Issue w/ replacement dome lighting

[pcpower]

Might have an issue w/ a few LEDs that I bought for the overhead dome lighting in the `08 coupe. Bought the 'cool white' LEDs (I think 6 LEDs per 'bulb') from superbrightleds.com. Shipped pretty fast, great quality, and the color is awesome... Just like mini HIDs, but inside the car. Also bought nice blue ones... but I'm not sure why, cuz they are illegal to have in dome lighting since only police can have blue lights....

Anyhow..! Even when my car is turned off and locked, there is a very faint light emitting from the two new lights in the overhead. I put the old bulbs back in to double-check if they have the same problem, and they do not. LEDs are back in and feint glow is still emitting. It's barely noticeable but they are somehow picking up a slight electrical current even when the car is off and alarm is on.

There is one way to get the glow to turn off though... By flipping the door light to the OFF position.... as opposed to the AUTO position which I am sure most people leave it in. (So the domelighting automatically turns on when doors are open, and fades out after doors are closed). Not a huge deal but I don't feel like flipping the switch to the off position every single time I get out of the car... annoying that the LEDs don't just turn off like the regular bulbs.

My concern is that even though it is a very small amount of electricity being used, that it will negatively effect the car's battery in some way. For instance, leave your headlights on for a day when the car is off, you'll probably need someone to jumpstart the car. So I'm thinking if I leave the LED's 'partially' on say for a week or so, that the battery will drain. Over-reacting or no?

thx!

[johnny_d]

strange, cuz mine worked just fine, I always use the door mode. I never heard blue dome lights are illegal cuz I'm gonna parked when I open the door anyway. But then again I just googled and some ppl saying they're illegal, damn

[2brian0]

I have a blue led in my dome (never heard of it being illegal but i guess i don't really care) and mine has a very dim glow to it as well.....have had it that way for at least a month and no issues. My car sits for a couple days at a time sometimes but never for a week....

[pcpower]

Cool, well I just checked the lights again (now that it is daytime), and the dim glow is not visible. It's only visible at night... That's how dim it is.... So hopefully it won't have any negative effect.

I wouldn't recommend turning on ur blue overhead lights while ur driving (say to read directions or something), because if a cop sees that then that's trouble...! :P

[johnny_d]

I just checked mine last nite, no glow at all, it completely turned off

[generic808]

Yes, any blue light coming from your car is illegal. Well, at least in Hawaii it is. And this is coming from an ex-Sheriff's Deputy. Every state and county has their own laws on the use of blue (emergency) lights on a vehicle, but I'm assuming it'll probably be illegal in all 50 states.

[LongBeachCoupe]

IM IN THE SAME BUCKET!I got 4bulb leds from ebay for the front map lights... 194 bulbs...

I had 1led bulbs in before, and they also had a slight glow when they were on "standby" (it doesnt glow when you have it on OFF, but when on door it glows)...

It appears one of the 4 leds on each bulb is on when its on "door"...

I dont want it to run the batt dead.. so i have it on off... im confused though...

[tonyb2580]

IM IN THE SAME BUCKET!I got 4bulb leds from ebay for the front map lights... 194 bulbs...

I had 1led bulbs in before, and they also had a slight glow when they were on "standby" (it doesnt glow when you have it on OFF, but when on door it glows)...

It appears one of the 4 leds on each bulb is on when its on "door"...

I dont want it to run the batt dead.. so i have it on off... im confused though...

hi guys i does this because leds draw lesss power than halogen bulbs, so sonce they do that the car is still shooting power to them even though they are supposedly off, it wont harm the car or kill the battery, but at night they may become annoying if you drive in a dark area for long periods of time...

[LongBeachCoupe]

so if the std dome lights were in there.. the battery would still be wasting some of the power? I dont understand... If i left the car for a month, these leds would bleed the battery dead,,,, right?

[pcpower]

interesting. I think I will leave it on 'auto' all the time, with the exception of when I turn off the car overnight... Don't want the glow from the lights attracting unwanted attention.

thx

[leif927]

I know this is an old thread but regarding the replacement of the dome light, which 3022 (3175 compatible) festoon bulb did you get for the dome light? There are the 9, 4, and 2 LED bulbs. When looking at the 9 LED, it seems too big to fit but will the 4 LED bulb give sufficient light or will the 9 LED bulb fit and work better? Looking to order in the next couple of days and want to make sure that the right bulb is selected to avoid any hassle.

BTW, I'm asking regarding the bulbs found on SuperBrightLEDs.com in case anyone is wondering where i'm getting these bulb numbers from.
Modified by leif927 at 5:06 PM 2/18/2008