DIY Almost Free Super Bright LEDs

[Akikiki]

I know what you mean. Its down to 70 here. Brrrrr...

 

[Kurtbe]

I am in the proces of trying blue... See how that works...

 

[dandan]

You probably solved it by now. But just in general: soldering needs to be done neatly. And any electrician connection needs to make good contact. To fix the problem you need a multimeter to measure if you get 12 volts at the connecting wire. If not maybe the fuse is gone. If you do get 12v, then measure at the top of the board. If not, the soldering might be bad. If you do get 12V, then any component on the led strip might have become unsoldered or the strip might be broken. If so, put in a new piece of strip.

It turned out the solder wasn't fully melted into the connector pins and some were somehow shorted even though they weren't touching -- hence the "no power" situation I had as I tripped the efuse and had to wait a bit for it to be restored. I managed to cook one of the connectors and the pins got all wacky -- had to replace that one with an aftermarket one.

But other than that, really happy with the mod! Got some high CRI strips off Aliexpress with the right size and didn't have to do any folding! I would be concerned with the long-term heat dissipation when folded up in your photos.

 

[MikeHolliday]

Please be extremely careful. For those who are not aware. The Door actuators get their ground through these lights. Should your light stop working your window will not go down when opening the door causing potential damage to the glass or door trim...

 

[Kurtbe]

But other than that, really happy with the mod! Got some high CRI strips off Aliexpress with the right size and didn't have to do any folding! I would be concerned with the long-term heat dissipation when folded up in your photos.

The folding could actually work as a heat dissipator. But since these are the footwell lights, they only work for entering the car. By the time they would get hot, they are switched back off again. For those interested, i find the blue led awesome. Will post pictures later.

 

[Kurtbe]

Please be extremely careful. For those who are not aware. The Door actuators get their ground through these lights. Should your light stop working your window will not go down when opening the door causing potential damage to the glass or door trim...

This seems unlikely. They may well take the power from the connector, but not from the light itself. It would mean that whenever the OEM led breaks down, one would be in trouble... That would be very bad design...

 

[Perscitus]

Please be extremely careful. For those who are not aware. The Door actuators get their ground through these lights. Should your light stop working your window will not go down when opening the door causing potential damage to the glass or door trim...

This is true. Confirmed back in 2018 by a few mobile service rangers and two service center techs. Fairly easy to demonstrate too.

NB - bad design is within spec and all too common.

How do you think we ended up with a hard to close and easy to dent frunk, wind and wheel well noise galore, rock magnet frontal area, and mold prone cabin filter compartment?

 

[dandan]

This seems unlikely. They may well take the power from the connector, but not from the light itself. It would mean that whenever the OEM led breaks down, one would be in trouble... That would be very bad design...

It is true -- if there is no puddle light connected, the window goes up and stays up and will damage the trim.

 

[Kurtbe]

NB - bad design is within spec and all too common.

How do you think we ended up with a hard to close and easy to dent frunk, wind and wheel well noise galore, rock magnet frontal area, and mold prone cabin filter compartment?

I agree with the above, but damaging your car or get a window busted because a lamp will fail is of a different level. Especially because lamps Will fail at one point, be they OEM or after market. It's just a ticking bomb... And one day, bam, window broken or chrome trim damaged. Unbelievable! And so unnessassary. (if I ever get the door panel off, I will rewire and get rid of that utter stupidity.)

 

[Kurtbe]

It is true -- if there is no puddle light connected, the window goes up and stays up and will damage the trim.

So thanks for the warning! (so far I was only tinkering with the footwell lights, but there you go...)