I just put two 4-smd leds bought of ebay in my 2k2 maxima se and the leds work great except for one small issue. When parking it tonight, the leds actually stay on very dim even when the doors are closed and will not shut off. If I put a halogen bulb back in this issue will not occur so I am stumped on what the problem could be. Any help would be appreciated because I really like the look of the blue leds but I cant have them draining my battery.

 

If i'm not incorrect someone from the audio/video part of the forum had the same problem with their dome light & the solution was just to leave it because it isn't using enough power to kill the battery.......not 100% sure with that answer though

 

^^ petty much....the amount of power that the LED draws is negligible.

It's a relatively common thing for cheap-quality LEDs, they don't have the ideal voltage drop across the circuit so the trickle voltage shows through.

 

Normal.

Did you put them in the door or the dome light?

Either way, there's some that have a higher quality fast switching diode built in to combat this current flow, but you won't find them on Ebay.

Contact SUPERBRIGHTLEDS.com via email about the problem and see if they have something.

OR you can do the easier, cheaper, faster thing and just ignore the problem like 95% of us do on this forum that have LED lights installed

You'll never, ever drain a battery with those. Ever.

 

Or you can buy some 1N4148 Diodes on the cheap (100 @ $1.99 shipped on ebay) and solder them in to the ground on your LED and there you go problem solved. Or do what Tuner says and ignore it as LEDs even at full power draw are pulling almost nothing 20mA each LED so yours draw 80mA Your stock lights likely drew 3A to 5A so your battery won't feel those back boys at all. Look at it as having ambient lighting when the car is off.

 

Like everyone else said, ignore them lol. I did my conversion a few months ago and haven't had any battery problems yet. I also searched it on google and found tons of posts on different forums that say not to worry about it.

Question though: do your courtesy lights still light up when your car is on and the doors are closed? Mine only stay lit (extremely dim) if the car is of. Weird thing haha

 

that's a good idea shinjiduo.

Still not worth the bother, IMO.

It would take a couple of days to a week for that level of draw to drain a AAA battery. lol.

 

Here is the only issue with not fixing the dim light issue.on my 03 the alarm i have senses voltage drop also the motion sensor had a issue with the leds triggering it if they flickered or pulsed but this also happened with the oe alarm blinking led and the led that came in the alarm antenna they both would trigger the alarm so just install the diode like shin says to avoid any future issues and no it wont kill your battery either way

 

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone. After doing a lot more research and reading these replies it has to be the leaking voltage that shows through and makes the leds appear dim while the door is shut. I am happy to hear it can not drain your battery considering a just did a battery and alt. replacement a few weeks ago. The circuit does eventually shut off after a long period of time probably due to the power saving timer control.

 

The lights will work properly when the car is on meaning the come on and completely go off. When the ignition is off they will stay dim with the doors closed and brighten up when opened.