LED light replacement issues

[Elan]

Hey guys. Well I tried to replace my license plate lights with the 6k 194s that iJDMtoy recommended. One light installed alright. Pushing it all the way in, it would light up. I had to pull it about a 1cm out to get it lit up. Tried rotating 180, adjusting wires, etc. The second light wouldn't even go on. Finally I carefully adjusted it to make it light up. I mean I had to move it a mm or so to get it on. Not a second later after I wad about to close up the lights, my tails and plate lights all go out. Blown fuse. Accessing the fuse box was a major PITA. I mean come on Nissan. Anyways, got it all working and decided to ditch the plate lights.

This leaves me with the problem of my parking lights. I have slightly better 6k, 10 LED 194 lights from the same website for this. I don't want to blow any fuses. My friend said replacing the standard 10A fuse with a 15A fuse to take the brighter bulbs. Good idea? Bad idea? I also don't want flickering!! I can do mechanical stuff, not not electrical worth a dang. Any suggestions?

[SouthArk370Z]

I'm not sure what the root problem is but bumping up the fuse size is not the answer. If anything, LEDs will pull less current than incandescent lamps. And changing the fuse will make no difference in lamp brightness.

[Fountainhead]

Agree LEDs draw less current. I know on my license plate install I had to position the wire leads on the LED base wedge just right to contact the copper strips in the socket. After that no issues, no blown fuses.
I'm not putting any high power LEDs in my headlight housing until they make the really high power LEDs a lot better and more reliable. Those high power LEDs get really hot (LED element & resistor/voltage dropping device to LED get really hot), and you run the chance of melting something expensive. I can wait....

[Elan]

Thanks for the input guys. I am about to head out to grab some extra fuses just in case. We'll see how the parking lights go.

[SouthArk370Z]

I don't have much experience with newer lamps/sockets (I'm an old-school, bayonet kinda guy) but Fountainhead sounds like he's on the right track. Double-check all the contacts, lamp and socket, and make sure they are mating correctly and not shorting out.

If you blow another fuse, stop and get some experienced help before you burn something up in the BCM.

[DIGItonium]

If the LED doesn't light up, flip it. If it still doesn't light up or blows a fuse, then there's an internal short of the LED bulb.

As a sanity check hook it up to a 9V battery to see if it still works.

[Fountainhead]

Originally Posted by DIGItonium

If the LED doesn't light up, flip it. If it still doesn't light up or blows a fuse, then there's an internal short of the LED bulb.

As a sanity check hook it up to a 9V battery to see if it still works.

You're right Digit, it never dawned on me to suggest that, I took it for granted! Anytime I and the guys I work with buy LED bulbs we always connect them to an adjustable supply and gauge the brightness vs. voltage, sometimes adjusting the voltage lower than 14 will maintain the same brightness but drop the operating temperature of the LED array tremendously (we either rewire the LEDs or use one large resistor instead of a handful of 0805's like some bulbs get). Dropping the temps (by dropping voltage and decreasing power dissipated) really increases the lifetime of an LED. Most of the FleaBay LED bulbs are crap anyway, gotta rebuild them to get them to last.

[synolimit]

Originally Posted by Fountainhead

You're right Digit, it never dawned on me to suggest that, I took it for granted! Anytime I and the guys I work with buy LED bulbs we always connect them to an adjustable supply and gauge the brightness vs. voltage, sometimes adjusting the voltage lower than 14 will maintain the same brightness but drop the operating temperature of the LED array tremendously (we either rewire the LEDs or use one large resistor instead of a handful of 0805's like some bulbs get). Dropping the temps (by dropping voltage and decreasing power dissipated) really increases the lifetime of an LED. Most of the FleaBay LED bulbs are crap anyway, gotta rebuild them to get them to last.

You can rebuild a tiny little led bulb??

[Chuy]

Upping the fuse can rwsult in fried wires which might cause a fire.

[Elan]

Well I managed to get the slightly higher quality parking lights to work just great. The MAP lights are perfect. The only problem is the license plate lights. I put them in and after some tinkering with the metal, I got them to light up. About 5 minutes later, just sitting there, they started flickering. I went back to stock until I figure something else. Oh well.

[JWMotoring]

Originally Posted by Elan

Well I managed to get the slightly higher quality parking lights to work just great. The MAP lights are perfect. The only problem is the license plate lights. I put them in and after some tinkering with the metal, I got them to light up. About 5 minutes later, just sitting there, they started flickering. I went back to stock until I figure something else. Oh well.

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like the quality isn't too good with those bulbs.


Give ours a try. We give you 30 days to return them even if installed

Nissan 370z LED Light

[Fountainhead]

Originally Posted by synolimit

You can rebuild a tiny little led bulb??

Haha, no, I meant the larger LED flat arrays, larger 7440/7443 type bulbs, etc. We have SMT solder station, and the right tools, we can take them apart to the component level, we're all electrical engineers involved in circuit and PCBA design, so it's very simple to take apart even the smallest of LED lights, we also have a microscope and magnifying glasses like the dentists, etc. Sometimes we even order discrete parts and build our own for learning/experimentation, etc.
Honestly we've never disassembled the 194 size bulbs, no need to they don't run warm anyway, not the ones we've tested.
Good point though.

[DIGItonium]

Get better quality LEDs sourced from Cree, Nichia, Lumileds, etc. I'm running the Lumileds one right now. You should see the rear signals and reverse light. I cut the harness and wired the LED driver inline with it since there's no room in those little bulbs for a driver without melting things.

[synolimit]

Originally Posted by Fountainhead

Haha, no, I meant the larger LED flat arrays, larger 7440/7443 type bulbs, etc. We have SMT solder station, and the right tools, we can take them apart to the component level, we're all electrical engineers involved in circuit and PCBA design, so it's very simple to take apart even the smallest of LED lights, we also have a microscope and magnifying glasses like the dentists, etc. Sometimes we even order discrete parts and build our own for learning/experimentation, etc.
Honestly we've never disassembled the 194 size bulbs, no need to they don't run warm anyway, not the ones we've tested.
Good point though.

What bulb do you suggest for the map light, plate light and that little bulb next to the headlight?

I have 2 orange LEDs on the side and I want to replace this yellow one.



Maybe the orange turn signal bulb too

[Elan]

Originally Posted by JWMotoring

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like the quality isn't too good with those bulbs.


Give ours a try. We give you 30 days to return them even if installed

Nissan 370z LED Light

Hey thanks! Expect a PM from me in the next month or so.