18 replies to this topic

[Rubbershorts]

Hi everyone.

At the beginning of winter I changed the following bulbs to LEDs.

All dash board bulbs including the Smiths time clock.

Interior courtesy light.

Number plate bulbs.

Everything on the rear clusters. The clusters were new also.

As I had changed the indicator bulbs the relay was changed to a suitable one also. The car wasn't really run and went into hibernation whilst I did bits of bodywork. First drive yesterday was 50 plus miles, with a stop for dinner, and two miles from home a 15 amp blade fuse blew taking out everything on the middle clock. Petrol guage, temp guage and the two lights that come on on start up. Drove the car home, found the blown fuse and changed it.

Started it up today and the off side rear cluster was out, along with a headlight I think. Pulled all the fuses under the bonnet, ten in total, all fine and none blown. Tried the car and everything bizarrely back on.

Out for a drive then pulling up at home, indicators/hazards out. This was another of the blade fuses blown (20 amp).

Back out after replacing, for a spirited drive, turning everything on and off to test if anything was going to blow. Returned without incident.

Is there any reason this would happen from fitting the LEDs? I thought the power they draw is less than regular bulbs. Can fuses just get past it? The two bladed ones that went were really old.

The pic is the set of fuses where this has happened so for. They are on the bulkhead, behind the air filter.

cheers, Daz.

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[alpder]

LEDs come in standard and so-called CANbus-compatible. The standard ones just have an LED in them in stead of a filament which, as you say, draws minimal current. The CANbus-compatible ones have an LED plus a resistor in parallel which takes extra current to simulate a filament bulb and prevent the bulb-fail detection system from giving a false warning. Neither type should cause fuses to blow, of course.

 

Quality of LED bulbs varies hugely. You may just have duds, or perhaps bulb(s) with mis-shapen bases which intermittently short out the holders. Or - seems more likely - changing the bulbs disturbed some dodgy wires which are now intermittently shorting against the body.

[Avtovaz]

was it raining when you took it out? lights maybe full of water?

[Rubbershorts]

LEDs come in standard and so-called CANbus-compatible. The standard ones just have an LED in them in stead of a filament which, as you say, draws minimal current. The CANbus-compatible ones have an LED plus a resistor in parallel which takes extra current to simulate a filament bulb and prevent the bulb-fail detection system from giving a false warning. Neither type should cause fuses to blow, of course.
 
Quality of LED bulbs varies hugely. You may just have duds, or perhaps bulb(s) with mis-shapen bases which intermittently short out the holders. Or - seems more likely - changing the bulbs disturbed some dodgy wires which are now intermittently shorting against the body.

Thanks Alpder, wouldn't that cause the same fuse to blow each time? Just to clarify, I don't know much about electrics.

[Rubbershorts]

was it raining when you took it out? lights maybe full of water?

Unbelievably, no, bone dry.

[alpder]

Thanks Alpder, wouldn't that cause the same fuse to blow each time? Just to clarify, I don't know much about electrics.

 

If you have a worn-through piece of insulation on a wire, it can bump against the body and short occasionally, causing a fuse to pop. Hopefully, someone who knows Mini electrics inside-out will be along soon, with info on which circuit(s) those specific fuses are related to. That'll help you narrow it down. Intermittent faults like this are a bit of a 'mare.

[Rubbershorts]

Thanks Alpder, wouldn't that cause the same fuse to blow each time? Just to clarify, I don't know much about electrics.

If you have a worn-through piece of insulation on a wire, it can bump against the body and short occasionally, causing a fuse to pop. Hopefully, someone who knows Mini electrics inside-out will be along soon, with info on which circuit(s) those specific fuses are related to. That'll help you narrow it down. Intermittent faults like this are a bit of a 'mare.

I'm thinking from what you're saying the potential problem area would be behind the dash. I'll pull that out and have a nosey as soon as I can. Daz.

[sonscar]

The bare terminals would cause me mild concern.Steve..

[alpder]

I'm thinking from what you're saying the potential problem area would be behind the dash. I'll pull that out and have a nosey as soon as I can. Daz.

 

Potentially. But, really, any of the wires that would have been disturbed by changing bulbs. I don't know if the saloon rear lamp holders are made like the estate ones... if they are, the wires are (slightly) moved whenever a bulb is changed.

 

It's odd that you're getting different fuses blowing, as if all-at-once you have multiple electrical faults. Which is why I wondered if the new bulbs themselves might be cack.

 

There are a few really good LEDs, especially the better stop/tail ones which have a strong directional stop element which are worth considering as a retrofit on older cars. But, otherwise, I'm not a fan of LED replacement bulbs: quality (other than big-brand like Osram) is generally terrible so a lot fail young, most aren't E-marked so there are legality and insurance issues, some of them flicker at a frequency that about 10% of drivers (me included) find disturbing at night, and they don't always have a good direction of light output.

Edited by alpder, Yesterday, 08:03 AM.

[Rubbershorts]

The bare terminals would cause me mild concern.Steve..

Good spot, I'll address that Steve.

[Rubbershorts]

I'm thinking from what you're saying the potential problem area would be behind the dash. I'll pull that out and have a nosey as soon as I can. Daz.

Potentially. But, really, any of the wires that would have been disturbed by changing bulbs. I don't know if the saloon rear lamp holders are made like the estate ones... if they are, the wires are (slightly) moved whenever a bulb is changed.
 
It's odd that you're getting different fuses blowing, as if all-at-once you have multiple electrical faults. Which is why I wondered if the new bulbs themselves might be cack.
 
There are a few really good LEDs, especially the better stop/tail ones which have a strong directional stop element which are worth considering as a retrofit on older cars. But, otherwise, I'm not a fan of LED replacement bulbs: quality (other than big-brand like Osram) is generally terrible so a lot fail young, most aren't E-marked so there are legality and insurance issues, some of them flicker at a frequency that about 10% of drivers (me included) find disturbing at night, and they don't always have a good direction of light output.

Everything in the new tail lights came from Classic Car LEDs. There were a few recommendations on here that led me to them. Seems a decent set up, very helpful. The dash bulbs are eBay. Should maybe change those to the Classic ones, maybe.

[alpder]

 

Everything in the new tail lights came from Classic Car LEDs. There were a few recommendations on here that led me to them. Seems a decent set up, very helpful. The dash bulbs are eBay. Should maybe change those to the Classic ones, maybe.

 

 

Yeah, I liked the tone of their site, when I was considering an upgrade of my estate rear lights. Doesn't look like they're selling the real nasty ebay stuff. Pricey, mind.

 

It is a bit of a tragedy that (quality, dependable, long-lived) LED replacements haven't completely ousted the old filament bulb. But governments haven't exactly fallen over themselves trying to help companies get LEDs through the E-marking process, so there haven't - until very recently - been any E-marked LEDs. Which has left a gap in the market for cowboys to fill with cheap and nasty bulb-shaped-objects.

Edited by alpder, Yesterday, 09:16 AM.

[NLinPEN]

From your entire description I see no reason to suspect the LEDs for the various fuses blowing. Especially as the blown fuses are not related to lighting. I would suspect that something else is going on, something that has occurred during the winter hibernation. Or something related to the bodywork that you did during this period.

[Rubbershorts]

Just a thought, should that bladed fuse arrangement even be there. Has the previous owner swapped that for the toggle together in line holders? Should I keep it this way or convert it back?

[Quinlan minor]

I think this gives a clue to the answer:

 

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