Experimenting fitting LED bulbs in the indicator lamps.
Worked great but then noticed they stay on all the time although very dim.
Assume this is because they are lower resistance compared to normal bulbs.
Next step going to try adding a resistor.
Anyone have experience of this? How
many

ohms?

 

You will find that they will extinguish when the car goes to sleep. If you can live with this, then it will save you faffing about with resistors.

I have LEDs in both the front side markers and sidelights, and they glow dimly for a few minutes after shutdown.

The BPM in my car must also monitor the side repeaters as it noticed the drop in current draw and doubled the indicator warning 'tick' rate to signal what it considered was a blown bulb (although the actual flash rate remained unaffected), so I just gave up and put the incandescents back in.

If you want to follow the shunt resistor route, then try ~25Ω wirewound. 5W rating should be OK as the load is by nature intermittent, although they will get warm. Something like this:




Mount on a heat sink if possible, or at least away from anything that could melt.

 

MichealH, thanks for the tips, much appreciated, Damian

 

O&DR,
If I'm correct this is your Side Repeater Light (as it appears) and the best Bulb for this Light is the little Chrome covered Amber Bulb... They work great and really don't need to be LED's.....
I put LED's in my Parking Lights and the same thing happens.....It glows! I haven't waited around with my stop watch to determine how long they stay on.....but most of the time when I come out to go somewhere....they are off! Doesn't hurt anything.....So I just leave things as is!!!

Billy Clyde

 

Billy, yes it is the side repeater/indicator. But I am also in the process of modifying my UK car to have working side/parking lights. These were also dimly lit after switching off. If it is normal and just take time to turn completely off I can live with that. Was worried about overnight battery drainage but this doesn't same to be an issue. I have got chrome bulbs for the repeater/indicators but just trying to match the LED parking/side lights. Thanks for the information and reassurance, Damian

 

You just need to use the so-called “CANBus” bulbs that have a built in resistor. That is enough to make sure they do not light when the car is shut off, even before it goes to sleep.

 

Bear in mind that the current leakage from the BPM that causes the ethereal glow with non 'canbus' LEDs is present whatever type of bulb you have plugged in, hence no negative impact on battery drain from the use of LED lighting.

It is simply a consequence of doing something that the car's designers didn't anticipate.

 

O&DR.....

Do as Charlie said to do!..as it really doesn't matter, the system will go to sleep and that little Bulb couldn't run a Battery down as Dim as it is! But try the Bulb that Charlie is talking about and let us know what happens....I would really like to know if they work on our Cars. If they do as Charlie says, then I will buy some of them!
Let us know what Happpens!

Thanks! Billy Clyde

 

Will let you know how I get on when its all finished.

 

I recently changed the Headlight running lights on my XK8 with LED bulbs and experienced exactly what Damian has described. I had noticed this phenomenon previously as we use LED night lights at home and these glow for quite a while after being switched off.
I did a quick search on the interweb and found an interesting article about this.
The link is www.lamphq.com. Look for their LED section which has a description and explanation for this issue.
The conclusion is that there is nothing to worry about. Hope that helps.