My LED's keep burning out., Why? Options

[richee3]

I have been using LED's in my gauge cluster for a little over 2 years now. The first set of LED's I had were cheap-o blue LED's from Ebay. After a while, the LED behind my fuel and engine temp gauge went out. But it didn't go all the way out. It started flashing on and off, between all the way off, all the way on, and about halfway in between. After a while, it settled down to being about halfway on, but it would still flash. I chalked that up to cheap LED's, and moved on to white LED's from v-leds.com. I got them put in last Christmas. Last Spring, same thing happens, in the same spot. The bulb behind the fuel/temp gauge starts flashing like it's burning out, but never goes all the way out. I moved it around, and no matter where I put it, it still flashed. So I replaced the bulb with a spare that I had, and a few weeks ago, it started doing the same thing. Now, the other LED's behind my speedo and tach, in my turn signal indicators, and in my key ring are all fine. Nothing ever happens to them. It's always the one behind the fuel/temp gauge, and it's always the bulb going out. I can move it anywhere and it still flashes. I find it hard to believe that it's just coincidence that 3 different LED's have gone bad, when they were all in the same spot. So... What's up with my LED's? Or, I guess, what's up with my gauge cluster that is making them burn out like that? I have a video of what they are doing, if anybody needs to see it.

Thanks in advance for any insight you guys have.

[richee3]

I definitely have that issue. I just discovered yesterday that I had a spare LED sitting around, so I've got my gauge cluster illuminated for now. Let's see how long this one lasts before I actually have to break down and buy new lights.

You interior is looking good, solidxsnake.

[richee3]

I definitely have that issue. I just discovered yesterday that I had a spare LED sitting around, so I've got my gauge cluster illuminated for now. Let's see how long this one lasts before I actually have to break down and buy new lights.

You interior is looking good, solidxsnake.

^^ December 5th: I found a spare LED, replaced the bad one, had all my gauge lights working. Two nights ago, I notice a slight flicker in the LED behind the fuel/temp gauge again. Just a light flicker, nothing like it was doing before. Last night, it dies altogether. Looks like it's time for new LED's... again.

[Hanyo]

I definitely have that issue. I just discovered yesterday that I had a spare LED sitting around, so I've got my gauge cluster illuminated for now. Let's see how long this one lasts before I actually have to break down and buy new lights.

You interior is looking good, solidxsnake.

^^ December 5th: I found a spare LED, replaced the bad one, had all my gauge lights working. Two nights ago, I notice a slight flicker in the LED behind the fuel/temp gauge again. Just a light flicker, nothing like it was doing before. Last night, it dies altogether. Looks like it's time for new LED's... again.

sounds like you are over powering your LED. You need to buy brighter leds and run them at a lower volt.

Remember when doing the resistor calculator to set your supply voltage to 14 volts instead of 12. When the engine is running you should be around 13.5 volts, it is safer to run a LED under the required voltage then to over volt them.