors to solve this problem.
- CANbus ballast: HID CANbus ballast is quite like conventional ballast only that it has more features. It allows different components of your car to communicate with one another without the need for a central computer.
The primary purpose of this system is to help notify the driver whenever something is wrong. However, installing HID lights can confuse the entire system.
If your Dodge Ram has a regular CANbus system that constantly warns you, your headlights are out, consider installing CANbus ballast. CANbus ballast provides extra resistance to your car’s circuit. It means that your lighting system will no longer detect deficiency in power, and lights will function as intended.
PS: Although the information contained in this post focuses on Dodge Ram, the 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee also has the same issue. Underground Lighting offers superb HID CANbus and 60W 10000LM CANbus LED headlight bulbs for this model that can help you solve the problem.
Underground Lighting has Helped Many People Enjoy Quality LED and HID Lights in their Dodge Rams
Whether you are looking to buy high-quality CANbus LED headlights or HID bulbs, Underground Lighting is here for you. All our products feature a Plug and Play feature that makes installation easy.
With more than ten years in business, Underground Lighting is one of the most trusted names in the automotive LED lighting industry. We always strive to supply high-quality products that guarantee better performance and longevity.
No matter what you are driving, we pride ourselves on offering the best possible HID and Dodge Ram LED headlights. Talk to us today and let us help you enjoy your Dodge Ram with superb lighting.
