Can this be fixed?

First,let me apologize for the bad pics but I couldn't seem to get any clear ones.What this is,is the third brake light strip from my vehicle.Four LEDs are not working.Can these be easily replaced or should I try to locate a new fixture?

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Yup, those can be very easily replaced. You'll need new LEDs and a soldering iron and solder. You are looking for 63/37 eutectic solder, 60/40 solder. Do not use plumer's solder or anything labeld acid core. You may also want to look for bad connections where the LEDs are. Did you try wiggling them or the resistors?

Thanks.I should mention that there is very little room between the leds and the board.

finding led's that are the same exact color of red
brightness and beam spread/angle might be a problem.
you might have to replace them all if you are really picky

markdi,
I kinda thought of that.I guess I will have to get a new one.

led's are pretty cheap these days
you could replace them all

id just replace 4 of em

Also get a spool of desoldering wick. It'll make the parts removal easier and cleaner, and it will provide some heat sinking for the traces on the board so they don't left off.

Thanks for the help everyone.I am not skilled enough to do the sodering.What is a fair price to pay someone to do this?

If you just replace 4 it might look fine especially with the red lens in place.
depends on how picky you are.
you could change the value of the current limiting resistors to match the brighness to the rest of the led's.

If the four that are broken are right next to each other, there's a very good chance that there is just a bad connection. There's no space between the LED and the board because all the soldering is sone on the back. The LED leads go all the way through the board and are clipped off after soldering.

The picture of the resistor side is not clear enough to see how the traces go. TO get a clear picture: I'm assuming you don't have a tripod. Place the camera on the table. Place the assembly far enough away to get it to focus. Use a book if necessary to get things to the right height. Hold the camera firmly against the table when you click the shutter. Keep it as still as possible for several seconds till you are sure it's finished. The blur in the pictures is from teh camera or part moving.

If we can see teh resistors and traces better we might be able to help diagnose.

Daniel.

Any TV repair shop should be able to check for bad connections for their normal shop charge.

Daniel

Thanks I will try to get a better pic.

Will any of these pics help?
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middle picture solder joint nearest the
y-00 kinda looks cracked around the lead.

hard to tell

It is possible that you just have solder joints that have failed.

My radar detector has a dot matrix led display and I had to re solder the joints for the display.

It gets realy hot sitting on my dash in the sun.

so the joints heating up and cooling off(expanding and contracting) cracked them.

most of the rest of the components in it are surface mount.

I have owned it since 1997 I have fixed the display twice.

look for cracks or rings around the leads in the solder joints.
look at the joints on the surface mount resistors for cracks
look for solder pads that have broken traces.

you may get lucky

Why am I still awake

Ok,will do thanks for the tips.

So I took a close look at it and dont see any breakage.It is a group of 4 in a row that dont light.

do you know any one with a multimeter and soldering/troubleshooting experience ?
bad solder joints or circuit board traces can be hard to find if you have no experience
4 in a row says to me that the some or all of the unlit led's may be good.

Look here, really closely:





Wiggle the led on the top, while looking at this spot under magnification.

go see if your local high school has a electronics department