If you look for car LED lamps on eBay you will often see some referred to as being CANbus compatible. This is just an odd way of saying that they have an extra resistor soldered directly across the leads to make the lamp look like a high current tungsten one.
The reason they do this is to fool the cars lamp sensor system to stop it indicating a failed lamp due to the low load of the LED lamp. Unfortunately that resistor gets hot. Very hot and as it is often on the same PCB as the LEDs they also get very hot, which is bad news as they are already being pushed hard.
These lamps are generally only suited to use in low duty cycle applications like indicators that will generally just be run for a few seconds at a time and also cycle on and off in that time. But you can also fit these lamps into other continuous illumination lamp holders, and if you do that they may cause damage.
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The reason they do this is to fool the cars lamp sensor system to stop it indicating a failed lamp due to the low load of the LED lamp. Unfortunately that resistor gets hot. Very hot and as it is often on the same PCB as the LEDs they also get very hot, which is bad news as they are already being pushed hard.
These lamps are generally only suited to use in low duty cycle applications like indicators that will generally just be run for a few seconds at a time and also cycle on and off in that time. But you can also fit these lamps into other continuous illumination lamp holders, and if you do that they may cause damage.
If you enjoy this channel you can help support it with a dollar for coffee cookies and dubious LED lamps for analysis at https://www.patreon.com/bigclive
compare to tungsten if you haven't already.
Recently installed a few different led bulb types to a Vw golf mk5 2004 and the canbus system doesn’t like any of them the parking or side light 501 bulbs like you show in this video don’t even work due to the system not getting the correct resistance so I found resistors with heat syncs to wire in and solved the issue after working out which resistance each bulb needed I do worry tho as the full beam and parking light wires are shared so i’m not sure it’s safe to use the 5w resistor on the 501 as the higher resistance bulbs are sharing that I believe the higher resistance needs the 50-60 watt resistor
THANK YOU for the information. Now, the real issue is that these are not necessarily compatible with ANY system not deigned with cooling air flow. I would think that there is HUGE liability by stating that they could be used for interior lighting, dash lighting, side marker lights etc. The inference being that these CANBUS compatible lights are fraud in the inducement and violate all US state's advertising laws. Problem: how the hell to make the manufacturer/seller (usually Chinese) responsible financially for the damage they are causing.
people wonder why LED bulbs dont last as long, because they fry themself to death, like this!!
What happens if you remove the parallel (120 ohm) resistor? Can it then be used as for continuous light applications instead of a flasher?
The original lamp is 5 Watts by standard. But even 2 Watts (1,6W + 0,4-0,5Watts from the LED) is enough the car electronics to get that the lamp is not burned out
You missed the bloody dots, you know it drives me mad Clive 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Some cars turn off the interior light (in my case the trunk illumination) when the load is too small. But you don't need 1,5W to trigger the computer to keep the voltage present for the light. It just needs about 50mA of current. So instead of "can-bus" light, I put an ordinary LED lamp and added a 390-ish ohm resistor in parallel to it. It gave totally around 50mA and the car was happy. So instead of a 5W tungsten lamp I have a 20mA LED plus a resistor that bumps the current up to 50mA, which at 12V (you open your trunk mosty when the engine is off) gives only about 0,6W. Now I can leave the car with the trunk open for a longer while and not worry about the 5W tungsten light discarging my battery.
The new CANbus T10 LEDs (2 x 7020SMD LEDs back-to-back) are temperature lower with 5 to 10 degrees C than regular W5W halogen bulbs, in any measurable point (socket, middle or top). The hottest point was at 49~50 degrees C. Also, after 48 hours of continuous lighting at 14.4 V they looks like new, without any visual sign of burning. The absorbed current from the power supply was constant over the whole test, it means the LED bulbs did not suffered electronic modifications. The LEDs are 60% more efficient and twice brighter then halogen bulbs (having the same size), enough to substitute the car's W5W halogens with pleasant and modern white light. They are perfect to replace all the regular bulbs without fear, the CANbus is not complaining in any way, despite the fact that the equivalent resistance of these LEDs is 910 ohm and they have electric polarity.
If only there were some way for the light to get rid of the excess heat… maybe something that converted into high intensity infrared
radiation… Some magical device…
Bit late , but, some computers need the + wire to see negative. Thus the resistor pulls the + down so the computer thinks the light is fitted.
I used the normal ones without resistor and even these burn out too fast. I now adapt G4 2 watt lamps works like a charm.
Lesson: Always use residential 12v instead of automotive rubbish
These die soooo fast. I use g4 residential lamps.
Heat in a headlight is kinda good, it offers a good way to melt snow off the plasic headlights which was the soul purpose of the filament bulb.
Such a pointless lamp
This is old post but… I bought this canbus led 4 years ago and untill last year when i changed my headlights they were fine. They are now on my friends honda as a licente plate lights. 😉
Would removing the load resistor (SMD) be a solution?
And how hot do filament bulbs get in comparison?
Just fitted them as plate lights, do still get a "bulb out" warning.
Will remove them now 🙂