Hey, I think I just discovered my problem. Dumb me, I just hooked a volt meter to brake wire in trunk and only had 6.9 volts. I can start car and at idle have 9 volts and led lights on license frame work like they suppose to. That explains why they would work when hooked straight to battery. I was just using a 12 volt trouble light to test with. Is that amount of voltage to trunk brake wires normal, or how can I get more. My oringal brake lights work ok, even with car not running. Any suggestions? Thanks Dave