Led interior lights not turning off when door closes

lawrieIbizaMk4

Team Boc!
Aug 31, 2009
3,541
4
Milngavie, Glasgow
www.bebo.com
Long story short, changed my interior lights to LED last night.

They turn on and off fine when on the door setting with locking and unlocking. Problem occurs when I get in the car and close the door, the lights stay on :(

I've heard of this problem before but thought these would be fine as they are all error free so they will have resistors in them. Anybody know a way round this other than switching them by hand all the time?
 

Deleted member 67732

Guest
the interior lights do stay on for a while, but as soon as you turn the ignition on, they go out, saying that, the led type of bulb do stay iluminated for a while after the currant has been switched off.
 

vroomtshh

Full Member
Sep 11, 2005
4,222
3
Dreghorn, Scotland
The interior light works off a switched earth system. So always has current going into (4v when 'off')

Because LEDs only need a tiny current, that keeps them lit. Pretty much all you can do is try different LEDs
 

nightflight

Active Member
May 18, 2009
2,677
12
Sheffield
They stay on for a while after closing the door or until
a) you start the engine
b) you lock the doors

LED's will glow gently even when off because they'll work a tiny bit with just the residual circuit current but they shouldn't be On on
 
Last edited:
Feb 8, 2011
743
1
Gutted lol, reckon an in line resistor would work?

No, if you do that you'll make them dimmer when they are on.

A resistor across the LED will do it but it might need to be rather a small value and will then use as much power (and get as hot) as the original filament lamp.
You won't know until you try.

The lamps sold as "Canbus" lamps do have such a resistor so you could try those.
 
Last edited:
Feb 8, 2011
743
1
1 ohm would consume (12*12)/1 = 144 watts which is HUGE!!!!

You would need about 0.5 amp since that would be about 12*0.5 = 6 watts; about the same as a sidelamp.

Is the problem that the lights glow dimly when they should be off completely?
If so then it is a leakage problem as we'd expect. If they are just as bright as normal when they should be off then that means there is something else wrong.
 

lawrieIbizaMk4

Team Boc!
Aug 31, 2009
3,541
4
Milngavie, Glasgow
www.bebo.com
1 ohm would consume (12*12)/1 = 144 watts which is HUGE!!!!

You would need about 0.5 amp since that would be about 12*0.5 = 6 watts; about the same as a sidelamp.

Is the problem that the lights glow dimly when they should be off completely?
If so then it is a leakage problem as we'd expect. If they are just as bright as normal when they should be off then that means there is something else wrong.

When I close the door and turn on the ignition they flesh off then come back on full brightness. I've tried putting the standard halogens in again and they worked fine :S they still go off okay when I put the switch to the off position as well
 

Martini14

Guest
I have LED interior lights and they have a slight glow whilst the car is on but they are not fully on when the car is started or locked.
 
Chris Knott Insurance - Competitive quotes for forum members