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LED interior light problems...

J

Jordan5066

New member
Hello, I just bought Diode Dynamics interior LED kit and I cant fit the Pillar LEDS into the plastic lens... It just hits the lens. I will most likely shave it down to fit, did anyone do anything different??
The main problem I am having is the MAP light and the TRUNK light will flicker dimmly when I manually turn on the Map light and if I have trunk open without the doors open. Do i need to replace a interior relay somewhere?? If so is it the same relay as the Turn signals?
 


I just checked and yes its only when on the dimmer setting. If I switch the lights to always on then it works perfect.

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I wouldn't have bought a kit like that. I completely swapped out all the bulbs in my car with LEDs by looking up the bulb codes and then purchasing the corresponding LED bulbs. I have a hard time believing that the LED you are trying to put in the pillar lights isn't fitting unless you purchased an oversized bulb. The bulb I bought had like 5 LEDs in it and fits just fine with plenty of room. As for the dim flickering I encountered this problem with some of the lights I was putting in, the cause of this issue was because I was putting the wrong sized LED bulb in the socket. I'm not sure if this is the same problem you are experiencing or if they just gave you ****ty LEDs.
 
I checked to see if they should be right size before buying and after buying. They all work with everything. I bought one with five as well but it seems to stick out.
The confusing part is it only flickers when your sitting in your car and all interior light are off and you turn on the map. It doesn't light up it dimly flickers but you open a door it comes on full brightness no flickering. Same thing with trunk... You walk up anf open the trunk it will be dimly lit flickering. But open a door or push unlock button and it will work perfectly.

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Post photos of the LED's you bought. Also what year is your car? I have no issues with the diode dynamics kit that is in mine.
 
jege2yta.jpg


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For the map lights mine flicker when the key is in the on position. It does not flicker when the car is either on or in accessory mode. Remember LED's have a lower resistance than a halogen bulb. There is no way around it unless you solder a resistor in line. The trunk light does the same thing with the car off and when the courtesy lights go off on the inside. I can't help you on those 194 LEDs not fitting in the overhead lights. I have the stage 1's in mine. They should fit. You may have to pull the entire housing out to get installed.
 
I just shaves the plastic down. Cheap part and you don't really notice it. Why would they be dim when the car is off? I mainly want the trunk be bright whenever I open the trunk.

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LED's are more tempermental that regular bulbs. I have all LED interior and exterior lighting, and here are a few of the issue that come with.....

- when I put it in reverse, sometimes my right rear interior LED light blips on and off quickly
- my dash signal indicator are very dim all the time, even with diode's on the LED corner lights
- sometimes when I open my door, car off, the interior LED's flicker a little
- sometimes when I open my trunk, car off, the trunk LED light will flicker a little
- I have an LED dome light in my truck, and sometimes it needs a "flick" to make it come on

I have tried to solve all of the above problem, but there does not appear to be a solution.

Welcome to the life of LED's!
 
The solution is to both run matched resistors inline in every place you have an LED bulb (LED's resistance + in-line resistor = the original bulb's resistance), and to solder a capacitor in line with every bulb to keep the voltage where it needs to be. It's a pain in the ass and even then doesn't always work correctly until you mess around with different capacitances and resistances.

On top of that, certain radio interference will cause LED's to flicker and ****. I had to put ferrite choke's on the output wires of my HID ballasts because they were letting off interference that screwed with the LED's in my cleared corners. It made a single SMD on the bulb (6 total) flicker here and there, and every one I put it did the same exact thing. Didn't realize until I had the radio on one day and turned my lights on, and the station just cut out.

I guess it was all worth it though. Retrofits and full LED conversion is sexy as hell, the only incandescents I have now are my fog's, they'll be getting a GXP fog retrofit soon enough.
 


nik12937 said:
The solution is to both run matched resistors inline in every place you have an LED bulb (LED's resistance + in-line resistor = the original bulb's resistance), and to solder a capacitor in line with every bulb to keep the voltage where it needs to be. It's a pain in the ass and even then doesn't always work correctly until you mess around with different capacitances and resistances.
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Also defeats the purpose of having low draw led's on the vehicle. I wonder if there some kind of voltage stabilizer that would make them work better.
 
The capacitors serve as the voltage stabilizers. You could try just the capacitors, but it's the low resistance of the LED's that cause most of the problems. Interior lights barely use any power as is, they're like 5 watt draw at most. You aren't going to see any perceivable difference in power draw with interior lights, your PCM uses more power. If you need more power "freed up", you're better off doing the Big 3 upgrade in some 1/0 gauge wire.

Edit: weldingsupply.com is where I got 99% pure copper wire, very good price and product. I think you might be overestimating the power draw of interior lights. You'll save some noticeable power on your exterior lights because they draw upwards of 35 watts per bulb. One bulb uses almost as much power as all of your interior lights.
 
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nik12937 said:
The capacitors serve as the voltage stabilizers. You could try just the capacitors, but it's the low resistance of the LED's that cause most of the problems.
Click to expand...
Good info.



Interior lights barely use any power as is, they're like 5 watt draw at most. You aren't going to see any perceivable difference in power draw with interior lights, your PCM uses more power. If you need more power "freed up", you're better off doing the Big 3 upgrade in some 1/0 gauge wire.

Edit: weldingsupply.com is where I got 99% pure copper wire, very good price and product. I think you might be overestimating the power draw of interior lights. You'll save some noticeable power on your exterior lights because they draw upwards of 35 watts per bulb. One bulb uses almost as much power as all of your interior lights.
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5 watts is a big draw compared to led. Bulbs draw what bulbs draw, no matter where they are on the vehicle. So, interior lights, at 5 watts per bulb, x 8 bulbs. That is a lot of draw. I made the comment about draw because I have the Spyder LED tails, and they have the load resistors built into them, which I hate because I am still drawing as much tail light wattage as the stock lights. I'm over it though. :th_biggrin2:
 
Well I was checkih the voltage and it seems that it runs 13.48 volts when the lights on and when the light flickers its only .78. But when I crossed the tester by accident the bulb came on full brightness and was at 13.48 volts.

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