LED interior lights flickering! Why!?!

Ormesome

Ormesome

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Hey Guys,

I have a question regarding LED bulbs in my interior lights that has stumped me and everyone i have asked! Hoping someone on here will be able to shed some "light"!! (sorry for the pun!!)

So, i put in some Halford Ring White LED bulbs in the front and rear interior lights. Just the normal ones, i dont have the swish LED lighting package so just 3x bulbs!

Anyway, this is the weird part. All fine and working well. Get in and lights fade on, put key in ignition, lights fade out. Perfect. Get out of car, lights fade on again. Lock the car, light fade out.... BUT dont fully go off!! they flicker very very faintly. I have put a timer on it and so far its 15mins and they are still faintly flickering! Why would it do this?! is there such a thing as energy left in the LED bulb that its burning?! Cos if they arent working well then surelly they wouldnt work well when i put key in ignition and turn the engine on!

This one has stumped me! Help!!
 
Last edited:
40mins and still flickering! One thing is weird though. Above info is still correct. BUT if when i lock the car i click the button to OFF on the "Auto On" interior lights then they go off completely. if i click the switch in to auto come on when i open a door etc, lock the car and they flicker! Weird!
 
You have to have canbus error free bulbs mate. I think the flickering has something to do with the low wattage they put out... It's all about having a resistor which is in the canbus "friendly" bulbs


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I had something similar.
Just soldered a 0.5w 1k resistor in the circuit over one of the bulbs.

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Ormesome said:
Cheers TimWills28! Canbus ones? how come? no sensors on those connections surely as no error codes have come up?ill check the wattage...

The flickering would surely be all the time if it was wattage or canbus related? this is only when i lock the car.

Link to bulb used here:

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/bu...ling-exterior-lights/prism-led-bulb-501-white
Click to expand...
Yeh mate I used something similar on mine and had same thing .. Maybe it isn't canbus but more resistor and wattage not being high enough problem .. Someone smarter will be along shortly to answer properly lol
Grab these mate... 10x better and decent price tbf https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/161629831750
 
OK thanks mate. i still dont get why they would stay on dim & flickering when on that button setting! its so strange cos i can turn them off ok and they work fine when in the car etc.. just when i lock the car. weird and doesnt make any sense to me!
 
I have something similar not with the interior lights which I replaced with all LEDS but the lights in the Boot area which I changed for LED's as well. These flicker dimly when the car is locked.
 
Interesting Desertstorm. Did you happen to see if it was only when car is locked? or did it happen if you started the car and you pressed the sensor to activate it going off? Cos mine doesnt flicker if i start the car but if i exit it and get out,lock it then it flickers. Which i dont understand! cos essentially both scenarios are cutting power to the bulbs.
 
audi upgrades
Ormesome said:
Interesting Desertstorm. Did you happen to see if it was only when car is locked? or did it happen if you started the car and you pressed the sensor to activate it going off? Cos mine doesnt flicker if i start the car but if i exit it and get out,lock it then it flickers. Which i dont understand! cos essentially both scenarios are cutting power to the bulbs.
Click to expand...

Also check the bulbs holders pins are bent towards the bulb holding securely?


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TimWills28 ill check but i doubt it. there must be a wattage/current issue to do with when the key is pressed & locked. all other times its fine.
 
It's nothing to do with the mounting of the bulb or the pins. The bulb works 100% fine.
I think the problem is related to the way the interior lights are driven. They aren't switched on and off by a relay but use an electronic bulb driver. This is designed to switch a filament bulb which has a very low resistance and takes a lot more current than an LED. With an LED fitted the driver is unable to work correctly.
A fix would probably be to fit a resistor in parallel with the bulb as in this video.

A 1K resistor will take 12mA at 12V so probably similar current to an LED bulb.
With 12mA flowing the heat generated by the resistor will only be 0.144W so as above a 0.25 or 0.5W resistor would work fine.
 
Desertstorm awesome! thank you for this. explains it perfectly. Im not good at electronics really so if i buy some better LED bulbs would this be ok? what kind of spec do i need to look out for?
 
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As mentioned, CANBUS friendly ones usually have these resistors built in
 
Audi is just trying to give you a sense of realism of that dark alley experience while driving.



Flickering-lLght.gif
 
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Hey guys, havent had time to change the bulbs yet so lights still flickering. i just dont leave them on now but ill get round to it soon! Just noticed that online i can get the LED style interior lights for around £40 delivered. Is the wiring the same behind it? the fitting seems the same so hoping its plug and play? photo here to the LED ones. sorry its just a google photo so not the best!
 

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Any ideas on my above post? would love to know as would like to order them asap if they fit ok?
 
FR4NC15 said:
The wiring is different to the normal halogen interior lights. There is a thread somewhere on here I think where someone retrofitted them
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks mate. ill buy some canbus bulbs instead! :)

I did search all over the web for specific info on just the reading lights but most commented on the whole interior LED package, for example door lights, footwell lights etc so no info on the normal reading lights being able to be retrofitted or if they are just plug and play.
 
Just to update this thread. I bought LED bulbs with canbus and now they work great. no flickering and fade in and out as normal. So if anyone is looking to do this then make sure the bulbs are canbus ones for the reasons above :)

Thanks to everyone who helped :)
 
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