Electrical E-fan indicator lights

I put in a Contour fan setup and Dakota Digital controller, and wanted to have some indicator lights on the dash just to monitor the operation mostly of the controller. I wired an automotive LED indicator in series with the ground trigger wire to each relay (high and low fan speed). When I tested the controller the dash lights worked as they should but the relays wouldn't trigger. So I bypassed the lights and the relays worked fine. Are the lights not letting a strong enough ground through to trigger the relays? Can I wire the lights in parallel somehow with the trigger circuit instead? I don't really want to tap into the big fan power wires like I've seen elsewhere I just want to monitor the switching of the relays by the controller.

That's what I was afraid of, I've seen most of them done that way but I wanted to try to do it without disturbing the big power wires. I'm going to try to wire the lights in a parallel circuit to the signal wire and see how it works.