led interior bulbs

[robonmac]

hi all new to this forum and hope to be a regular!
I have recently changed most of my c class estate 250cdi w204 interior bulbs over to leds.everything seems fine but after changing the footwell lights at the front they stopped working,i checked the fuses and all appears ok,then suddenly the drivers side works intermittently whilst the passenger side not at all.I thought it may be dodgy chinese bulbs so i swapped them back to the original bulbs and they perform the same,either off or intermittently!
Any ideas?

 

[BIG_G_1979]

Had the same issue with my w211 in the end I gave up and just stuck to oem bulbs

 

[amiller81]

It will Defo be the bulbs. I bought some cheapish ones from ebay and they were terrible. Bought another lot double the price and there fine.

 

[Benplym]

I just changed 18 bulbs on my ml and one of the doors went weird, then didn't work win the oem bulb, I assume I pulled a wire maybe you did the same?
Don't change back it literally transformed the look, it looked ridiculous having a car that's a couple of years old with bulbs from the 1960's glowing the interior up.

 

[Slowtwitch]

It will Defo be the bulbs. I bought some cheapish ones from ebay and they were terrible. Bought another lot double the price and there fine.

Can you point us in the right direction to find the LED's that you found didn't cause any problems please? Cheers

 

[Pitts Pilot]

I have spent hours buying various LED bulbs off eBay, as well as regular online "replacement bulb" retailers.

My experience is that in every case the bulb is to blame for: flashing, intermittent working, not working at, and in the case of the rear numberplate illumination, overheating and blowing so often I eventually gave up and installed regular filament bulbs!

Therefore, IMO it is simply trial and error. Buy from different sources, buy different element numbers, watch the lengths: 36mm, 39mm, etc, they vary.

I would recommend you resist buying super bright multi SMD LED replacement bulbs, and instead go with those with the fewest elements, they will be bright enough, promise!

Also get LEDs with a dedicated heat sink that helps stabilise them because they do get very hot.

You will no doubt already be looking at 'Canbus' error free bulbs.

Personally, I love the white light they give, but they are a real pain to work with without ending up with at least a dozen "Spare" leftovers!

Keep swapping in and out from your 'selection' of different bulbs and you will win in the end!

Incidentally, I've tried hard to find indicator LED bulbs that are brighter than the cheap filament ones, but 'test and assess' sessions have kept me with filaments every time, because they are visibly brighter, irrespective of what the retailer says!

The LED indicator replacements are expensive too, so save your money on that fruitless venture!

Cheers, Robert



.

 

[GLK]

... I eventually gave up and installed regular filament bulbs!

Hear - hear! I went through a few LED festoons rear plate lights, before putting standard ones back in.
After all, they are illuminating a dark yellow number plate, what does it matter if the light is not bright white!

As to other lights:

All interior lights are LED and have been trouble-free for over three years now: only one needed replacing about a year ago.

The position W5W lights are also LED, but don't last long and I'll probably put in those blue glass tungsten ones next - fed up with having to replace these every four-six months or so (and because they, obviously, don't go at the same time, it feels like I'm always doing it).

Tried amber turn indicator LEDs (they were actually SMD-type) - not as nice as MB chrome tungsten ones, so back to these now. The side repeaters are also back to chrome tungsten ones.

One other LED I have is a flashing top brake light - not a single problem in about two and a half years. Annoys the hell out of tailgaters too

 

[amiller81]

Can you point us in the right direction to find the LED's that you found didn't cause any problems please? Cheers

These are the ones I bought to replace the front interior and footwell
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=331115533927

And these were for the rear
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=320872133978

If I'm honest the rears were a bit short and is boils have gone for 41mm but they work so I'm more than happy.