I got out into the garage before the heat cranked up. I replaced the LED tail light strip that fits just under the tail gate on my El Camino. The old one had lost one hunk of the LEDs at the far right end. The LED strip just plugs into the trailer lights connection. Running lights, turn signals and backup lights and of course brake lights. The brake lights are why I wanted it in the first place.
The advertisement for the new one says "10 minute install" yea right. I knew that was going to be longer for me, as almost nothing goes right on the first try. So I pull the old one off, and clean up the area where it was stuck on and get it out of the way. I figure, hey let's test if this one works. Plug it in, and try the lights, and a big nothing. Grumble grumble. So out comes the test light and multimeter. OK, I guess while getting rid of the old one the ground wire decided it was not going to ground. I was hoping it was going to be a quick install, but that was changed.
So put in up on the lift to get me off my back. Start checking, and fix the ground wire. It was working before, and it is grounded again. Then the running light connection quits. I had the trailer hitch installed a few weeks after I bought the Elky, so 27 years ago. I added the wiring myself 27 years ago. So after 27 years and 300K miles some connections needed some help. So rewire all the connections. Hook up the strip, and presto chango, and tada, the LEDs work. The backup lights are a separate connection outside of the normal trailer lights.
In the end, with the AC cranking, the car on and off the lift, and putting up the tools it was just a two hour install. Only 110 minutes longer that the ad says.
