Led DRL woes

[Citigo]

Has anyone had problems fitting Led DRL’s. to citigo ,17plate citigo sel stop start model

I fitted a set bought from ebay which appear to work correctly until the headlights are turned on.

As soon as they are, the rear tail lights go out...as soon as the old bulbs are refitted everything works correctly again.

 

 

[freemansteve]

Usually, this would be down to a poor earth or corrosion on bulb holders, but since you have retried the filament ones, this seems less likely -  unless the new LEDs actually draw more current than the filament bulbs, which would be unusual (possible if they are very bright though).

 

I'd try connecting only one of the LEDs at a time, and retesting by turning on the headlights. It might tell us something.

 

Many LEDs have a diode bridge incorporated, so they can work in either polarity, but others do not and only work one way round. Trying with each LED unit in turn, switch polarity, retest with headlights, and let us know the effect (if any).

 

Lastly, LED units can generate electrical noise, which can upset other electronics - some brands are worse than others. You may be better off returning them for a refund and buying a well-known brand (++£) if possible, from a big, established website-based supplier - eBay is not always a good source for Chinese electronics....

 

[Citigo]

Thanks for the reply, I had tried bulb in both ways and will only work in one.

The bulbs are super bright and will try one at a time as suggested when Wife returns with the car.

One thing I did notice was there seemed a lot of relay clicking going on.

[freemansteve]

The clicking relay could be down to noise from the LEDs.

 

It could be a poor relay though... Identify the one that clicks 'differently' or more often, according whether the LEDs are in circuit or not.

It may be cheaper/easier to buy a new one as a test.

 

If not, I'd attempt to find one that's the same in a fuse box, and swap them over for a test. So long as they are the same physical size, same pinouts, and a similar current rating (and the same NO/NC variants), it may be worth a lights retest, with as few other electrical items switched on as possible (like rear screen heater, fans, heated mirrors etc) - not everyone is up to speed with relays, so unless you are pretty sure about them, this swap may not be a good idea.

[Ootohere]

@Citigo

If turning on the Side / Position Lights and headlights put the rear Side / Position lights out, what happens at the front to the DRL's. 

Are they on at full brightness still or off or dim?

[Citigo]

5 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

@Citigo

If turning on the Side / Position Lights and headlights put the rear Side / Position lights out, what happens at the front to the DRL's. 

Are they on at full brightness still or off or dim?

When headlights are turned on it puts the tails off, the drl element go out as with normal bulbs but

there  is no light from what should be the side light function of the led

[Ootohere]

Wrong LED's then.  Others must know which they used that work.

?

Are the OEM DRL's not bright enough for your liking?

[freemansteve]

Interesting point about DRLs being bright (no headlights, no parking lights) compared with being dim (headlights on or sidelights on indicator stalk).....

 

I just checked mine, and it has factory LED DRLs which do appear to go dim when headlights are on (needs ignition on) or when a sidelight is on (indicator stalk set L or R, and ignition off) as said above.

 

The interesting point is if you have filament bulbs for DRLs, how do they achieve hi/low brightness. I don't know, but there are several possible way to do this - 1) Switch between 12V and say, 6V to feed the lights - but this doesn't seem likely to me, or 2) switch the bulbs from all in parallel to pairs in series and then have the pairs in parallel, or 3) Switch in a resistance to limit the 12V feed to the bulbs, which seems inefficient, but is a common thing to do for heater fans!, or 4) Use twin filament bulbs with each filament being a different brightness, or 5) feed the bulbs a PCM signal and say 50% duty cycle to reduce brightness.

Not all of these schemes are likely to work with LEDs (unless the original system was designed with LEDs in mind), although 5) has a good chance.

Nevertheless, it doesn't really explain why the rear lights go out when the headlights are on!  I'm thinking your LEDs are noisy and upsetting a relay....   Send them back.

 

Edited 5 October, 2020 by freemansteve

[freemansteve]

I've just done a quick search, and I think the DRLs use "580" bulbs, which are 21W / 5W twin filaments....

That's how they can be bright or dim - they get switched depending headlight on/off or sidelights on/off.

 

Your LEDs probably should be LED 580 bulbs too, with twin circuits. Check that.

 

I'm still not sure why the rear lights go out!

Do the sidelights work as expected when using the LEDs?

[Citigo]

19 minutes ago, e-Roottoot said:

Wrong LED's then.  Others must know which they used that work.

?

Are the OEM DRL's not bright enough for your liking?

Only reason to change from the original twin filament bulbs is they blow quite regularly and thought leds may last longer

[Citigo]

8 minutes ago, freemansteve said:

I've just done a quick search, and I think the DRLs use "580" bulbs, which are 21W / 5W twin filaments....

That's how they can be bright or dim - they get switched depending headlight on/off or sidelights on/off.

 

Your LEDs probably should be LED 580 bulbs too, with twin circuits. Check that.

 

I'm still not sure why the rear lights go out!

Do the sidelights work as expected when using the LEDs?

When I first noticed this I contacted the seller who said there was a high and low light function in the bulbs.

There are sidelights, front very bright , rear as normal when the leds are fitted ,they both go out when the headlights are on

[freemansteve]

Ok - I may have said something misleading..  I assume your car is the same as mine re- the headlamp rotary switch, so the first position is sidelights, (front and tail), and the fronts should be bright as you say, but only when the ignition is on. The front sidelight/drls should go dim with the ignition off, as in them becoming parking lights. Also, when the ignition is off, setting the indicator stalk to left or right should turn on the left or right pair of parking lights, front and rear, but only if the main lighting rotary switch is off (fully left).  When you turn the rotary switch to the fully on headlight position, with the ignition on, the sidelight/DRLs should dim.  Can you confirm all this for the filament bulbs, to eliminate everything bar the LEDs? I'm still not sure yet why the tail lights go out...!

 

NB  'Dim' being what would be 5W on a filament bulb; the 21W filament would be pretty bright for a parking light but fine for sidelights-only, when driving, ie same as DRL but with the rear tail lights on too.

 

The seller says you have twin-circuit LEDs. Can you post a photo of one the LEDs and also of one the filament bulbs, showing the little bent wires on both sides ?  I'm wondering if there is an issue with fit in the bulb holder for the LEDs, or an error in what you were sent.....

Can you also post the URL for the seller on eBay?

Edited 5 October, 2020 by freemansteve

[freemansteve]

I forget to ask - your DRLs, are there several bulbs each side, in the main headlamp unit?

I have assumed it was like mine (5 LEDs each side), but maybe it's different on your car.....

 

EDIT - I think older cars have one bulb each side.....

Edited 5 October, 2020 by freemansteve

[Citigo]

All my lights from new were standard type bulbs, the drl and side light are one bulb with high and low wattage respectivly.

Ive added the leds one at a time and the tail lights stay lit,however once the engine is stopped and restarted the tails are not lit.

The leds will only come on when plugged in one way and the contact wires are correcetly orientated ,there are 33 leds in each one 

 

edit:: sorry forgot link

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253952500919

Edited 5 October, 2020 by Citigo

[freemansteve]

Hmm, that does look like the power wires are offset, which is right, and what I was curious about.

They are a bit thin though compared with standard filament ones, which look 'doubled up', but I can't see that it would be a lack of contact that is causing the issue....

 

Unless someone tells me I'm wrong, there is not a CanBus system for lighting on these cars, so I think I'd rule that out too.....

 

Honestly, I'm thinking something weird is going on with electrical noise from your new LEDs. LEDs usually do have electronics incorporated in them that act as regulators, so that the actual internal LEDs receive a constant voltage, no matter what your car produces under various conditions, in order to be a constant brightness (and not burn out). The regulator could be the source of noise.... Hard to say. Send them back and a get an eBay refund is my suggestion. Maybe look on Autobulbs Direct for a branded LED.

 

Nice tile floor, BTW.

 

[Hyphons]

It honestly might just be because they're dodgy LED's that are causing the problem, I went through a fair few LED bulbs blowing fuses left right and centre 😂 I've found these from Amazon work perfectly 🙂 you might find when the sidelights are on the LED's don't dim (as they did in mine) but they will dim with your headlights on (the new Up!'s with LED DRL' s as standard have this feature so nothing to worry about with MOT etc.)

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0799BZ61C?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share