LED bulbs (An annoying subject i know)

[BigWilko]

There are 100's of threads on here about LED bulbs/ strobing & canbus errors but i'm sure there must be a retrofit fix to stop all the problems. People have suggested resistors can be placed across the LEDs to stop the bulb errors. BUT, why do they strobe? and is there a series of components that could be put inline to stop strobing?

The only reason i'm asking is that i am looking at changing all the bulbs in my rear light cluster to LED's.

[BYGino]

I'm kind guessing here because I don't know enough about the subject but I believe the strobe when the car sends out a quick check to make sure the bulbs are there. The only reason I can think for this to happen with LEDs only is because LEDs are instant on so the pulse is enough to make them strobe. With bulbs, this really short voltage peak probably isn't long enough to produce the heat in the element to make the bulb light and that's why you don't see it with the bulbs.

If that is the case, perhaps it can be solved with a couple of desecrate devices. I'm thinking a very simple timing switch circuit that has two paths if power is applied for say less than 100ms then the current passes through the resistor after 100ms the circuit switches and sends the current through the LED?

OK, I'm probably miles away but if I ever get a quiet weekend I'll give it a try.

[BigWilko]

I was thinking a capacitor might do the trick. maybe it would send out enough voltage to but some juice in the cap, but not light the leds?

[BYGino]

I was thinking a capacitor might do the trick. maybe it would send out enough voltage to but some juice in the cap, but not light the leds?

I thought about that too, but as usual, I like to overcomplicate things.

The problem is though, would the capacitor interfere with the check? I think t may, I'm going to dig out my schematics later and have a look.

[BigWilko]

I thought about that too, but as usual, I like to overcomplicate things.

The problem is though, would the capacitor interfere with the check? I think t may, I'm going to dig out my schematics later and have a look.

Does the resistor go in series or parallel? If it's parallel then if the cap was after the resistor it might be ok.

[Ben50n]

Have you measured he resistance of a standard bulb and then one of a LED bulb?

From what I can remember from my school days, to increase the resistance you would place it in series,
Normal bulb = LED Bulb + Resistor

to reduce the resistance, adding one in parralel using the equation

1/Normal Bulb = 1/LED Bulb + 1/Resistor

It is easier to work out with actual figures....

[mucklestone]

I have played around with a few capacitors of different values and the strobing either does not stop or you get an error after a little while which does not clear until you disconnect the battery and reconnect it with the capacitor removed....

What I did get to work was a resistor to cancel the warning and a relay which then powers LEDs from 12v direct. This worked when connected to the car but I never installed it as it seemed to much effort.....

[Ben50n]

Capacitors are designed to hold a charge.

I would have thought someone would noe be building LED bulbs that are suitable for CANBUS systems??

[wardy23]

when the better weather comes i will be using the illumination wire thats spare near the 12v socket then wire them to the led side lights hopefully that should sort it and leave the nomal bulbs in there holders and find some where neatly to put them in the engine bay to light it up lol

[BigWilko]

Capacitors are designed to hold a charge.

I would have thought someone would noe be building LED bulbs that are suitable for CANBUS systems??

They hold charge but release it quickly i.e. not like a battery. If there is a capacitor that is capable of absorbing the charge of the pulses that make the LED's strobe, could that be put in the circuit? I'm crap at electronics.... as you can probably guess.