13 button obc light strip...

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e30-unit-soldier
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 12:48 am

Just soldered 2 new LED bulbs in 3mm 5v bulbs and all was well until I seen a bit of smoke coming from the unit :eek:
Luckily nothing got damage I removed the strip and nothing is burnt or damaged...

What did I do wrong :?
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Brianmoooore
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:00 am

Your first mistake was using LEDs. The circuitry is designed to dim the display when the lights are switched on, and this circuitry is not compatible with LEDs. It's also entirely pointless using LEDs - the life of the correct bulbs is around 20 years or so of driving.
If your attempt produced smoke, I suspect you have fitted one of more of the LEDs the wrong way around.
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e30-unit-soldier
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:15 am

Would you happen to know the name of the bulbs I need? I went to maplins and read out what the wiki says and he sold me 2 led's :?
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Brianmoooore
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:25 am

Do a search for OBC and my username, and you should find the CPC - Farnell part number for them.
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aimlessrock
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 12:27 pm

..oh boy, I did this last night and appear to have fitted leds, as opposed to bulbs.

I did not appreciate the subtle difference when I read the article in the wikki- may be worth adding a note re bulbs etc.

Can you post the details re CPC and the part no.. :D
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aimlessrock
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 12:30 pm

E30 320i Convertible (1989)
190 Mercedes (1988)

"there is nothing more expensive than a cheap E30"
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Brianmoooore
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 1:43 pm

That's the ones!
£5 minimum order for free carriage these days, rather than the £40 it used to be.
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e30-unit-soldier
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:25 pm

aimlessrock wrote:..oh boy, I did this last night and appear to have fitted leds, as opposed to bulbs.

I did not appreciate the subtle difference when I read the article in the wikki- may be worth adding a note re bulbs etc.

Can you post the details re CPC and the part no.. :D
Same issue here... I thought led's were useda˜–
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Bonymaenjack
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Post Mon Sep 05, 2016 6:19 pm

Replaced my recently with OEM with no issues ,LEDs will work but theres a bit more work in fitting them and for what ?,