Problem with LED bulbs
 

http://superlumination.com/images/leds/7443_red.jpg

http://www.helixautomotive.com/images/scion/scionxb.jpg

I have these taillights and these red bulbs. Now, I had a problem gettin' these bulbs to work in my car. As a matter of fact, the lights burnt out the copper line on the "circuit board" that powers the lights. It also blew a couple 10amp fuses. Does anyone have a clue why? Or what I can do to get those LED bulbs to work with my car? Right now, I'm still using the red oem-style 7443 bulbs.

Thanks in advance!

this is the "circuit board"
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v..._0169Small.jpg
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v..._0166Small.jpg

if it only happened on one side then it may just be a bad LED bulb, i had the same thing happen on my motorcycle last year.

But FYI, buy different LED bulbs. Get the one's where there are LEDs facing towards the side and backside of the bulb (sorry i can't find any pics right now) those bulbs will glow alot better than the one's you currently have.

it only happened on the one side, but I switched the bulbs around, I think. I can't remember. All I know is I was ____ed when I saw the smoke. The other side has a little burn mark, but nothing anywhere near as bad as the pic.

Re: Problem with LED bulbs
 

Sounds like you've got a short somewhere in your system. Replacing the bulbs would most likely just lead to more burnt bulbs, melted wires, and blown fuses. You need to find the short and fix it before replacing the bulbs and fuse, and replacing the wires.

If you blew a 10A fuse, you know something is pulling some serious current... Add to that the melted wires as proof. :wink:

Be careful, and good luck in fixing it! :)

yea, but I don't know where it's coming from. The regular bulbs work just fine. and from what I understand the LED's are supposed to draw LESS power than the regular bulbs.

LEDs are generally low current/low power,so this is strange...

You might have a wire that has rubbed some of its insulation off and is shorting the bare wire against a metal place in the xB... This happens frequently when wires are run through a hole drilled in the firewall (for accessory lights, stereo power and ground wires, etc.), so it's not unheard of. I'd suggest inspecting all of the wiring that you installed with the LED lights (especially anything running from the light switch and/or fusebox to the lights.). :)

Led bulbs
 

It looks like it is a turn signal light. I think I read that you need to get some kind of resister or gadget for turn signal lights. I could be wrong. Check out www.superbrightleds.com They sell these lights and there are a couple of links that explain how to install them.

Fetthunter~I didn't wire anything though. It was just plug and play, ya know?! I took out stock bulbs and replaced with LED bulbs, that's it! I touched nothing else. The stock bulbs work fine, but the LED's burn stuff up. That's what gets me.

JArocho~ They're just brake/tail lights. I have heard that if you use LED's for blinker you need something to even out the power b/c the LED blinker bulbs will blink really fast.

Dennis
what brand are they. if their CATZ then there no good. they kept blowing out my fuses. try www.autolumination.com i had them in mine for a good 4/5 months no problems

I don't know the brand it came shipped with 2 bulbs in a USPS box

bump! I need help!

whatever caused the bulb to make that scorching mark (loose contact or dirt/oil) will cause arcing.
the arcing will draw more current and pop the fuse.
get a new bulb, clean the scorching marks and check the fitting is tight.

could try contact grease to get a better contact and avoid the scorching,.

i had the exact same problem. One circuit of the LED bulbs has a different polarity than the car. So it will work fine for the brakes, and blow the fuse when u hit the turnsignal. I soldered wires onto my LED bulbs and connected them to the wiring harness in the car. Worked fine, but still really weak. I didnt want to get rear ended, so i switched back to tyc's.

maybe thats why the person sold them...did the same thing to their car....so they dumped 'em

Could also be a bad or missing resistor in the bulb itself. That would cause all of the above because the LED's by themselves provide such little resistance it's like having just a straight wire, hence the resistors used inline with them. I'd get a refund for the bulbs and buy some some where else, and ditto on the bulbs that have side and back firing LED's.

OK, so it's more than likely the bulbs, right? That's what I'm understanding from all this. It sux b/c I can't use that "circuit board" at all! I had to use the one from stock tails. I don't wanna risk another "board" only to have it burn on me again, you know?!

the car is constantly positive and uses ground as "on" that may be a problem

Tails
 

I have the clear version of those lenses. I chucked the included bulbs & went to 18 LED tail/stop bulbs. (12 out the back & 6 to the side, $30 each) Still couldn't see the stop lights, so..... I added (2) 24 LED strips at the bottom of the hatch glass inside on either side of the wiper ($25 each at AutoZone). NOW, you can see the stop lights. I damn near got rear ended a herd of times before I added the strip LED stoplights.

Oh yeah, you either got a short or a bad back of lens circuit board, and I'd bet the circuit board is bad.

Good luck!!!

the circuit board is bad NOW! It wasn't before I installed those lights.

best of luck to you den!
ditch those bulbs, get something better
like others said, try www.autolumination.com
i ordered some bulbs from there and they're great.
if ya wanna sell your stock tails, let me know
i'll give ya $20 and a cookie :lol: