LED lights

son added some LED lights to my white 2-135 and have hot wire issues ever since. started checking into it yesterday. In "field" mode the wire that feeds the rear fender lights gets hot. he replaced the two rear fender lights with LED's and added two LED's to the front of the cab. Found a wire rubbed through in the post of the wire that feeds the right rear light. hooked just that light up and wire did not get hot. brought one more online and wire warmed some but not much. brought the 3rd online and the wire heated up again. so that line is running 4 LED's that are probably 3x5. not sure of lumens.
can you have too many LED's on one circuit? that would be 5 LED's running on that one wire that is a 12 or 14 gauge wire.
Gary

You need more info . How many watts are each light . Are you sure it is not 16 gauge? It sounds as if you have too many on one circuit.

Add the amp draw for each light connected, then size wire appropriately.

10 gauge = 30 amps max, 24 amps continuos
12 gauge = 20 amps max, 16 amps continuos
14 gauge = 15 amps max, 12 amps continuos
16 gauge = 10 amps max, 8 amps continuos
18 gauge = 7 amps max, 6 amps continuos

You are not running too many lights or overloading the system . When you change over to LED you need ballasts . I looked into this for my Mustang and there are tiny ballast resistors that come with the kit. The LED s alone do not draw enough and ground properly so heating occurs. Someone more knowlegable about this can help you and explain this , but I know that ballasts must be installed to use them.

The ballast resistors are needed on newer cars so that the computer does not think the bulb is burned out.

You sure on the heating thing?

"Ballasts" are used with automotive HID lights.

"Resistors" are sometimes used when LEDS are used in turn signal circuits to keep the current draw up as high as it was with the incandescent bulbs so the flasher operates at the same rate.

I will check power requirements.
thanks
Gary

I recently went through a similar situation with a customer's Steiger. He had a mix of original lamps, HID lamps, and LED lamps.

We split a circuit or two up and added some heavy-duty relays to take the load off of the light switches, and re-wired the circuit to the rear field lamps.

EASIEST way to figure out what is going on is to use a "clamp-on" type ammeter capable of reading DC Amps.

Makes it easy to measure what each lamp or group of lamps is drawing, then compare it to the others to make sure they are drawing the same, then size the wire in each circuit accordingly.

45 watts each and would have 4 on one line

45 watt lights. At 12 volts will draw 3.75 amps each x 4 =15 amps. At 24 volts each light draws 1.875 amps x 4 ==7.5 amps. If you are running 4 lights on 12 or 14 gauge wire you are right at the limits. You can put a relay in the circuit with heavyer wire and run heavier wire to battery or alt. And trigger relay with small gauge wire. This will keep the wire from getting hot and save the contacts in the switch.

Thank you. might be easier to just mix up the lights and put two on a different circuit. was under the impression LED lights didn't take much power but guess when you add in several of them it adds up.

Gary, dont know where you are at. I will gladly help you out with the lights, a relay in the system would be much better. PM me if you wish. Bob

Gary, I sent you a e mail if you care to respond. Bob

trouble is... you can get led lights all different sizes. The original lights used 2.5 amps a piece. You can led lights that are from .5 amps, all the way to 8 amps apiece. so yes... if you get the newer super bright versions that use more power and flood the entire field, you existing wire will heat up. If you get an led that matches the original 30 watt headlight/worklight, you will pull the same current, and get slightly better light. wires are sized by current rating and a wire designed to run 5 amps worth of headlights (8 amp wire)can not run 20 amps worth of leds with out becoming very warm and possible melting off the insulation. Also the light switches are designed for a 10 amp headlight load, and a 10 amps of marker lights. so adding a bunch of the new super high power leds that have 20ea 30 watt led bulbs in them.. will over heat, burn up and blow fuses or breakers.

I believe you are confused about the current draw of LED's...

You would need a very long line of LED's to ever draw even ONE amp...

GOOD LORD, where do you get this information..?..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The ONLY reason for a Resistor with an LED is to DROP the voltage to the LED, as they generally need only about 1 1/2 Volt to operate...!!!!

LED's draw so little current that they need hardly any Grounding..which is why they are so reliable on trailers..

Don't Over-Think LED's...they are VERY Simple...

SHEESH..someone Help these fellas...!!!!

One 45 Watt (Equivalent) bulb will only draw 8 Watts......

Led work lights can and do draw a few amps depending on their size and rated output. I'm installing some 8000+ lumen work lights on an ARFF truck at work that pull 6 amps each. I'll still use a 40 amp relay for 2 lights, and 12ga wire, because I need them to work reliably for 10 years or more.

It is my understanding that LED lights draw much less current than their incandescent counterparts. As such, they have a few advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages are that they draw less current for the same amount of light. They generate less heat so that they can be used where the heat generated by a normal bulb would be an issue.

Disadvantages are that they are not an EXACT drop-in replacement for incandescent bulbs. In older cars, they do not draw enough current to make the flasher work. In traffic lights, they do not generate enough heat to melt the snow that accumulates on them in the winter.

As to "ballast" or "resistor," here is my take:
A ballast is used with fluorescent, mercury vapor, and HID types of bulbs.

A resistor would be used either to simulate a load or to drop voltage. In the case of an automotive application, a normal bulb loads the flasher. The bimetallic strip in the flasher heats up and breaks contact. When it cools down, it restores the contact completing the circuit. This happens rapidly enough to cause the bulb to flash. With an LED, the resistor provides the load so that the flasher will work correctly. On newer vehicles, electronic flashers are used that "sense" the load and flash accordingly. They can be recalibrated to work with LEDs.

There is no voodoo or black magic involved.

(quoted from post at 12:45:32 10/06/16) 45 watts each and would have 4 on one line

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That's the problem. They draw just as many Amps as the incandescent bulbs you replaced, and you added more of them.

LEDs are more efficient than incandescent, so it must be like daylight with them running.

(quoted from post at 18:34:44 10/06/16)

One 45 Watt (Equivalent) bulb will only draw 8 Watts......

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Work lights don't go by "equivalent." A 45 Watt LED work light draws 45 Watts, plain and simple.

Sealed beam lights generally draw 35-55 Watts. You're replacing like for like as far as power draw but getting a LOT more light.