lites no longer working

[Basement16]

Let me start by saying i'm new to RCing.
It started out with my headlights not working, completely out, but the rear lites did work. Tried disconnecting the connector from the front and connecting to the rear lites to see if it was the LEDs or the supply Voltage that was bad.
No rear lites either so i figured the front lites must be ok and it must be a broken wire. Plugged in everything as original then my rear lites dont work as well.
I remember from shop class that if you swap +&- signals on a diode (LED) you will fry the diode, and it is possible i did just that. If i had a volt meter i could check the connector for what i assume would be 5v but dont have one.

Question, any other areas i should be looking? Is it possible i simply lost the source 5v?

thanks

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Originally Posted by Basement16

Let me start by saying i'm new to RCing.
It started out with my headlights not working, completely out, but the rear lites did work. Tried disconnecting the connector from the front and connecting to the rear lites to see if it was the LEDs or the supply Voltage that was bad.
No rear lites either so i figured the front lites must be ok and it must be a broken wire. Plugged in everything as original then my rear lites dont work as well.
I remember from shop class that if you swap +&- signals on a diode (LED) you will fry the diode, and it is possible i did just that. If i had a volt meter i could check the connector for what i assume would be 5v but dont have one.

Question, any other areas i should be looking? Is it possible i simply lost the source 5v?

thanks

I can't really help with diagnosis too much without being able to put my hands on everything but I wanted to add this - reversing the voltage on a diode won't fry the diode, it just won't work.

The most likely scenario is that there's bad connections inside the connectors or at the lamps. Corrosion, cold joints, broken solder, could be multiple things. Could even be be the pin breaking off on the LED itself.

Or, LED's can burn out like a regular bulb. That could be the case as well but it' doesn't sound taht way.

[Druxus]

If you have a ohm meter you can do a check. One direction should give you a low resistance level, reversing the leads should give you a infinite resistance. A LED only flows current one way and if hooked up backwards it will not light flipping it around will allow it to work it shouldn't blow up. They are sensitive to over voltage and will blow very quickly.