Pennock's Fiero Forum
  Totally O/T
  '92 Chevy pickup interior LED bulb question

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Email This Page to Someone! | Printable Version


next newest topic | next oldest topic
'92 Chevy pickup interior LED bulb question by williegoat
Started on: 05-23-2018 04:00 PM
Replies: 15 (225 views)
Last post by: rogergarrison on 05-28-2018 07:06 PM
williegoat
Member
Posts: 19334
From: Glendale, AZ
Registered: Mar 2009


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 103
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 04:00 PM Click Here to See the Profile for williegoatClick Here to visit williegoat's HomePageSend a Private Message to williegoatEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
I swapped out the interior bulbs in my '92 K2500 for LEDs so that I don't use so much battery power with the doors opened. Two of the bulbs are 1156 replacements and the dome (overhead) light is a 211-2 type.

When I put in the LED dome bulb, it works as it should with the doors open, but continues to glow very dimly with the doors shut. I put my meter on the light fixture and found about 6 volts at .01 microamps. I know thats not much, but it is enough to barely light the LEDs. Do I have a problem somewhere? Maybe a bad ground?

I put my ohm meter across the LED bulb and it shows open, while the standard incandescent bulb shows about 1 ohm.


------------------

IP: Logged
PFF
System Bot
2.5
Member
Posts: 43222
From: Southern MN
Registered: May 2007


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 184
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:12 PM Click Here to See the Profile for 2.5Send a Private Message to 2.5Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Id say yes there is a problem, I'm not sure what. Ever get a battery drain?
IP: Logged
williegoat
Member
Posts: 19334
From: Glendale, AZ
Registered: Mar 2009


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 103
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:19 PM Click Here to See the Profile for williegoatClick Here to visit williegoat's HomePageSend a Private Message to williegoatEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by 2.5:

Ever get a battery drain?

No. Often the pickup will sit for well over a week, but always starts.
IP: Logged
2.5
Member
Posts: 43222
From: Southern MN
Registered: May 2007


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 184
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:26 PM Click Here to See the Profile for 2.5Send a Private Message to 2.5Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Does it beg the question, if the volts are sitting there, not being used by an incandescent that they cant light up, do they not drain the battery.... but a low power LED that actually lights up will?



I dig science

[This message has been edited by 2.5 (edited 05-23-2018).]

IP: Logged
2.5
Member
Posts: 43222
From: Southern MN
Registered: May 2007


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 184
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:27 PM Click Here to See the Profile for 2.5Send a Private Message to 2.5Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

2.5

43222 posts
Member since May 2007
Have you changed other bulbs to LED? maybe there is a sort of conflict somewhere for lack of a better word.
IP: Logged
williegoat
Member
Posts: 19334
From: Glendale, AZ
Registered: Mar 2009


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 103
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:43 PM Click Here to See the Profile for williegoatClick Here to visit williegoat's HomePageSend a Private Message to williegoatEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by 2.5:

Does it beg the question, if the volts are sitting there, not being used by an incandescent that they cant light up, do they not drain the battery.... but a low power LED that actually lights up will?



I dig science


I would think that the very low resistance (essentially a short) of the incandescent bulb would drain the battery faster than the (almost) open LED. I think that the very low (.01 microamp) current just drains so slowly that it would take weeks to make a difference. But there should be no voltage there when the doors are shut. I would have never even known about it if I hadn't tried to install the LED.

Actually, I'm kind of surprised that such a low current will light the LEDs.

[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 05-23-2018).]

IP: Logged
LitebulbwithaFiero
Member
Posts: 3378
From: LaSalle, Michigan
Registered: Jun 2008


Feedback score: (2)
Leave feedback

Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:49 PM Click Here to See the Profile for LitebulbwithaFieroSend a Private Message to LitebulbwithaFieroEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Seems a common problem cured by a resistor
https://youtu.be/d1o6WDvA8F0

[This message has been edited by LitebulbwithaFiero (edited 05-23-2018).]

IP: Logged
williegoat
Member
Posts: 19334
From: Glendale, AZ
Registered: Mar 2009


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 103
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:50 PM Click Here to See the Profile for williegoatClick Here to visit williegoat's HomePageSend a Private Message to williegoatEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by 2.5:

Have you changed other bulbs to LED? maybe there is a sort of conflict somewhere for lack of a better word.

The only bulbs I have changed to LED are the three interior lights mentioned in my first post and the one under the hood that lights when I open it. The purpose was to be able to leave the doors or hood open without worrying about battery drain. LEDs use much less current than conventional bulbs.
IP: Logged
williegoat
Member
Posts: 19334
From: Glendale, AZ
Registered: Mar 2009


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 103
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 05:58 PM Click Here to See the Profile for williegoatClick Here to visit williegoat's HomePageSend a Private Message to williegoatEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post

williegoat

19334 posts
Member since Mar 2009
 
quote
Originally posted by LitebulbwithaFiero:

Seems a common problem cured by a resistor
https://youtu.be/d1o6WDvA8F0


Thank you very much! Now I can change that appointment from the psychiatrist to the bartender.

I have LEDs in three motorcycles and have never had this problem, but of course I never leave the doors open on the motorcycles.

[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 05-23-2018).]

IP: Logged
theogre
Member
Posts: 32180
From: USA
Registered: Mar 99


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 567
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 07:28 PM Click Here to See the Profile for theogreClick Here to visit theogre's HomePageSend a Private Message to theogreEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Yes, LEDs will light for low volts that normal bulbs doesn't even begin to glow.

2 possible items...
If only switches are used for on/off then switches can be going bad or dirty.
If BCM etc is controlling them then may use transistors/MOSFET and leak some volts often as part of monitoring for bad bulbs... the famous "CAN BUS errors." The resistor here likely does same as LED saying doesn't cause the can bus problems.

Just read lighting circuits in haynes etc books. First issue should be fix not a band-aid to hind. Second is annoying but isn't a problem to the car in most cases.

0.01ma added to whatever ECM/PCM and Radio standby power will drain the battery but takes weeks at normal temps. If parked for winter then anything draining the battery can make battery to freeze very easy. Freezing battery will kill then even if load didn't drain it more then 1-2 volt low.

------------------
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)


The Ogre's Fiero Cave

IP: Logged
williegoat
Member
Posts: 19334
From: Glendale, AZ
Registered: Mar 2009


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 103
Rate this member

Report this Post05-23-2018 09:10 PM Click Here to See the Profile for williegoatClick Here to visit williegoat's HomePageSend a Private Message to williegoatEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by theogre:

Yes, LEDs will light for low volts that normal bulbs doesn't even begin to glow.

2 possible items...
If only switches are used for on/off then switches can be going bad or dirty.
If BCM etc is controlling them then may use transistors/MOSFET and leak some volts often as part of monitoring for bad bulbs... the famous "CAN BUS errors." The resistor here likely does same as LED saying doesn't cause the can bus problems.

Just read lighting circuits in haynes etc books. First issue should be fix not a band-aid to hind. Second is annoying but isn't a problem to the car in most cases.

0.01ma added to whatever ECM/PCM and Radio standby power will drain the battery but takes weeks at normal temps. If parked for winter then anything draining the battery can make battery to freeze very easy. Freezing battery will kill then even if load didn't drain it more then 1-2 volt low.



There is no CAN bus. The only computer is the ECM. The technology in this pickup is essentially the same as that of the Fiero.

After following through on LightbulbwithaFiero's post, I have learned that LEDs can glow with extremely little current. I am actually talking about .01μA, not mA. This can be generated by adjacent wiring through capacitance. There is constant power to the fixture because it also includes two map lights. In one video, it was demonstrated that the LEDs could be made to glow by cupping one's hands around an LED board which was mounted in a socket with only one wire attached to the power source.

Bear in mind that the glow in my dome light is so dim that it cannot be seen, once the white plastic lens is in place.
IP: Logged
PFF
System Bot
Stubby79
Member
Posts: 7064
From: GFY county, FY.
Registered: Aug 2008


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 58
Rate this member

Report this Post05-24-2018 11:48 AM Click Here to See the Profile for Stubby79Send a Private Message to Stubby79Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
leaky current!

Maybe there's some water or some such in your door switches?
IP: Logged
MidEngineManiac
Member
Posts: 29566
From: Some unacceptable view
Registered: Feb 2007


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 297
User Banned

Report this Post05-24-2018 12:58 PM Click Here to See the Profile for MidEngineManiacSend a Private Message to MidEngineManiacEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
Silly question, but how are the stray EMF fields around you parking spot ? Wires or cell phone towers ?

IE: A fluorescent tube can be lit just by picking up stray fields from high tension wires. (There are a bunch of videos on YouTube of it)

Could be something similar going on.

10 years ago I was playing around building cell phone chargers that worked by picking up stray fields from CRT monitors instead of plugging into the wall. It was more of a trickle charger and then those wireless charging pads came out so that killed that idea.

[This message has been edited by MidEngineManiac (edited 05-24-2018).]

IP: Logged
williegoat
Member
Posts: 19334
From: Glendale, AZ
Registered: Mar 2009


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 103
Rate this member

Report this Post05-24-2018 02:29 PM Click Here to See the Profile for williegoatClick Here to visit williegoat's HomePageSend a Private Message to williegoatEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
I have noticed that it will stop glowing after a few hours, but as soon as I open a door it starts again. It will go out immediately if I disconnect the battery.
The battery still has plenty of juice after sitting like this for a few days, so I guess I won't worry about it.

I blame the Russians......or maybe the space people.......or maybe Russian space people.

[This message has been edited by williegoat (edited 05-24-2018).]

IP: Logged
2.5
Member
Posts: 43222
From: Southern MN
Registered: May 2007


Feedback score: (1)
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 184
Rate this member

Report this Post05-25-2018 11:26 AM Click Here to See the Profile for 2.5Send a Private Message to 2.5Edit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
 
quote
Originally posted by williegoat:

I blame the Russians......or maybe the space people.......or maybe Russian space people.





They hacked your truck in order to influence the direction of Pennocks Fiero Forum
IP: Logged
rogergarrison
Member
Posts: 49601
From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio
Registered: Apr 99


Feedback score: N/A
Leave feedback





Total ratings: 551
Rate this member

Report this Post05-28-2018 07:06 PM Click Here to See the Profile for rogergarrisonSend a Private Message to rogergarrisonEdit/Delete MessageReply w/QuoteDirect Link to This Post
If you manually turn off the dome lights with the switch on dash, do they go out ? I know my Dodge Caravan has the auto dome normal lights that turn off after like 10 mins. They do that but ive found if I leave the sliding door open there is still a drain that kills the battery in a week even though the lights are out. If I shut the doors, it stays charged for at least a month. I think something in the computer that turns them off with a delay is defective. If I turn off the manual switch on dash, the battery is fine with the doors open or closed. Someone suggested the little 'door ajar' lite in panel is draining it.

I switched all the interior and porch lights on one of my RVs to LEDs and dont have any problems. I leave the porch lights on for weeks/months without running the batteries down. I occasionally, like once a month plug it into the garage so the converter charges them to full. The outside lights are a crime deterrent.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 05-28-2018).]

IP: Logged

next newest topic | next oldest topic

All times are ET (US)

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Hop to:

Contact Us | Back To Main Page

Advertizing on PFF | Fiero Parts Vendors
PFF Merchandise | Fiero Gallery | Ogre's Cave
Real-Time Chat | Fiero Related Auctions on eBay



Copyright (c) 1999, C. Pennock