I have been having problems with the LED lights above the license plate. I don't remember what brand they were and I bought a bunch of them all at once. They have several LEDs on one bulb and look like a long bulb with a lot of bumps on it. I don't think the problem is with the bulb. I keep burning the LEDs out but only on the driver's side. I just burned out my last one and this makes 4! What's going on? The passenger side is fine. Is this just bad luck, 'cause I don't think so. What happens is that the LEDs flicker and then burn out one by one. I slowly gets darker and darker until all of them are gone. I haven't lost a single LED on the passenger side.

 

what power source are you running to the LEDs, I believe they run on different voltage than regular lights. am I wrong?

 

you are puting too muck voltage to them.
"slowly gets darker and darker until all of them are gone" thing is what maks me think so, i tried it one time just to see what would happen.
i took a regular 10mm LED with no resister and touched it to a 9 volt battery and thats just what it did, darker and darker untill it went out with a small pop noise.

 

you need only to get the correct resistors to match up to 12v.. i would get them on both left and right sides, just to be safe. if you go to radio shack, they can get you what you need easily..

 

Thanks for the replys. I have them just plugged into the license plate receptical. They are supposed to plug right in with no mods. I talked to someone today that may have a clue. I told him that the bulbs never did fit in snug. They fit in kinda loosely but not enough to go off and on. He said that the connection might not be real good causing "micro-arcing", shorting out the lights. Is that true?

 

"He said that the connection might not be real good causing "micro-arcing", shorting out the lights. Is that true?"
Nothing is impossible, but that would be easily corrected,
dielectric grease the contacts. I would do what IH8ONU said, install a resistor on the power line.. OZNIUM.com

 

Thanks. I'm thinking it's the arcing. Remember that the other side has no problems whatsoever. Does the dielectric grease keep it from arcing?

 

yep

 

Thanks for all the help. I'm going to do the grease and add the resistor so I don't have to screw with it again! ( I HOPE )