XK XKR rear fog light repair (2010 MY onwards)
#1
09-18-2022, 12:18 PM
XK XKR rear fog light repair (2010 MY onwards)
I had an issue with my 2010 XK 5.0.: 3 LEDs produce bright red light, 2 others are blinking and the remaining 3 did not work at all. This suggests that the power supply to the fog light is OK, supported by also properly funcitoning reverse lights. So wiring loom issues can be excluded.
With the boot lid opening and closing, it seems that some weaknesses in soldering render these LEDs inoperative. I believe these XK lights are provided by Hella, so Jaguar itself is not directly to blame for the quality. Maybe some additional hot glue on each LED may enhance the stability to protect their fixation against boot lid bashing.
To avoid ordering the wrong parts: Please note that the 2006-2009 MY XK rear lights may differ in LEDs and wiring used from the 2010-2015 MY XK rear lights, as I have.
About the soldering: I can assure you: replacing the LEDs is not a job for the fainthearted...
Based on information from another Jaguar forum, I ordered a set of 10 Osram LEDs coded AMS OSRAM GROUP - LR G6SP-CBEA-1-1 (without the ending Z).
These may or may not be different from the original Z version in electrical terms. I paid about 20 Euros (15 Pounds) for a strip of 10, including shipping.
The circuit board on which the LEDs are soldered, is powered via a 3 wire band cable from the main board.
It has connections marked X1, X2 and X3:
The fog light LEDs are powered as follows:
As LEDs respond differently from traditional resistive lights, you may have some weird behaviour when the whole set is not complete or not completely working. The last 2 LED section only properly lights up when it receives sufficient current from the second set of 3 parallel leds. This is important to know, because I thought to have wrongly soldered these, but when measuring them, these were good to go.
When replacing the LEDs, it is best to remove all the 8 LEDs and replace them by 8 equals LEDs. I bought a strip of 10 replacement LEDs, and in the soldering process, I wasted a few.
It is also very useful to have a regulated and short-circuit resistent power supply, to be able to put ca. 2 Volt over a LED group, to check the group. Then, 4-5 Volt over two sets of LEDs, etc, and finally ca. 9-11 Volt over the whole set. Never go beyond 11 Volt, because this could burn some LEDs, so you have to redo the soldering again.
Now, considering soldering, on top of the tips above: I used soldering liquid to ensure good soldering properties. To remove excessive solder (and short circuits by merging soldering points) a solder pump comes out handy. To solder, I used a pencil sharp soldering point, which I constantly cleaned and provided with minimal solder.
To be honest, it is a pig of a work, because the 6 soldering points of the 3x3 mm LEDs are extremely close. You need a good set of enlarging spectacles to be able to see the details.
Also: the 3x3 mm sized LEDs have 6 connectors, in banks of 3 at each side. Important to know: only one of the middle connectors serves as (+) supply to light the LED. The LED has a dot on the light emitting side to indicate this LED. The middle connector on the opposite side is not internally connected, but just serves to enhance the fixation of the LED to the board.
It took me several hours, repetitively soldering and de-soldering LEDs, cleaning up, testing for short circuit and diode testing, etc. with some less polite words, as these LEDs jump around as fleas, if you are not careful...
With the boot lid opening and closing, it seems that some weaknesses in soldering render these LEDs inoperative. I believe these XK lights are provided by Hella, so Jaguar itself is not directly to blame for the quality. Maybe some additional hot glue on each LED may enhance the stability to protect their fixation against boot lid bashing.
To avoid ordering the wrong parts: Please note that the 2006-2009 MY XK rear lights may differ in LEDs and wiring used from the 2010-2015 MY XK rear lights, as I have.
About the soldering: I can assure you: replacing the LEDs is not a job for the fainthearted...
Based on information from another Jaguar forum, I ordered a set of 10 Osram LEDs coded AMS OSRAM GROUP - LR G6SP-CBEA-1-1 (without the ending Z).
These may or may not be different from the original Z version in electrical terms. I paid about 20 Euros (15 Pounds) for a strip of 10, including shipping.
The circuit board on which the LEDs are soldered, is powered via a 3 wire band cable from the main board.
It has connections marked X1, X2 and X3:
- X1 is the power supply to the 8 fog light LEDs
- X2 is the power supply to the 2 reverse light LEDs
- X3 is the common ground for both the fog and reverse light sections.
The fog light LEDs are powered as follows:
- Power from X1 goes first to a set of 3 LEDs, wired in parallel.
- From these, a second set of 3 LEDs are powered in parallel.
- From those, the last set of 2 LEDs are powered in parallel
As LEDs respond differently from traditional resistive lights, you may have some weird behaviour when the whole set is not complete or not completely working. The last 2 LED section only properly lights up when it receives sufficient current from the second set of 3 parallel leds. This is important to know, because I thought to have wrongly soldered these, but when measuring them, these were good to go.
When replacing the LEDs, it is best to remove all the 8 LEDs and replace them by 8 equals LEDs. I bought a strip of 10 replacement LEDs, and in the soldering process, I wasted a few.
It is also very useful to have a regulated and short-circuit resistent power supply, to be able to put ca. 2 Volt over a LED group, to check the group. Then, 4-5 Volt over two sets of LEDs, etc, and finally ca. 9-11 Volt over the whole set. Never go beyond 11 Volt, because this could burn some LEDs, so you have to redo the soldering again.
Now, considering soldering, on top of the tips above: I used soldering liquid to ensure good soldering properties. To remove excessive solder (and short circuits by merging soldering points) a solder pump comes out handy. To solder, I used a pencil sharp soldering point, which I constantly cleaned and provided with minimal solder.
To be honest, it is a pig of a work, because the 6 soldering points of the 3x3 mm LEDs are extremely close. You need a good set of enlarging spectacles to be able to see the details.
Also: the 3x3 mm sized LEDs have 6 connectors, in banks of 3 at each side. Important to know: only one of the middle connectors serves as (+) supply to light the LED. The LED has a dot on the light emitting side to indicate this LED. The middle connector on the opposite side is not internally connected, but just serves to enhance the fixation of the LED to the board.
It took me several hours, repetitively soldering and de-soldering LEDs, cleaning up, testing for short circuit and diode testing, etc. with some less polite words, as these LEDs jump around as fleas, if you are not careful...
#2
09-19-2022, 03:05 AM
Great write-up.
Added to XK/XKR - 'How To' / DIY Repair & Maintenance under renumbered Section 10. LIGHTING.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...enance-227403/
Graham
Added to XK/XKR - 'How To' / DIY Repair & Maintenance under renumbered Section 10. LIGHTING.
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...enance-227403/
Graham
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Ranchero50
XK / XKR ( X150 )
13
06-26-2018 07:22 PM
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)