LED dome light help

[myfirstls]

Aloha guys.

I need help with LED dome light. When I switched my dome light with LED bulb, I did not have any problem for about one month or so, but recently, dome light will stay on really dimly for while. It will turn itself off eventually, but I'm bit worried. here are some pictures.

Light looks brighter due to my phone (S7 Edge), but it's really dim.

Here is the comparison with light on and dimmed one.

Can anybody shine a light on why it's on like this? I start my work early morning (as early as 0415 start) and during the drive, it not light enough to bother me, but as I mentioned before, got me worried with voltage leak, hence car not starting. I work at airport, so that will give you an idea why I'm worried.

 

[joegr]

...but as I mentioned before, got me worried with voltage leak, hence car not starting. I work at airport, so that will give you an idea why I'm worried.

It's not a "voltage" leak. It's leakage current. It's not a problem, it's too little to drain the battery. People get worked up about this because with the low power LEDs, they can actually see it. The truth is that when you had incandescent bulbs in there, the leakage current was actually slightly higher. The difference was that the incandescent bulbs couldn't produce any light for you to be able to see it.

Short answer: You have less battery drain now with the dim LED than you did before with the old incandescent bulb. Also, that drain does always turn off about 30 minutes after you last do anything to the car.

All that said, I have all LED interior lights, and the map lights don't glow at all. The reason is that I used LEDs for the map lights that have a slightly higher voltage drop than the ones that I used for the foot-wells. Those do glow very slightly. I like the effect. At night, I can just barely see my dog sleeping on the passenger side floor, for example.

 

[myfirstls]

As always, thanks Joe. Now, I can go to sleep without any worry at night!

 

[lsismore]

I’m having a hard time disconnecting the wires from the dome light so I can remove the plastic piece from the headliner and have better access to the bulbs. How do these connectors release? Already broke off a little piece of plastic. I can’t really see what I’m working with here.

 

[lsismore]

Nevermind. I got em. Now my problem is the thing won’t go back in flush. The plastic rim that it clips into in the back seems to move up when i push the back in so the clips can’t grab it. Any pointers here?

 

[joegr]

If you have the moon roof, then open it and use a large flat blade screw driver to push down on the plastic ring while you push up on the doom light. If you don't have a moon roof, then I guess you'd have to glue the plastic ring down really well and try to snap the light fixture in a day or two later.

 

[lsismore]

If you have the moon roof, then open it and use a large flat blade screw driver to push down on the plastic ring while you push up on the doom light. If you don't have a moon roof, then I guess you'd have to glue the plastic ring down really well and try to snap the light fixture in a day or two later.

No moon roof. Ended up MacGuyvering it. Drilled two tiny holes in either side of the plastic ring and ran some (waxed) dental floss through them. Then I pulled down on the floss as I pushed the unit back in, which allowed the tabs to click back into place. Then I gently pulled the floss out.
Waiting for a repair that goes smoothly. Might happen one day.

 

[joegr]

Not a bad solution at all.

 

[jerryg2112]

I have the same thing with the LED in the trunk. Put one of your seats down and you will probably see it too.
I also have the glasses compartment trim piece hanging down. I will try the moonroof trick that Joegr suggested. It would be nice to get that flush since it does bug me quite a bit.
Also headliner is hanging down. Any suggestions for gluing the velcro strips back on the roof and headliner?

 

[joegr]

...Also headliner is hanging down. Any suggestions for gluing the velcro strips back on the roof and headliner?

You mean at the back where the 3rd brake light is? I haven't had long-term success there.

 

[jerryg2112]

Yes back by the 3rd brake light as well as more forward by the moonroof. The sticky goo that holds the velcro failed and I really don't want to try to clean it all off before I try to re-glue them. I was thinking of some lines of silicone and bracing the liner till it dried. Have had some success using silicone for different things before. Maybe it will hold the headliner.

 

[jerryg2112]

Follow up. I used some 100% silicone to glue the glasses trim piece that was hanging down. I put a dab in both corners only and it has held for months now. I also recently did the headliner with big globs of silicone in the velcro locations and that has held for a couple of weeks now too. Vinegar smell goes away after a few days.