1997 Ex

I did a full SMD light conversion for my interior lights and they look great except for the dome light. It stays on at about 10% of power, unless I manually turn it off. When the door opens it illuminates just fine, but when its supposed to be off its still on, giving the car a soft light which doesnt look so bad, but im tired of people telling me I left my dome lights on. Also, it doesnt kill the battery, its stayed on over night for 6 months now with no issue.


Is there a sort of resistor I can place inline so that it doesnt stay on? I wanted to connect my map lights to the dome so they turn on with the doors, but I dont want those to stay on as well.

 

PS: its not the bulb, ive tried several different SMDs and they all stay on, unless I use an OEM bulb.

 

Somehow you are still getting "ground" to the light when the door is closed.

Have you pulled the whole thing and inspected the switch contacts.

 

I replaced all my interior lights with SMD's as well. No problems. Maybe your dome light assembly is flaky.

 

SMD's and LED's will do that. They are voltage sensitive and it takes less power to light them then incandescent bulbs, so they always have a slight dim glow to them when your car is off. It doesn't harm anything nor will it kill your battery.

I had every single bulb converted over to LED's in my 02 Dakota Quad Cab, and I never had an issue with it for the 2 years I had it. The bed cargo light always had a glow to it when parked, but it never bothered me.

 

Well no, they shouldn't do that. Just because they can doesn't mean they should.

The OP clearly has an issue with the wiring up there where something is not properly grounded/insulated/etc. Probably easiest to uninstall the fixture and inspect it to see if anything stands out.

 

Never said they "shouldn't" do that, buddy. I said they (SMD's and LED's) "DO" do that, and I explained why. I also added my personal experience with them, and that it never caused any problems for me.

Maybe what I should have added was, that if he wanted to fix this "issue", he would have to use resistors to correct the voltage for each SMD/LED, in which I don't think is worth the effort if the SMD's/LED's aren't harming anything really.

And no, it's not "CLEAR" that he, "has an issue with the wiring up there where something is not properly grounded/insulated/etc", as you stated or he would have the problem with the standard incandescent bulbs as well. He clearly stated that when he installs the OEM bulbs back in, there is no problem.

 

I think I have to agree with BOOMfist on this one. OP, where did you get your SMDs.? Do they have resistors built in? If not, go buy some SMDs with resistors and your problem should be resolved. You stated you tried "different SMDs" but are they from the same seller/do they have resistors? I have full SMD conversion too but they have resistors built in and don't have that issue.

 

Wow I had no idea people responded to this thread!!

As an update, I still have this issue. It hasnt killed my battery and now I added a 36 SMD board which is great but the "soft light" is still there.

I pulled it off before I installed the 36 SMD one and it looked great. Nothing was rusted and everything was in perfect order.

Thats what I figured but the map lights and door lights are SMD as well but theyre never on unless I turn the map light on or open the doors.
Ive purchased them from several sellers on Amazon and a set from a vendor on ClubCivic.com.

They dont have resistors built in. What resistors do I need to get and where would I get them? I dont want to get a new board so if I could wire it inline I would.
I want to connect my map lights to my dome so they turn on with the door but im holding off on that because since theyll be connected in parallel im almost positive theyre going to be on as well. The SMD is extremely bright but due to the sunroof, it points mostly to the rear, with id say 40% of the light going to the front seats where I need it most.

 

I know this is an old thread but didnt want to make a new one when my issuse is the same as the op. i only have one question were do u install the resistor at?

 

Bump can anyone help me please

 

MUFFIN MAN IS AT 12,000k posts. Just thought I would mention that.

 

Bump anyone

 

D'oh!

I completely neglected to think of the resistors and that's likely where the issue is. I assumed (incorrectly) that he had decent LED's which would then suggest he had a grounding issue or something along those lines.

You would install a resistor on either the power or ground line on the SMD's. To figure out what size resistor, you'd need to know what amount of current/voltage is required by the LED's and then you can calculate the required amount. The voltage is probably 12V (like all other car bulbs) but the current may vary.

I just found this site browsing around which should help, the LED ratings should be available from whomever you bought them from

http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz

12V is going to be your source
Forward voltage from your manufacturer
Forward current from your manufacturer

Drop in the number of LED's and they'll tell you what resistor.