Good evening, 

 

just been out doing some tinkering with the bulbs on the VRS. i was changing the reverse bulb to a LED one. i noticed that the LED bulb was constantly flickering? even when not in reverse and even with ignition off! i tested with a volt meter and got 4.5 V constantly. do you guys know anything about this, is it something to do with alarm or immobiliser etc? or do i just have a fault ? 

 

Cheers ben 

You need to put a resistor on it.

The led can act on voltages a lot lower than an a traditional incandescent.

You need to put a resistor on it.

The led can act on voltages a lot lower than an a traditional incandescent.

 

Hi

 

that was one of my thoughts but don't want to do it if it has this voltage for a reason and it would adversly affect something?

and not sure what ohms resistor to use. guess i could measure resistance of the original bulb and get something close to that ?  

Have you tried it with the bulb turned 180?

Did the old bulb work OK ? If not it could be a poor earth connection ! 

If the new led unit is made for Auto use if should be 12volt  (No resistor Required)

Have you tried it with the bulb turned 180?

yes, but as the base is live and side is earth turning 180 didn't make a difference 

 

Did the old bulb work OK ? If not it could be a poor earth connection ! 

If the new led unit is made for Auto use if should be 12volt  (No resistor Required)

the old bulb worked fine. the new bulb is made for auto 12v, its not the bulb its just that the live terminal is giving 4.5v and as the leds have less drag they light up at the lower voltage and the filament bulb didn't. 

Has your car got a bulb monitoring system. If it has it might explain the constant low voltage.

Edited 6 November, 201411 yr by JimGem

Has your car got a bulb monitoring system. If it has it might explain the constant low voltage.

yes it does. but none of the other lights do it haha! and no warning came up when i took the bulb out of reverse and put it in gear with engine running ?