Jamie 1 Posted February 6, 2013 Got in my car this morning and noticed a really foul smell and a weird sound. Took a few seconds then noticed the LED bulb in my interior light was alight, not just smoking but properly on fire. Managed to rip it down and put it out before it got very bad but still a bit worrying. Didn't think this could happen with LEDs tbh but it's one of the canbus error free smd type bulbs and it looks like one of the chips has overheated. Probably a freak one in a million chance of it happening but just thought I'd let people know... PS Not my Corrado, the family Truckster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VR6Pete 0 Posted February 6, 2013 Wow. Crazy. Think ill stick to stock bulb, dispite had having get from the dealer lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sharpy-vr6 10 Posted February 7, 2013 Wow that's odd I wouldn't have thought that from led's as they are usually draw very low power. I hate reading story's like this though they make me worry about everything after seeing my old car go up in flames on a friends driveway :(. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Supercharged 2 Posted February 7, 2013 I think the main problem is half this stuff now is knocked up in China for pennies... Someone at work bought a generic Dell laptop power supply of eBay despite new ones from Dell being only £20 and it nearly set fire to her house - luckily she was in the room when smoke started bellowing out! Be careful what you buy people and what you leave plugged in / switched on! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davidwort 0 Posted February 7, 2013 I agree Steve, the quality of materials used in so much copy/generic chinese stuff is scary, poor grade plastic is one thing, but I'm still surprised that an LED or two that pull only 1 or 2 Watts could do that though, does make you think. I had a cheap ebay-job laptop battery, worked OK... for a year, glad I've replaced it with a genuine one now. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VAG-hag 0 Posted February 7, 2013 Did you post this on detailing world too? if not then thats 2 this week I have read about! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_mat 0 Posted February 7, 2013 The problem is that a 1w LED bulb produces half a watt of heat, but distributes it over a tiny tiny area, leading to a really microscopic hot spot. If you use the high-power LEDs then you need a carefully designed heat distribution package for it. The lamps that use "many" low powered LEDs (20 or 30) are much more reliable because packaging is much less critical. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jamie 1 Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) Did you post this on detailing world too? if not then thats 2 this week I have read about! No wasn't me mate* The real ****er for me is I deliberately went for the more expensive ones from a UK based supplier, although I know they pretty much will all come from the same Chinese factory. *Yes I have posted it on DW and also Talkaudio ---------- Post added at 4:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 3:11 PM ---------- Pics of it Edited February 7, 2013 by Jamie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
davidwort 0 Posted February 7, 2013 :shock: have you got a 32Amp fuse or something in the interior lights slot! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jamie 1 Posted February 7, 2013 :shock: have you got a 32Amp fuse or something in the interior lights slot! The fuse kept blowing so I put a paperclip in instead :D It's a 5 amp as per the manual... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dr_mat 0 Posted February 7, 2013 THat's quite a large heatsink. Apparently not enough though .. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stonejag 10 Posted February 8, 2013 5A is way over for a single LED bulb, does it really need 60+W?! I'd swap it for a 1A fuse (or 2A, if the 1A one blows). They don't need much power to run, that LED probably failed short...the board's current limit will be less than the fuse rating, allowing it to get hotter and hotter. Remember a 5A fuse is rated to continuously supply 5A, not to blow at 5A! The trip current is a good bit higher... Stone Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael'durham' 10 Posted February 8, 2013 I'd just like to ask, how long was the interior light on for? Had you been working inside the car,.? Scary pictures tho, I'm just thinking of getting a few. [cough cough] think I'll leave we'll alone.... Wonderful post cheers for heads up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jamie 1 Posted February 8, 2013 5A is way over for a single LED bulb, does it really need 60+W?! I'd swap it for a 1A fuse (or 2A, if the 1A one blows). They don't need much power to run, that LED probably failed short...the board's current limit will be less than the fuse rating, allowing it to get hotter and hotter. Remember a 5A fuse is rated to continuously supply 5A, not to blow at 5A! The trip current is a good bit higher... Stone 5A wasn't my idea squire - that credit must go to the good people of Volkswagen Audi GmbH of Vee Double Ewe Strasse, Wolfsburg, Greater Germany. I'd just like to ask' date=' how long was the interior light on for? Had you been working inside the car,.? Scary pictures tho, I'm just thinking of getting a few. [cough cough'] think I'll leave we'll alone.... Wonderful post cheers for heads up. Walked up to my garage, unlocked the car which activated the interior light, opened the door and got in. That's when I heard a weird noise, dodgy smell and it took a few seconds before I noticed the light was burning. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrahamU 6 Posted February 9, 2013 That looks more like a short circuit from the terminal to the heatsink Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeVR6 0 Posted March 16, 2015 (edited) I've just replaced all the interior bulbs with LEDs and I stumbled upon this thread. I bought the LEDs from here.. http://www.ledperf.co.uk/pack-interior-full-led-pure-white-for-volkswagen-corrado-p-3194.html The Interior Lights, Cig Lighter & Rear Spoiler Motor are Fuse 21 which should be 15 amps! Glovebox Light & Rear Spoiler Control Unit are Fuse 16 which is also 15 amps! I'm a bit worried now. Especially if the boot light goes up as I won't notice it until it's too late! :shrug: Edited March 16, 2015 by MikeVR6 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stonejag 10 Posted March 21, 2015 That will be because the cig lighter and spoiler motor draw a good chunk. My suspicion is that they wanted to have as few fuse types in the factory as possible so just defaulted to 5A for anything not requiring much power. Personally I'd downrate any fuse just supplying lighting, it's incredibly rare for them to go which makes me feel they aren't doing very much. Incidentally the only time I've ever had a bulb blow a fuse is when one of my brake lights went, I only realised I had no brake lights when the gear shifter wouldn't unlock, as the auto uses the brake light feed to drive the solenoid! Stone Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
