LED's flickering?

[TURBO2GO]

Guys I ordered the LEDS for my front parking lights (in the headlight assembly) from superbrightleds.com, I think its the 6 LED one. After a while, they started to flicker.... now, they are just dead. Both... the ones in the doors, dome, rear, all fine.

Does anyone know what this is? Did I get two bad bulbs? its odd both front ones did this. If I leave it off for a while then turn lights on, they are OK.. for a while... then they flicker again. What causes leds to flicker? I hate to put the nasty low glow bulbs back in.

 

[rbirling]

I'd guess a loose connection -- either the bulb being loose in the socket (most likely), or maybe the wiring at the connector. I'd take a look and see if it looks like the bulb is vibrating loose. Or maybe clean the inside of the connector in case there's any corrosion in there.

 

[pvmike]

I purchased a number of LEDs from superbrightleds.com for my interior and parking lights also. The interior ones have remained fine. One of the parking light LEDs would occasionally turn off, and the solution was to clean the connector. This same bulb was fine for awhile and then started to flicker, and cleaning the connector did not stop the problem. It went away after I replaced the LED with a spare.

You can try cleaning the connector, but I think you need two new LEDs. I'd buy some spares...

 

[TURBO2GO]

Thanks. The car is a 2005... I doubt there is any corrosion. I did pull them and checked the connectors... all looked fine. I pulled the wires in the bulbs "out" a bit to make sure its making solid contact.

My only suspicion is that recently I cracked my front bumper and had to have it replaced. I wonder is something was not put back right that is causing a ground problem or something. I will try two other LEDs and see what happens. This is very bizzare.

 

[LJSB]

recently I cracked my front bumper and had to have it replaced. I wonder is something was not put back right

Maybe that has something to do with your headlights shaking as mentioned in your other thread.

 

[TURBO2GO]

Maybe that has something to do with your headlights shaking as mentioned in your other thread.

They were shaking before that.

 

[LJSB]

The ground is through the headlamp harness. If the stock lamps work without issue I think the problem lies in the LED lamps, not in the car or the recent work.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I had one 9 led bulb new that only 8 LEDs worked on. I just went to the car and the dome lamp is out too. I am suspecting the quality of these may not be up to par.

 

[Hugh]

Weird. I replaced all of my interior bulbs as well as the front markers and license plate bulbs with their superbrightled.com counterparts a year ago and none have failed.

 

[demigod]

I had one 9 led bulb new that only 8 LEDs worked on. I just went to the car and the dome lamp is out too. I am suspecting the quality of these may not be up to par.

I had the same problem with the LED replacements, so I took them out. They flickered like a strobe light..

 

[TURBO2GO]

I am suspecting there is something to this... I will replace them with another set and see what happens.

 

[Hugh]

For those wondering about what LEDs to use and where to get them, please read this thread.

 

[drew]

Data point: I too have superbrightled's on my front marker lights to match my HID's.

One is starting to flicker

The interior ones exhibit no problem.

Drew

 

[TURBO2GO]

For those wondering about what LEDs to use and where to get them, please read this thread.

I read this Hugh.. I have the WLED6 in the fronts that is correct I believe. Two more members have experienced flicker.... something is up. There must be a voltage problem or these units go bad quickly...

 

[TURBO2GO]

Just got off the phone with the guys at superbrightleds.com. They said they do not recommend these in headlamp housings as they get hot and are not ventilated. Heat he said, will make them go bad and eventually flicker.

So the WLED6 is not a good unit for this, and he did not recommend any other LED at all. Will have to come up with a different solution. That or you buy a big pack and replace them once a month....

 

[johnny010]

My interior leds have worked on and off sparatically. Even though they appear to make good contact, I fiddled with them for about five minutes each and they eventually started working again. Weird.

 

[Hugh]

I just remembered something. I have PIAA LED lamps in the front markers. All the interior lights are from superbright though. The PIAA pat number is 19263. Just Google "PIAA 19263" and a ton of online sources will pop up. The best online price is $17.50 for a pair. They've been in the car about 2 years with no issues.

 

[djdrock]

Just got off the phone with the guys at superbrightleds.com. They said they do not recommend these in headlamp housings as they get hot and are not ventilated. Heat he said, will make them go bad and eventually flicker.

So the WLED6 is not a good unit for this, and he did not recommend any other LED at all. Will have to come up with a different solution. That or you buy a big pack and replace them once a month....

WTF? How much heat can these bulbs produce? I have had 2 sets, and the later is starting to flicker.

 

[Hugh]

They produce almost no heat but are sensitive to heat produced by incandescent bulbs.

 

[djdrock]

They produce almost no heat but are sensitive to heat produced by incandescent bulbs.

Heat by incandescent bulbs? What incandescent bulbs? The parking light bulbs are seperated from the incandescent turn signals by a plastic divider inside, and it is unlikely that the little bit of heat produced is enough to make these fail. Either way, it seems crazy to me that this is the reason they are failing and not a design flaw. LEDs are used in all kinds of applications where heat is an issue. For instance, the inside of an aftermarket stereo gets so hot you could practically cook bacon on top of the head unit at times, and they are full of LEDs. Many of us have similar bulbs from the same company in our door lights and dome lights, and the inside of our cars could reach 130º+ for extended periods, but they do not fail. Hell, I don't know, I just think there is something else going on with these failing bulbs.

 

[Hugh]

I made my comment about incandescent bulbs after reading your prior post about the manufacturer not recommending them for headlamp housings. I thought you had some kind of custom setup with LED bulbs next to headlight bulbs.

 

[djdrock]

I made my comment about incandescent bulbs after reading your prior post about the manufacturer not recommending them for headlamp housings. I thought you had some kind of custom setup with LED bulbs next to headlight bulbs.

Yes, I did complete my LED turn signal project some time ago. How do you keep track of all of us and what we do? :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

I emailed autolumination to see if he has any suggestions regarding a 194 application.

Hugh...what is your theory regarding heat and its impact on LEDs?

 

[Hugh]

Yes, I did complete my LED turn signal project some time ago. How do you keep track of all of us and what we do? :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:

I emailed autolumination to see if he has any suggestions regarding a 194 application.

Hugh...what is your theory regarding heat and its impact on LEDs?

I just read your posts. Regarding heat and LEDs I have absolutely no clue. As for the flickering it's either a defective bulb, the bulb is not seated properly in the housing or the connection between bulb and housing isn't good. Did you try some dielectric grease in the socket. Also remember that most of these LED bulbs are polarized and will only work if inserted properly.

 

[TURBO2GO]

Ok get this... my interior dome LED from superbrightleds stopped working.... I checked the seating, its tight as can be... polarity, correct. Just didn't want to work... I thought something else was up... I took the old Acura bulb out of my trunk, put it in the dome. It lights up fine... then I took the bad LED, put it in the trunk, and IT WORKS THERE! I am really baffled as to what is happening... also second set of LEDs in my front headlamp housing is starting to flicker....

 

[djdrock]

I just read your posts. Regarding heat and LEDs I have absolutely no clue. As for the flickering it's either a defective bulb, the bulb is not seated properly in the housing or the connection between bulb and housing isn't good. Did you try some dielectric grease in the socket. Also remember that most of these LED bulbs are polarized and will only work if inserted properly.

I have not tried some dielectric grease, but I may give that a shot. Strange stuff going on here. I have found virtually nothing on the net regarding heat and it reducing the lifespan of an LED bulb. I do not know how these little bulbs are manufactured, but it would seem that if heat was impacting the LEDs themselves, maybe one or two of the six of them would go out first, and not a dimming flickering effect of the entire bulb. It sounds like a faulty connection internally causing the problems, as just out of the blue, they start to fail.