So this weekend I installed taillights from a 2012 Jag into my 2009. Much nicer design with full LED, whereas the old design still had bulbs for the turn and reverse.
...and now, as expected, my information center tells me there is a bulb issue. So I will need to install resistors for both the turn and reverse circuits. (I find it a little odd that the car knows these are an issue the moment I turn it on. I would have thought it would only recognize it when I actually used the turn signal or reversed. Whatever. Clearly it knows.)
Anyway, when I install these I've seen it done two different ways, but I'm guessing only one way is the proper way. The first way and the way I expect it SHOULD be done is to bridge the circuit between the incoming power wire and the ground wire with the resistor. In some cases, I've seen people add the resistor inline on the power lead only.
My natural inclination is to think the first way actually wouldn't work. If I recall correctly in electronics class grade 11, electricity always flows to the path of least resistance. So if there is a resistor bridging the positive and negative, would it not just bypass that and only flow through the LED?
So, for anyone who has added dummy loads for this reason, which is the correct way to wire it, or are either acceptable?
Also, I had read I need 50 ohm resistors. Yet, almost everything I can find online is something like 6 ohm. Is it possible I really need a 50 ohm resistor? That seems really, really... resistant.