Reading lights will not accept LEDs

[Vndlfsn]

I successfully replaced my old bulbs with LED at the slider door and the pop top but when I put all new LEDs in the reading lights in the back of my 1997 camper van, only one bulb would work at a time: whichever bulb corresponded to the purple wire location.

I switched them back to the incandescent that I removed and they worked just fine: both bulbs in the same fixture would work at the same time.

Any insight into why this might be happening? These are just standard LED replacements with the 168 two-wire base.

[Abscate]

Probably a polarity issue , incandescent bulbs don’t have a polarity requirement while LEDs do
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.ssS!

[Vndlfsn]

Aha! Good point. I’m not an expert in electrical- if I try flipping the bulbs, will that do it? I thought another forum member had successfully installed LEDs in those “reading” lights…

[Zeitgeist 13]

Yep, its a polarity issue. Since an LED is just a diode, it has an anode (+) and a cathode (-)
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Vndlfsn]

Thanks again! So can I remedy it or do I need to stick with regular bulbs? In that location?

[HeyCrutch]

LEDs will definitely work - many of us have used them successfully. As others have said, if one it's light up, switch that bulb around 180 degrees.