Any chance you can do this for me? I'm from SoCal too. I can send you the bulbs I want spray-painted and you spray paint them for me and send htem back? I'll pay of course!

 

I agree that it is unlikely that your fitting caused the flickering. You could also check what happens if you swap your two bulbs. If the flickering continues with the same bulb at the other location then the fault is with the bulb.

If you swap the bulbs and the flickering still happens only at the boot, it becomes more interesting. I suppose it is possible that the current or voltage might actually be fluctuating at the bulb socket. A small fluctuation could be visible with an LED but not necessarily with a regular bulb. You'd need an oscilloscope to check for instantaneous variations in the power. I'm not quite sure what you could do about it if in fact it was the situation.

 

I've been using the same 194's as the ones seen in Post #219, they are extremely cheap in cost.. about $2.50 shipped from overseas. And they've been on my car for about a year now with no problems. The only problems I am having is the Festoon Bulbs in my dome light and in my License Plate lights as well as in the boot. The 194's all over the rest of the car... the Driving Light, the sidemarkers, the lights under the dash and under the doors.. they've all stood the test of time just fine.

 

The Case of the Festoon Flicker.

It seems that no one has problems with 194s. Could it be that those who do have problems with festoons all have multiple LEDs in those festoons? But why would that make the difference?

Just a thought.

Sherlock

 

The problem is that you held the button down for an extended period of time and changed the "program" from automatic on to manual operation. I don't know how long it takes to switch, but if you check your manual or call your service advisor they can probably tell you right away. Otherwise keep searching on here.

 

As I've stated before, we should put the burden of making these things work on the manufacturer. Not necessarily in a nasty way, but you guys having flickering issues need to report this to the manufacturer. I've been following this topic since it started in June 2004... 3 years almost now and we're no closer to solving the flicker issue.

In my limited electrical knowledge I'm convinced this is due to voltage fluctuations. Either a resistor or some other type of voltage regulation needs to be incorporated into each LED. It can't be a difficult thing to do. It's obvious what these things are being used for and obvious what the problems are and should be obvious how to fix them.

Has anyone tried to return their flickering LEDs as faulty and ask for a refund?

 

mm thanks Jeremy. Will try looking in the manual today and will report back Thanks again!

 

The problem was fixed by the same way it was caused. I held the main dome light button down for 5 seconds, let go, and went on when I unlocked the doors as usual. Thanks again, Jeremy!

 

I emailed the eBay vendor in Hong Kong today asking that he send a new festoon with my latest order. I do not know who the manufacturer is, and, given the price I am paying for these bulbs, I do not know how much customer service I can reasonably expect.

 

I am now experimenting with one of these 1.5" x 1/5" array of 25 SMT elements, available in 39mm festoon. It is extremely bright, but expensive at $25.

http://superlumination.com/festoon.htm

 

where would that huge thing go? definitely won't fit into either the dome housing or the boot housing. what are your ideas/plans?

 

where would that huge thing go? definitely won't fit into either the dome housing or the boot housing. what are your ideas/plans?

i just ordered 2 39mm festoon 9 LED in red from autolumination and am going to try the foil trick. will be able to update by the end of this week hopefully!

 

I have a cabrio, so I really wasn't sure whether it can fit in a hardtop's dome housing. I'm going to try it out for my fog light mod, where I'm already using an LED array of the same size.

 

Can anyone comment on the claim of 180 degree illumination? I am trying to find the ideal 194 LED for the turn signals on the side. I've tried those 5 LED "matrix" bulbs (1 LED on top, 4 LEDs on the side) but they were not very bright.

Matt

 

Im not sure about the claim but im sure even if its 180 degree illumination, it may not be that bright, or spotted.

 

On a side note does anyone have any tips on how to remove the map light section that is just in front of my rear view mirror? on my 06 it has the airbag disable light and the map lights and the 2 waterfall lights (that i want to disable) This is on a hardtop as well.

 

I have tried a variety of 194 bulbs in the side turn signals and not found any that is ideal. The LED bulbs are either not bright enough, or else they are bright but put out a focused hot spot instead of lighting up the entire lens. I think even the stock incandescent bulbs are marginal. They light up the lens better than the LEDs but at only 5 watts they are barely visible on a bright day.

The bulbs with SMT technology LEDs do indeed have 180 degree illumination, however the brightness is like a bell curve and falls off towards the outer viewing angles. I am using this type now in my side turn signals and they are bright, but too focused to light up the entire lens. One problem is that the LED element is at the end of the bulb, so it sticks into the housing when mounted. The LED element ends up barely 1/8 to 1/4 inch away from the lens, not enough distance for the beam to spread out.

 

I wouldnt try something like that SMT bulb for the side markers because of the reason rkw mentioned its too big to fill up the lens. Strangely enough i found these http://www.jamstrait.com/194s.htm (the 4 LED Hyper bulbs) at Autozone, and they work great! A plus is you can bend the LEDs out at an angle to give you more light spread. I have mine at like 45 degree angles and it works perfect. I can post some pictures if you like.

 

Hi,

We sell a dome light panel for the first-generation MINI that solves some of the issues with festoon bulbs:



Installed, it looks like this:



Since it uses surface-mount-type LEDs, and they're spread out across a big panel, I doubt heat will be much of an issue. I can't honestly tell you about longevity in this application, because I just got them, but I've had these in other cars for months now and have had no failures yet. It's a nice product. Not cheap, but hey, if you have to keep replacing bulbs otherwise, this thing will pay for itself...

Find it HERE.

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

If it comes in red, expect an order!

 

Ditto for me

 

I hope someone can answer this

I just replaced my incadescent with some Amber LEDs... but ran into a problem of low light! I got the wide angle LED for the footwell and it just appears so much darker than when i had the incandecent... which 194 bulb should i have gotten instead? I need to make another order for the dome light anyways

thanks!

 

Sorry, it doesn't.

--Dan
Mach V
FastMINI.net

 

For the footwells, "regular" 194 bulbs shine light in the wrong direction. You need to get flank style like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/V-LED...em250094274938

I have them in white and they work great in the footwells (and also for puddle lights).

 

I got this thing from Moss MINI for $44.95 and it rocks i had a 9 LED festoon in there before and its so much better now.