I posted awhile back on using an LED 3rd brake light (cab mount) and having your cruise fail. I found that the 3rd brake light HAS NO EFFECT on the cruise. It's the taillights that do. I had also installed LED rear parking/brake taillights, and it is THESE that kill the cruise. I spent about 2 hours this weekend removing/installing/testing the brakelights and use of LED bulbs.

What I found is that you can install any 3rd brake light assembly with no effect on your cruise, but you need at least one filiment bulb in the taillight lenses in order for your cruise to work. I removed both LED rear bulbs, installed the "regular" filiment bulbs, along with an LED 3rd brakelight assembly. Cruise worked. I re-installed the LED rear taillight bulbs. Cruise failed. I installed one LED and one filiment bulb, cruise worked. Removed both taillight/brakelight bulbs, cruise failed.

I even installed my jet ski trailer. No effect on the state of a trailer bulb as to cruise working of not.

What I found: install whatever you want for a 3rd brakelight setup, but make sure the taillight/brake light bulbs are the standard filiment type. Perhaps soldering a load resister in the BRAKELIGHT circuit may fix the LED and cruise problem, but I'll not try that. Don't feel like cutting into my stock wiring to try. Stock bulbs in the taillights are good for me.

Perhaps some of you that have installed LED circuit type rear taillight assemblies can chime in and let us know if they work alright with the cruise control. I like the look of rear LED brakelights, but since just dropping in a bulb kills the cruise, that's not the way to go for me.

 

For what LED bulbs are going for nowadays you can get a good lookin set of real LED taillights from ebay cheap and not worry about the cruise working properly.

 

i just ordered a led 3rd tail..glad to hear bout the cruise...taillights next

 

I'm running an LED third brake light and LED bulbs in the lamps, no cruise anymore, I might look into going with the full LED taillamps if that's the case so I can still have the LED look along with my cruise. Good info

 

I have the Hella LED tails and LED third brake light and have had no problems at all.

 

That's what I was looking for; thanls for posting this information. I'll assume your cruise works with those Hella LED tails?

 

I'm running ebay taillights without any problems too.

 

So am I, but with standard filiment bulbs (now!). I had LED replacement type bulbs installed, but they killed the cruise.

What I'm looking for, are answers from those who bought LED equipped tail light lenses; ones that came with an LED circuit type board with multiple LEDS, and not just an aftermarket taillight assebly with one LED bulb that we can buy from superbrightleds.com (or Autozone). I already know the "LED bulb" that replaces the filiment bulb does not work.

 

The cruise works correctly with them. They come with their own load resistors to make the flasher blink at the correct rate. This may also be why the cruise control works.

 

I suppose I need to clarify... I am using LED equipped taillight lenses; ones that came with multiple LEDS mounted to a printed circuit board.
I do not have cruise control problems nor do I have trailer brake controller problems. They also flash at a "normal" rate.

[

 

Posts of my experience (11 months & finally got it right ) with rear/turn/brake LED bulbs & high-mount brake LED bulb can be found in Led bulbs??? thread. Bottom line, U need an electric load (resistor, also called "load equalizer" so vendor can charge more for this exotic item , or incandescent bulb) somewhere in turn/brake circuit or high-mount circuit so cruise will operated properly. All U never wanted to know about this subject can be found in cited thread. Twenty eight posts aren't too much to to get the real scoop.
Reason cruise works correctly with LED tails & high-mount LED is because after-market tails have built in "load."

 

Just buy the hellas and you can get back your cruise control. You can get new tails and a 3rd brake light and your cruise control will still work. The hellas have a resistor for the tails and my cruise control works just fine and I have had them for about a year so far.

 

Thanks for the info folks. I know folks have used load resistors when installing 3157 LED bulbs, so that the flasher does not go ape crazy...I'm not a fan of those as they require soldering them into the existing stock turn signal wiring. Plus, they can get warm, it the sites that sell them recommend that they not touch anything. Instead, I bought the LED flasher (replaces the stock flasher under the steering wheel dash). This flasher will work with any combination of LED or standard style bulbs (you can mix). This way, if an LED bulb fails, you can install a "regular" bulb, and the turn signals work just fine. SUPERBRIGHTLEDS.COM sells this flasher.
As to the brakes, I would also refrain from installing a load resister for the same reasons as the turn signals. Instead, I'd go the route of buying the "multiple row" LED lail light lenses that have the "load resister" built into the circuit board of this tail light assembly.
I like the bulbs for most applications, but when it comes to the brakes and cruise, spending more on the LED equipped tail light lenses is the better way to go IMO.

 

Only problem is, if you have a flareside you're pretty well hosed. All of the lights on ebay that fit the flareside look like crap. I'm gonna have to install a resistor to keep my cruise as I'm getting ready to replace all of my bulbs with LEDs tomorrow. Can anyone tell me what Ohm resistor and where is the best place for it if it is just to fix the cruise issue? I already ordered the electronic flasher with the bulbs, so I don't need resistors on both sides for the turn signals.

 

Post #11 above. It has title of thread (LED bulbs ???) that should answer U'r question about cruise issue. U can use #161 bulb as load for high-mount light. No splicing or soldering & virtually no heat involved.