LED lights blowing fuse

goz83

Nissan Leaf 2014

I have a strange one, which is alluding my auto electrical knowledge.

So I ordered the cree LED lights from ebay and decided to do the side lights last night, because they are easily accessed. The LEDs come in marked bags, making it idiot proof. I had power OFF and changed the driver side bulb...all fine, looking good. Then the passenger side bulb, it blew the F7 fuse.

After some practical trouble shooting, I figured the LED itself was not at fault. It seemed that the fuse would only blow when either LED was placed into the passenger side fitting. The regular bulbs went back in fine....so I was left scratching my head on this one.

I then tried the LED bulbs that were supposed to be for the Reg plate. They are housed in an off white plastic and the other LEDs were housed in a fancy silver casing. The LEDs for the Reg plates worked fine in the side light fittings and I don't see any warning lights on the dash, so I left them in place.

I may try the other ones in the reg plate. I haven't tried to install the DRLs yet, because it's a wet day and I don't fancy tackling it right now. If any knows what the issue was with the LEDs that were supposed to be for the side lights, I would be interested to know. I went through a few fuses trying to figure it out.

Gumbo

This is a very common problem.
Seemly most people test the bulb then straight away try fit it and by accident the bulb with its led ends exposed touches something metallic and blows this fuse.

I have a few spare fuses if you need them as they are the smaller 10a ones.

You have to wait a minute before fitting them to let the power drain from the system then insert them.

Led's need to be inserted via their correct polarity, i.e + - if not they will blow the fuse. You must have just got it right the first time.

Be careful with the reg lights, big bright white led's might look cool but they are highly irritating to drivers behind and you will most likely get flashed a lot.

If the fuse blows then the rear led tail lights won't work also.

Gumbo

Deleted User wrote: »

Led's need to be inserted via their correct polarity, i.e + - if not they will blow the fuse. You must have just got it right the first time.

Be careful with the reg lights, big bright white led's might look cool but they are highly irritating to drivers behind and you will most likely get flashed a lot.

If the fuse blows then the rear led tail lights won't work also.

That's what's great about this Leaf "package" on eBay.
They are not blinding or glaring at all. They look factory fit and in my opinion should be the way Nissan sent the car out from the factory.

Also, the number plate light assembly is buried so far up behind the bumper that you could put an LED torch up there and it would blind cars behind you!

goz83

kceire wrote: »

This is a very common problem.
Seemly most people test the bulb then straight away try fit it and by accident the bulb with its led ends exposed touches something metallic and blows this fuse.

I have a few spare fuses if you need them as they are the smaller 10a ones.

You have to wait a minute before fitting them to let the power drain from the system then insert them.

Thanks, I have plenty of fuses and have changed enough bulbs to know it's best practice to turn off the power before fitting. I tried fitting and refitting and in the end....the reg plate LEDs are the ones that worked and didn't blow a fuse, so I will leave those in.

What is access like to the DRLs? Did you need to remove anything to get at the bulbs? I haven't checked due to the weather.

Gumbo

goz83 wrote: »

Thanks, I have plenty of fuses and have changed enough bulbs to know it's best practice to turn off the power before fitting. I tried fitting and refitting and in the end....the reg plate LEDs are the ones that worked and didn't blow a fuse, so I will leave those in.

What is access like to the DRLs? Did you need to remove anything to get at the bulbs? I haven't checked due to the weather.

Best leaving it then. I don't know why they are specifically packed in separate bags as they are the same bulb type. Did you try the side light bulbs in the reg plates?

DRL access. There's 2 plastic pop rivets that you remove. Then put a screwdriver into the arch fender and pry it out to just allow arm access to the rear of the DRL assembly. Just twist and remove then.

Make sure you lock the wheels to allow access but nothing has to be removed so to speak.