LED car

[Infiniti I35]

Hi, Im very new to LED lights and I just put new LED lights into my 2002 Infiniti I 35. The dome and door lights work great when the engine is on but when I turn the car off the lights remain on but are much dimmer. I am nervous because the lights still are drawing power and I dont want my battery to die. Can this happen and should I be worried about this?

 

[nismotor]

When you say you "turn the car off", is the key still in the ignition?

-If it is and your newly installed LED's dims, immediately, and/or stays on after you lock the car doors, sounds like an electrical problem in your I35.

-If not, meaning the key is pulled out of ignition and it dims, it's most likely the dimming feature of your car and the LED's should turn off after awhile, given that all your doors are closed properly.

Either way, if you got a healthy car battery, the LED's won't drain your battery. LED's are much more efficient than incandescent lights (LEDs' use about 1/10th the power of comparable incandescent bulbs). You'll be fine.

Every interior light in my car have been converted to LEDs' and once I failed to close a door entirely, all the lights were lefted on for about 15 hours. MY car started right up.

p.s. don't quote me on the 1/10th power draw thing, it's around there though.

 

[superjoe83]

here is a quote that i found on hidplanet about a guy that had the same issue....

little problem
why are some led are still on after turning car off?

I don't know exactly how to explain it but in some cars the dome light circuit or footwell light is used to provide a very low current ground path through the bulb filament even when the car is turned off. I don't know the purpose and don't really need to but I assume it is related to the door ajar system, theater dimming or similar system.

The fact is that even before you converted your dome lights to LEDs there was always a few milliamps of power flowing through the filament bulb. You were unaware of it since it takes hundreds of milliamps to illuminate the bulb enough to notice. Now that you have installed some LEDs they WILL illuminate because they only require a few milliamp flowing to light up a little. Now you see a problem (not) that actually existed all along.

The solution in my Eclipse was to place a small resistor across the LED leads on one footwell light. That resistor now sits there consuming 2-3 mA everyday, all day and all night (just like when a filament bulb was in place). With the resistor in place there is now enough load to keep the LED off until the dome light is truely supposed to be on. I thnik I used maybe a 3K to 5K 1/4W resistor but I would have to actually go look at it to be sure.

Having the LEDs stay on dim does no harm but it does make people think you have left something switched on inside the car. If you can check for a low current load with a meter across the dome light leads you can confirm this diagnosis.

 

[Infiniti I35]

Nismotor: Thank you for replying, The key is out of the ignition. I sat in my car for 5 min after to see if they would ever go off and they wouldnt. I have a new battery in my car

Superjoes83: Thank you for replying also. My brother thought the same thing I just didnt know what to say to that. Your post makes a lot of sense and I think I will get a resistor and I will put that in soon. Thank you again.

 

[tay]

Nismotor: Thank you for replying, The key is out of the ignition. I sat in my car for 5 min after to see if they would ever go off and they wouldnt. I have a new battery in my car

Superjoes83: Thank you for replying also. My brother thought the same thing I just didnt know what to say to that. Your post makes a lot of sense and I think I will get a resistor and I will put that in soon. Thank you again.

Probably a dumb question, but did you lock the doors?

In my Maxima (mechanically identical to the I30/I35), the interior dome light remains on if I take out the key and leave the doors unlocked. I'm not sure how long it stays on, but definitely long enough for me to remove stuff from my trunk, take it inside, then look back and see the dome light still on until I click the lock and then the hazard lights flash once and the dome light goes out.

 

[Hardtec2012]

" in some cars the dome light circuit or footwell light is used to provide a very low current ground path through the bulb filament even when the car is turned off. I don't know the purpose and don't really need to "

I'm really curious about this - what is the purpose - could it be there is a detector current running - is that how the car knows when to tell you a bulb is blown and needs replacing ?

 

[Taliano]

Hello,

I had that same problem in my car.

I found that the dome light switch being turned to 'on' instead of 'door' made this happen. All I had to do was keep the switch turned to 'door' instead of 'on,' and they go out.

So if you have a switch, try turning it to 'door.'

I'm not doubting anyone's knowledge who posted above, but it wouldn't hurt to check the switch.

 

[Alaric Darconville]

Hello,

I had that same problem in my car.

I found that the dome light switch being turned to 'on' instead of 'door' made this happen. All I had to do was keep the switch turned to 'door' instead of 'on,' and they go out.

So if you have a switch, try turning it to 'door.'

I'm not doubting anyone's knowledge who posted above, but it wouldn't hurt to check the switch.

With the switch turned to 'on', the lights SHOULD be on. Your lights being on in your car when the switch is on is no more a problem than your porchlight being on when its switch is on.

 

[Taliano]

With the switch turned to 'on', the lights SHOULD be on. Your lights being on in your car when the switch is on is no more a problem than your porchlight being on when its switch is on.

Good analogy, but its more complex than that.

The purpose of my lack of detail was for to OP to quickly just check the switch. If he happened to have the same problem as I, he would have quickly realized it.

Here's more detail:
I can turn my map lights on/off either by pushing upward on the lens OR by toggling the switch between 'door' to 'on.' Having two ways of controlling the lights is characteristic of some cars.

Since LEDs draw current differently, the on/door switch being switched to 'on' can produce the incorrectly dim glow that OP described in certain cars... so the on/door switch can be useless with LEDs. This isn't a problem for people with 2 ways of controlling the lights because they can just use the other method (for me, pushing the lens instead of the switch). So, if the OP had two ways of controlling the lights, one was a door/on switch, and he was used to using the other control (not the on/door switch), then this could have been the problem.

I understand that the OP's car isn't the same as mine, but others have had the same problem, and it might have helped him realize what was wrong.

Also, he wasn't complaining that his lights are on. He said his lights remained on DIMLY after they were supposed to go out, which is common for LEDs in certain cars. And the switch is usually the answer.

 

[electromage]

My Jeep does the same thing. I replaced my dome lights with LED, and installed LED footwell lights. When my doors are shut, and the lights are supposed to be off, there's still a faint glow. I assume that current has always been flowing, but never noticed it since it wasn't enough to make the incandescent bulbs glow.

Oddly, that current disappears when my marker lights are on.

 

[bhvm]

I don't see anything to worry about.

These look like cheap,unregulated LEDs you've buyed.

With the Engine running, Alternator puts out 14.2v to charge the battery... Hence your LEDs run bright.

With Engine shut off, Voltage runs down to about ~13v.

 

[alpg88]

most cars have low current going thru circuits even when car is off, this is done to monitor circuits. regular incand. don't respond to it, but leds do, that is why you see them on when car is off.

 

[hayze]

So this shouldn't drain the battery if left on dimly over night, right? I mean, if the current is the same, then it doesn't matter if the bulb lights up because of it or not. It should effect the battery identically with incan or LED, right?

 

[bshanahan14rulz]

looks funny though. Plus I'd probably rip 'em out after the 100th time I heard "dude, you left your lights on"