Help Testing Oracle Tail Lights

[sharpsicle]

Hi everyone-

So I'm having a bit of an issue with my Oracle tail lights. No, this is not a "bash Oracle" thread and I don't want it to turn into one. I am good with electronics and repairing them. The lights are also over a year old and out of warranty anyway. My goal here is to understand, replicate, and repair.

When off, there's no problem with the lights. The brakes and turn signals work perfectly fine and when not in use they're off, no issues there.

The issue appears to be with the running lights on. In the first photo, you can see how the passenger light is brighter than the driver light. It's not at 100% brightness, but it's significantly brighter.

The second photo shows with the brakes/turns on, and both lights are on evenly as expected. It's not easy to see in the photos, but yes the passenger light is just a bit brighter than it was in the first photo. Also, when the running lights are on and the passenger turn signal is activated, the passenger light does blink ever so slightly. So the issue is really just that the running lights on that side are too bright.

I took off the lights last week and attempted some bench testing with the hopes of reverse engineering a fix. I thought it would be straight-forward: Apply 12v to the pins in the connector to identify which is brake/turn and which is running, test them under various situations, and then go from there. But on both lights, no matter which wire I supply +12v to, they both go to 100% intensity. Similarly, if I test the truck side of the tail light connectors, it appears as though they supply 12v as well for each wire. Granted I don't have my nice meter with me, but I can't tell the difference as it sits now. I can't figure out how to get just the running light on the bench.

Admittedly I might be overlooking something or have skipped a step in my testing and troubleshooting so far. Does anyone have any insight that could help me out with bench testing and eventual repair of the light?

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[JP_Oracle]

Hey there,

If you probe the brown wire with 12v, the lights should light up at half intensity for Park Lamp. If you probe the red wire with 12v, it should light up full intensity for Stop/Turn.

Shoot me a PM with your findings and I will work with you to get this sorted.

 

[sharpsicle]

Hey there,

If you probe the brown wire with 12v, the lights should light up at half intensity for Park Lamp. If you probe the red wire with 12v, it should light up full intensity for Stop/Turn.

Shoot me a PM with your findings and I will work with you to get this sorted.

I appreciate it! I thought this was the case, hence my confusion. I'll re-test and let you know the results. Always a chance I was doing something wrong on my end when bench testing.

 

[sharpsicle]

I don't know what I was doing wrong, but @JP_Oracle was right on the money.

What I've discovered is that the passenger tail light's brightness issue changes with either temperature or humidity. The warmer/more humid it is, the more likely the problem is to occur. If the unit is cooler/drier, it has a much better chance of functioning normally. I was testing this today by changing it from outside (~85F, 80% RH) to inside (~70F, 60% RH) and letting the tail lights normalize to the ambient air temperature before testing.

In addition, I was able to replicate the issue easily in all situations by supplying power to the brake wire with the running lights on. In these tests, the running light brightness would start off close to normal, then after supplying momentary power to the brake light wire, the running lights would then stay on brighter, almost like a kind of ground or capacitance issue.

Today, though, it was finally cooler (in the upper 60s) with a front rolling through here with some decent rain. And to my surprise, after a drive in the truck the tail light is now acting the opposite. The running light maintains the correct brightness, but the brake/turn makes it a touch dimmer. It never get to the full brightness like it did before. No idea why, but clearly an issue with something other than the LEDs.

Does anyone have any ideas or insight into where I could start on this?

 

[Mr._Bill]

Was the light connected to the truck when you were moving it between environments and testing it?
If not, then it is an issue with the light assembly.

 

[Mr._Bill]

Does it operate normally with the stock lights connected?
You may need to go through the harness from end to end and check all the connections and grounding points.

 

[sharpsicle]

I don't have stock lights available. But, I can switch the lights between sides and I've confirmed it's a problem with the light itself. Bench testing confirms this as I've been able to replicate it off the vehicle.

At this point I'm trying to think of what next steps to take, because I really don't want to spend another $400 just because a component of this one light is on the fritz.

 

[Mr._Bill]

You've confirmed it's an issue with the product. Is @JP_Oracle willing to help, or are they saying you're on your own because the warranty is up?

 

[sarguy1941]

Most likely some moisture or a bad solder joint on the board. I assume there is not an easy way to get it open. Can you see any moisture in the light ? Cool vs warm would point more to a solder joint but normally moisture when its cool would cause issues and warm would not. This is just an LED issue to be honest. I have had similar items with emergency lighting with various modes working or not working with moisture inside the light.

 

[DCPHOENIX]

a year old and not working properly. Hey you beat out most everyone I know with their lights!

 

[sharpsicle]

Most likely some moisture or a bad solder joint on the board. I assume there is not an easy way to get it open. Can you see any moisture in the light ? Cool vs warm would point more to a solder joint but normally moisture when its cool would cause issues and warm would not. This is just an LED issue to be honest. I have had similar items with emergency lighting with various modes working or not working with moisture inside the light.

This is what I was thinking, but wasn't sure. It seems like it to me, which also means it should be repairable. There's no visible moisture from the outside. I'm not sure how easy it is to get inside but I'm not afraid to find out how either.

a year old and not working properly. Hey you beat out most everyone I know with their lights!

This is useless and also not the point of the thread. Take your bashing elsewhere please.

 

[sarguy1941]

Yup lights are not made to come apart. If you run out of luck I've watched some videos of guys cutting headlights apart to paint them. Most use a soldering gun with a cutting blade to cut along the seam. Once done they put cover back on and glue it shut. If the only option is to order a new one I guess its worth trying to do that. I've opened one trucker style tail light with a dremal. It wasn't fun and in the end destroyed more than I wanted. It was a $15 light so threw it out.

 

[LCF]

I hope they offer you a job after this ... you seem to care way more then they do ...

 

[Minty JL]

Refreshing to see someone trying to explore and find the issue. So cheers to you!

I have wanted these lights as well.............I'm waiting until all of the bugs are worked out.

 

[JP_Oracle]

Just so everyone is aware, @sharpsicle & I have been communicating via PM. Got him sorted as promised.

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