led backup lights and remote start

I have a Clifford Solaris G4 Alarm/Remote Start on my 2002 Chevy Avalanche. It has been fine for 10 years after a professional install. I recently added LED taillights and backup lights. Now the remote start will not work. I switched the backup lights back to factory bulbs, and it works fine. I assume that pin H3/10 on the intellistart module Blue/Green is to blame. The install manual says the blue/green wire should show 12V when shifter is in reverse, and no voltage when not in reverse. I'm not sure if I need to add load resistors, or what? Any ideas as to how I can use LED backup lights with the remote start? Thanks.

That makes no sense at all. Regardless of the type of bulb, the vehicle will always send 12 volts to the lights. The reason you tend to require load equalizers with LED lighting is only to fix a fast blink with blinkers due to the vehicle not recognizing the lights and thinking a bulb is out... it does not affect the voltage sent to the lights. I would disconnect that wire and see if the problem continues. Otherwise, what exactly happens when you try to remote start it?Kenny

Owner / Technician

KKD Garage LLC

Albany, NY 12205

Had this problem on a Solaris G4 about 7 years ago installed on a Renault. Suddenly "seemed" to stop working after a year. I then noticed the just added LED brake lights and disconnected the foot brake feed, voilà R/S enabled. The LEDs appeared to be sending about 3 volts back to the R/S. Feeding the foot brake feed to the Solaris via a relay was the answer. The relay won't turn on until it "sees" about 7.5 volts so that will cure the problem.

BTW blue/green to reverse then it simply sees 12V+ rather than NEG (-) and will therefore inhibit R/S. It's blue/white to the brake switch. So re-reading your OP I'd use a relay to take the blue/green to ground and trigger it via the reverse here's the set-up:- brake_and_reverse,_relay_isolation.bmp

I will disconnect the blue/green later today after work to test, then install a relay if necessary. When attempting to r/s with the LED backup lights the startup procedure would begin, ignition circuit, fuel pump, the accessories would turn on, but the starter would not engage. With one LED backup light, and the other one a factory bulb, the starter would crank, the engine would start, but immediately shut off. With both factory backup lights, it works as normal. While I admit I'm not a professional installer, I am pretty knowledgeable when it comes to basic circuits, but this just didn't seem to make sense. The relay sounds like it should fix the problem. I'll post back with my results. Thanks!

You should need 2 relays, one for brake feed the other for reverse.

Do the brake lights need the relay? The brake/tail/turn are all LED now and the r/s is working fine. It's only when I switch the backup lights to LED that I have the problem.

Try it with one but I think you'll need both.

OK, so I just got done adding a relay to the blue/green (H3/10) wire, and all is good. I now have my LEDs and my remote start working. I'm still curious as to why this occurs. If this hadn't been my vehicle, and I hadn't put the LEDs in myself, I doubt I would have even thought of the backup lights as the culprit. Thank you so much Howie for your assistance on this trouble.

That's a pleasure to help, trouble is I only knew the answer because I'd come across it some years ago also with a Solaris, in that case it was the brake switch. These seems to be about 2-3 volts coming back from the light clusters as soon as the ignition turns on, I haven't any idea why,the Solaris is sensitive enough to detect this voltage.