LED load equalizers

[Snowman]

I have recently started switching out a lot of my incandescent bulbs with led lighting in my car. The challenge I have is that what normally would be a closed circuit on a bulb is bleeding low levels of power to provide a dimly lit LED strips. i need a load leveler and am thinking that the price that autozone asks for one might be a bit high. Surely building one would be cheap and effective. Anyone got any ideas?

[xr4man]

what leds are you using? are they specifically led bulbs for cars? i have switched out the bulbs in two of my cars with automotive led bulbs and don't have that issue.

[Snowman]

Yes sir, packaging even said may need load leveler for some vehicles. The load leveler looks like a basic ceramic resistor but frankly they are charging about 6 times what it is worth. The other are some automotive strip lighting that I used to replace the single 194 bulb in the corner of my trunk with.

[billygoat333]

yeah, iirc all the load leveler does is add resistance to equal the power draw of the incandescent bulb you replaced. I am sure you can use a LED calculator to see what resistor to use.

[xr4man]

do you have an information center that tells you if a bulb is out?

[Snowman]

do you have an information center that tells you if a bulb is out?

Thank god no, I got all the benefits of the mkiv body with all the feature benefits of the mkIII jetta simplicity.

[xr4man]

i guess there must be some other black magic going on with your jetta then. the only reason i can think of that there would be any current flowing to your bulbs without manually turning them on would be for an info center. but then again, VW isn't noted for their electrical prowess.

[Snowman]

i guess there must be some other black magic going on with your jetta then. the only reason i can think of that there would be any current flowing to your bulbs without manually turning them on would be for an info center. but then again, VW isn't noted for their electrical prowess.

Here is my theory, engineers design for specs not real world. 12 volt incadessant volts will operate on +- 2 volts from 12, to that extent a LED will operate on much lower lets say 9 volts plus resistor you will still get enough to close the circuit and power the LEDS. They will light but seriously underpowered. I added two more strips to the circuit and am no longer getting a glow.

either way got a picture of the resistors they sell:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_BHokqL4y5oVIgcg8Iu1u558bxlBb6GPdFGINphxqpwp-3c0bmgGeMJUtvMsORv55SkaH8hBcF-8-RZuISg0ZTKJbQ=s512

[SXRguyinMA]

Funny...I replaced all my interior lights in my truck with LEDs and they all work perfectly. Guess that's what you get for buying a Jetta :whistler:

[Snowman]

Funny...I replaced all my interior lights in my truck with LEDs and they all work perfectly. Guess that's what you get for buying a Jetta :whistler:

Your right next time I will buy a mazda ranger, a mitsubishi cavalier, or a monaro gto. Car was never engineered for LEDs so complaining about its design is kind of like taking a house built in the 40s and expecting it to run your 220 welders and air compressor without doing any type of upgrading.

[SXRguyinMA]

Your right next time I will buy a mazda ranger, a mitsubishi cavalier, or a monaro gto. Car was never engineered for LEDs so complaining about its design is kind of like taking a house built in the 40s and expecting it to run your 220 welders and air compressor without doing any type of upgrading.

Or an American car...like Chevy...or (god forbid) Ford or Dodge

[Snowman]

Or an American car...like Chevy...or (god forbid) Ford or Dodge

Find me an American one and maybe I will that was my point. Most american cars were made in the same **** town in mexico as my vw was. The money still leaves the country either way, the idea that it goes to an American company is crap IMO.

I have had exactly 2 "American Cars" and they both were made as throw aways by the engineers. I got a little less than 120k miles out of them while my jetta is still running strong at 140k. I had a mazda that clocked almost 300k before I totaled it, and it still ran even though I mangled most of it. Want to know how hard it is to find one? One of the most prominent UAW members was turned away at a union meeting because he had a Canadian vin number. Run the vin on your vehicle bet you it isn't American. Either way that has nothing to do with it and I feel this thread is getting off track.

[xr4man]

if you want an american car you have to buy Toyota or nissan.

i had a '88 golf that was one of the last cars built at the PA vw plant.

[Snowman]

if you want an american car you have to buy Toyota or nissan.

i had a '88 golf that was one of the last cars built at the PA vw plant.

I know a guy that worked in that plant and has a car from that plant. He used to live here local but moved back to PA in the last year.

[xr4man]

i loved that golf. it was the best $600 car i ever bought.

as for the leds, i don't understand why you are having the issue that you are. i mean, if you don't have a display center that is constantly checking for current flow to make sure the bulbs aren't burnt out, then there should not be any power going to them at all until you step on the brakes or turn a switch on.

my next suggestion would be to go through the car and and clean every one of your ground connections. it sounds like you are back feeding voltage from something else and putting the resistors in there is not going help your core problem, it will only cover up one of the symptoms.

like i said earlier, the germans aren't known for their superior electronics, and vw in particular has a lot of ground issues.

[Snowman]

i loved that golf. it was the best $600 car i ever bought.

as for the leds, i don't understand why you are having the issue that you are. i mean, if you don't have a display center that is constantly checking for current flow to make sure the bulbs aren't burnt out, then there should not be any power going to them at all until you step on the brakes or turn a switch on.

my next suggestion would be to go through the car and and clean every one of your ground connections. it sounds like you are back feeding voltage from something else and putting the resistors in there is not going help your core problem, it will only cover up one of the symptoms.

like i said earlier, the germans aren't known for their superior electronics, and vw in particular has a lot of ground issues.

While I won't disagree with you the main chassis ground, the engine ground, and transmission ground are all good. I have only one other ground in the vehicle and that is for the amplifier. Nothing else on the circuit is drawing current. The only thing that could possibly be causing a challenge is the censor for the alarm system that also controls the light. However it is operating fine so all the way back to square 1.

[xr4man]

have you checked the grounds behind the dash? grounds at the back of the car? i know vws have more than just 4 grounds. i don't know exactly where they are though.

[Snowman]

have you checked the grounds behind the dash? grounds at the back of the car? i know vws have more than just 4 grounds. i don't know exactly where they are though.

They do but those are the big ones that are most commonly not grounded properly. The one under the dash I know is good but I need to get under there again anyway so I may check it again this weekend.

[Twigsoffury]

Couldn't you just solder you a capacitor inline with those LEDS?

[xr4man]

no. if you do that the capacitor will stop all DC voltage from getting to the leds and nothing will work at all. capacitors only pass AC voltages.

[Snowman]

I could use a transformer but that is solving a problem that shouldn't exist.

[xr4man]

a transformer doesn't pass DC current either though.

[mDust]

no. if you do that the capacitor will stop all DC voltage from getting to the leds and nothing will work at all. capacitors only pass AC voltages.

Almost everything electronic in a car is DC. AC is changed to DC by a rectifier before it even leaves the alternator. Components such as the radio, inverters, amps, navigation systems, and the various computer systems all contain capacitors.
Your computer doesn't have any AC running through it beyond the PSU...it has capacitors and transformers.

A capacitor eliminates electrical noise and/or stores power for later use like a battery. The LEDs will never pull 'too much' power so that is a non-issue. It also will not reduce the current headed for the LEDs enough to make any difference, so it doesn't help there either.

I would think that a resistor that brought the circuit resistance back to spec would solve the problem...or resistance through additional LEDs, which is why adding more strips solved the glow problem.

yeah, iirc all the load leveler does is add resistance to equal the power draw of the incandescent bulb you replaced. I am sure you can use a LED calculator to see what resistor to use. This.

[Snowman]

a transformer doesn't pass DC current either though.

i meant a relay i wasnt awake yet.

[xr4man]

oh yeah, that makes much more sense now. a relay would probably work. i'd check to make sure it wasn't already going through a relay though.

[Konrad]

If you still have the old bulbs you replaced then just splice one back into each LED circuit. Just think of them as "fuses" instead of "bulbs".

[Twigsoffury]

no. if you do that the capacitor will stop all DC voltage from getting to the leds and nothing will work at all. capacitors only pass AC voltages.

wut?

my HDD LEDS shouldn't be working then.

[mDust]

wut?

my HDD LEDS shouldn't be working then.

I had to do some digging with google, but I found that a fully charged capacitor will not allow any power to pass through. DC will eventually charge a capacitor to 100% if there isn't sufficient load. AC will never allow a capacitor to fully charge so the power continues to flow.

Now we know...and knowing is half the battle.
G.I. Jooooeee!

[xr4man]

there's a whole lot more to it than that, but on a basic level, yes that's absolutely correct.

in the navy's electronics technician school, we spent a full two weeks for 6 to 8 hours a day just on capacitor theory. which was much much easier than transistor theory (which literally gave me nightmares).

[mDust]

there's a whole lot more to it than that, but on a basic level, yes that's absolutely correct.

Yeah, basic understandings are what I specialize in. I skipped over reading a lot of advanced stuff because I don't have a strong physics background.

[Twigsoffury]

will not reduce the current headed for the LEDs enough to make any difference, so it doesn't help there either.

This.

it does for a split second while the capacitor charges, it'll also dim slower while it drains.