When I got my Camaro about 10 Months ago I replaced my dome light and map lights with Led's.

Now my battery died. From what it looks like the lights stay on just a tiny bit when the interior lights are suppose to shut off. Like when I close the door the map lights stay on, but just barely. I mean you can hardly see them in the dark.

This never happened when I had regular bulbs in, they shut completely off.


WTF? ? ?

Why does it do this?

It really makes no sense to me.

P.S. Throughout the fine process of installing the Led's in the mirror I had to remove the original metal clips and solder in the Led components in directly.

What can I do with my review mirror? How can I swap it to a rear view with a temp gauge? Maybe. . . . . . .

 

Some LEDs actually do stay on a bit, but just barely. Depending on how many are staying on, and how long they stay on, can kill the battery. I think it just depends on the brand of LEDs (and color - UV LEDs use more power) you install. I use a ton of LEDs (about 90 or so) for my interior setup, and have never had an issue with the battery...but, when they go off, they turn completely off.









As you can see, I'm running more than enough LEDs to potentially kill my battery if they're left on. And yes, after I installed them, I made sure that they ALL turned completely off.

 

But why do mine stay on? It makes no sense.

 

LEDs stay lit because of a very small current still in them/ the lines.. Where normal bulbs wouldn't be able to run off the current, LEDs can.

Although they shouldn't be running constantly.. I think they should eventually cut off. Logically it doesn't make sense for that alone to be killing your battery, because the circuits for those should be open (no current draw)

However it looks like that's not the case?

 

I'm not sure what else I can suggest other than replacing some of your current LEDs with another brand and see what happens. As for your mirror, if you can't go back to the regular bulb setup, just replace the whole mirror.


These are the type of LED bulbs I have in my rear view mirror...(212-2) bulbs.

 

Those are the same bulbs I have also(they fit like crap).

I would like to convert to a different mirror, though.

I will have to look around.

 

Well after a little more research this is what I found.

If you have replaced all of the dome lights with LED's you will have a lot of risidual(maybe) voltage when there should be none. For example, I had over 7v when the lights were suppose to shut off.

What I think happens is that there is something up with the the BCM not liking LED's.

What I did is keep the LED's in the mirror and put a regular bulb in the dome light.

Now there is no voltage at all coming in when there should'nt be any.


Yet I have to have a ugly dome lamp. Oh well. . . . . . .

 

Diodes need to be forward biased. If you wired the diodes in parallel, it could make this happen. LEDs have more specs than a simple bulb, and different characteristics. Wiring any load in parallel makes the circuit less resistive. In that circuit, the voltage is cut by the dimmer pot on the dash, and this voltage will sit on the anode of the LEDs. With a few in parallel, the resistance will drop, and the current will seep more easily. This can be fixed by installaing a resistor before the LEDs, or getting a larger bias LED.

An attempt to balance circuits should be done when modifying wiring. De-energize and read the resistance of whatever you are changing, and aim for that circuit resistance.

Oh, and the wires by the LEDs are ALWAYS hot (7V when "off"). The ground is what is "switched".

 

Samson I had the same problem! I installed those same bulbs and I was looking at it like WTF. I then shorted my rear dome light and I just about burned down my car. So right now i have no map and dome lights.

 

Wow, that sucks.

I am ok with my idea. LED's in the front, regular bulb in da back.