Hey all, I have been doing some research on swapping out some of my bulbs with LED's and was wondering if anyone else has done so other than who has already posted. More specifically, the front side (parking) bulb, the 2 interiors (under dash), and license plate. I ordered the following bulbs from superbrightleds.com and wanted to know peoples thoughts on them, and if anyone has used the same/similar bulbs. I am most concerned with the front side (parking) bulb. I read on other forums that these will stay on after you turn your car off until the car goes into "sleep" mode (approx. 20 min). Any truth to that, experiences? Thanks



Front side (parking) bulb - WLED x6 LED, 12 VDC, wedge base, 194/168 w/ voltage regulator. Cool White




License Plate bulb (white) - WLED High Power LED bulb, Pure White



Interior Bulb - WLED x5 wide angle, wedge base, 194/168, Cool White
- these would be for the 2 bulbs under the dash

 

Yes the parking light LEDs do stay on. Mine would stay on for 2-12 hours. Idk what exactly causes this, but it did ruin 3 sets of bulbs in my car. Now I just have it with no parking lights and it looks a lot better.. For the license plate they're fine though, nothing weird happened there.

 

Wow, that sucks. Would look real good if the bulb would actually function properly. Why the hell would it just stay on? Is this just a jaguar thing?

 

I have the led's in the front parking lamps as well, and yea they do stay lit, but it is dimmer than when they are actually on. I have had one burn out in the past day or so. So, now I'm going to order another set. I'm still going to do it because they are pretty cheap on ebay. I don't know why they are getting a low current feed when off, but that may also be why they burn out. Another thing to be careful about is the diameter of the bulb. Anything even slightly larger than the stock bulb will not fit through the hole in the headlight housing. So, I'm not sure of your choice for the parking lamp bulb. From the look of it, the ones you have listed for the plate would work in the parking lamp socket.

 

thanks man, appreciate the input. Do you think getting something similar to the Sylvania Silverstar would be better than LED? Very dissappointing that these LEDS will stay on, are you running into any issues (besides one burning out) with drainage of the battery or do they go off in like 20 minutes?

 

just wire a 194 bulb behind the light socket and they wont do that anymore. The BCM needs to see some resistance that LED do not have.

 

They are off in about 15 to 20. I don't know if the bulb burning out is due to them staying lit, or the fact that I bought cheapies on ebay. But, it hasn't hurt the battery in the least. I'll keep buying the cheapies on ebay cause I like to switch them up every now and then. I even ran red ones up front for a bit. Looked kind of sinister.... Like glowing red eyes..but now I run a blueish color. I thought about phd12volt's solution to wire in a bulb, that would solve the problem, but it doesn't bother me that much to do it.

 

LED's do not like heat and when you have them enclosed, such as in a headlight housing, this will lead to short bulb life. LED's do better where there is circulating air or in an open area. The reason they glow after you turn off the lights is because they have very little resistance and any residual voltage will be keep them lit. The voltage is always there but not enough to light a conventional bulb.

 

From Mat at www.superbrightleds.com

"
Hello Joseph,

It's normal for an LED bulb to be slightly dim if they are receiving a small amount of current. Unlike a standard filament bulb, LEDs require very little current to function. That's probably the case here especially if they function properly when turned on. The current draw is insignificant and cannot drain a car battery.

Thanks
Mat
Super Bright LEDs, Inc.
superbrightleds.com "

 

if you have the corner lights out, the harness is right there, just solder in the leads from a 194 and you wont have this issue. Really a very simple way to fix them being on for so long. i know it sounds ghetto-fabulous, but heck, it works.

 

Ah man, that seems like trouble me, soldering iron, auto electrical= bad news.

Are you saying corner lights or bulbs? So theoretically, I take the bulb and wires it is attached to, and solder a 194 into onto the harness? Im gonna have to take a look at this before I even think about doing it.

 

I thought about that as well, but the LED's hold up perfectly well in the licence plate sockets, and these are sealed enclosures with gaskets. Could it be the heat thrown off of the headlamp bulb? Also, the headlamp housing is vented, there is a little hose that runs along the housing that allows heat / moisture to escape.

 

Why would you consider doing this? Does the LED's staying on for a while bother you enough to go through all this trouble? It's not like it's draining your electrical system.

 

Also, about the bulbs glowing a little when they are first turned off. Once I realized it wouldn't hurt anything, I thought that was kind of cool as well. Just this little blue glow coming from the lights after the car is shut off.

 

Well in an earlier post WhiteSTR said they can stay on for up to 12 hrs. Not sure if I am into that. I like the look of LED's, and I guess I am just going to try them out to see how long they are going to be staying on.

For those who have them, are they on at full strength EVERYTIME you start your vehicle no matter if you switch the parking lights on or not? Similar to daytime running lights?

 

I haven't sat and timed it, but I'm sure they aren't glowing for 12 hrs. They switch on just like the regular lamps, they do not light automatically. From what I'm told, Daytime Running Lamps are built into the computer since they are required in Canada, and are just off by default in USA cars, and can be turned on by the dealer. I'm going in next Tuesday for some other work and am going to ask that they turn on DRL. Also, it ends up my parking lamp LED that I thought was burned out was just a little loose in the socket. Pulled out a wire on the bulb and it works just fine. Damn.. I wanted to try a different lamp....

 

all that trouble??? literally takes about 30 seconds to do it. id much rather have the lights go out when they are supposed to. anyway, i was trying to give a tip to make it stop doing that. Its not like you can wire the 194 in backwards or anything. Its nothing more than a filament and can go either way!!!

 

Well I never timed mine either, but it was much longer than 20 minutes. Sometimes I parked my car at 11pm in the evening and went inside and went back out at around 9am and they were still on. They weren't on full power at all, it wasn't more than the glow an ember in a fire puts off. You could tell they were still on, but just barely, they were probably getting like 0.5 volts so I figured they would have to be on for 2 months before they killed the battery, so I never worried. I did go through 3 sets of bulbs in less than a week a set which I think was a result of them staying on at such a low voltage.

 

Screw it, Im just going to return the front LEDS and get those PIAA Xtreme White bulbs, should be the same color, i think they are 4100K-4500K

 

I'm sticking with mine.. Bull27, where did you get the ones you were going to use, and how much.... I still think I'll try a different bulb eventhough there is nothing wrong with the ones in there. BTW, I also changed the fog lamps to a high intesity amber....Looks crazy with Silverstar headlamps, the blueish parking lamps and the bright amber fogs on.