LED Hood Light Partially lit?
03-31-2011, 05:06 AM
#1
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
LED Hood Light Partially lit?
I recently installed one of these LED Dome Units into the stock hood lamp housing. I also installed some LED Strip lights in the engine compartment that are wired into the same stock hood light switch
My situation is... when I open the hood, the dome light and strip LEDs all come on full power as expected. If I close the hood, just before it latches, I can see ALL the LEDs go off completely as expected. The strangeness happens when I open the hood and leave it open for an extended period. After about 10-15 minutes all the LED Strip lights go out (as expected), but the dome light LED array dims about 75%, but NEVER completely goes off? Again if I close the hood it does go off, but why is it staying partially lit when the hood stays fully open after the timeout sequence?
This is the Dome Light Array I installed:
http://www.oznium.com/flexible-5mm-led-dome
My situation is... when I open the hood, the dome light and strip LEDs all come on full power as expected. If I close the hood, just before it latches, I can see ALL the LEDs go off completely as expected. The strangeness happens when I open the hood and leave it open for an extended period. After about 10-15 minutes all the LED Strip lights go out (as expected), but the dome light LED array dims about 75%, but NEVER completely goes off? Again if I close the hood it does go off, but why is it staying partially lit when the hood stays fully open after the timeout sequence?
This is the Dome Light Array I installed:
http://www.oznium.com/flexible-5mm-led-dome
03-31-2011, 08:10 AM
#2
Drifting
I had the same problem on my 98-I believe it's something to do with the load monitored circuit of the underhood lamp not seeing enough of a load on the circuit to do what it's supposed to do.
Fixable,though-I wired a tiny (about the size of the button display lamps on the A/C control) incandescent bulb into the circuit,and everything works as it should.
I used a 115v bulb(don't need the light,just need the load on the circuit),but a resistor would have probably done the same thing-the important thing is that you need to wire the bulb or resistor into power and ground on the LED array(won't work if you wire it in anywhere else),and just attach it to the back of the array with a dab of silicone(this is why tiny is better)
Basically it'll do what the resistor in the headlamp circuit does when you install lobuck HID's(so the lights open and close when you turn them on)
What you're going for is to fool the BCM into thinking nothing's changed,because apparently,it doesn't like it when we "mess with stuff"
Fixable,though-I wired a tiny (about the size of the button display lamps on the A/C control) incandescent bulb into the circuit,and everything works as it should.
I used a 115v bulb(don't need the light,just need the load on the circuit),but a resistor would have probably done the same thing-the important thing is that you need to wire the bulb or resistor into power and ground on the LED array(won't work if you wire it in anywhere else),and just attach it to the back of the array with a dab of silicone(this is why tiny is better)
Basically it'll do what the resistor in the headlamp circuit does when you install lobuck HID's(so the lights open and close when you turn them on)
What you're going for is to fool the BCM into thinking nothing's changed,because apparently,it doesn't like it when we "mess with stuff"
03-31-2011, 02:03 PM
#3
Tech Contributor
I installed something similar to you and mine does the same. It goes to about 1/3 power after 10 or 15 mins and never turns off. I'm not sure why.
03-31-2011, 02:05 PM
#4
Tech Contributor
I had the same problem on my 98-I believe it's something to do with the load monitored circuit of the underhood lamp not seeing enough of a load on the circuit to do what it's supposed to do.
Fixable,though-I wired a tiny (about the size of the button display lamps on the A/C control) incandescent bulb into the circuit,and everything works as it should.
I used a 115v bulb(don't need the light,just need the load on the circuit),but a resistor would have probably done the same thing-the important thing is that you need to wire the bulb or resistor into power and ground on the LED array(won't work if you wire it in anywhere else),and just attach it to the back of the array with a dab of silicone(this is why tiny is better)
Basically it'll do what the resistor in the headlamp circuit does when you install lobuck HID's(so the lights open and close when you turn them on)
What you're going for is to fool the BCM into thinking nothing's changed,because apparently,it doesn't like it when we "mess with stuff"
Fixable,though-I wired a tiny (about the size of the button display lamps on the A/C control) incandescent bulb into the circuit,and everything works as it should.
I used a 115v bulb(don't need the light,just need the load on the circuit),but a resistor would have probably done the same thing-the important thing is that you need to wire the bulb or resistor into power and ground on the LED array(won't work if you wire it in anywhere else),and just attach it to the back of the array with a dab of silicone(this is why tiny is better)
Basically it'll do what the resistor in the headlamp circuit does when you install lobuck HID's(so the lights open and close when you turn them on)
What you're going for is to fool the BCM into thinking nothing's changed,because apparently,it doesn't like it when we "mess with stuff"
Toque
03-31-2011, 10:16 PM
#5
Le Mans Master
Thread Starter
I had the same problem on my 98-I believe it's something to do with the load monitored circuit of the underhood lamp not seeing enough of a load on the circuit to do what it's supposed to do.
Fixable,though-I wired a tiny (about the size of the button display lamps on the A/C control) incandescent bulb into the circuit,and everything works as it should.
I used a 115v bulb(don't need the light,just need the load on the circuit),but a resistor would have probably done the same thing-the important thing is that you need to wire the bulb or resistor into power and ground on the LED array(won't work if you wire it in anywhere else),and just attach it to the back of the array with a dab of silicone(this is why tiny is better)
Basically it'll do what the resistor in the headlamp circuit does when you install lobuck HID's(so the lights open and close when you turn them on)
What you're going for is to fool the BCM into thinking nothing's changed,because apparently,it doesn't like it when we "mess with stuff"
Fixable,though-I wired a tiny (about the size of the button display lamps on the A/C control) incandescent bulb into the circuit,and everything works as it should.
I used a 115v bulb(don't need the light,just need the load on the circuit),but a resistor would have probably done the same thing-the important thing is that you need to wire the bulb or resistor into power and ground on the LED array(won't work if you wire it in anywhere else),and just attach it to the back of the array with a dab of silicone(this is why tiny is better)
Basically it'll do what the resistor in the headlamp circuit does when you install lobuck HID's(so the lights open and close when you turn them on)
What you're going for is to fool the BCM into thinking nothing's changed,because apparently,it doesn't like it when we "mess with stuff"
04-01-2011, 12:42 AM
#6
Instructor
Member Since: Oct 2010
Location: Yangpyeong Gyeonggi-Do
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The car has gone into sleep mode and it takes much less Voltage/Current to keep the LEDS lit. Use a 470 ohm resistor and you will be in business. Or, as pointed out above you can just put an incandesent bulb in the circuit somewhere.
04-01-2011, 06:29 AM
#7
Tech Contributor
Toque
04-01-2011, 09:16 AM
#8
Drifting
If I remember correctly(it's been over a year since I did it),if you only go to the positive lead,it will work differently,but it's still not right.
The resistor,or bulb needs to be wired into the positive AND negative leads that feed the LED array.(or between the 2 metal contacts that the original bulb clipped on to)
Either way,it won't dim the LED's-it doesn't drop the voltage,it just puts a load on the circuit.
That underhood lamp circuit seems to me to be a lot more complicated than it needs to be.....
The resistor,or bulb needs to be wired into the positive AND negative leads that feed the LED array.(or between the 2 metal contacts that the original bulb clipped on to)
Either way,it won't dim the LED's-it doesn't drop the voltage,it just puts a load on the circuit.
That underhood lamp circuit seems to me to be a lot more complicated than it needs to be.....
