Courtesy light leds warning

[Tangoe]

Just a quick bit of advice when changing the courtesy lights to leds i bought some from ebay that had a huge heatsink on the back. As i was installing in the dark i didnt notice the heat sink was touching the terminals at the back, sooo pop! and no light on one side, after investigating it hadnt blown a fuse rather the switch wasnt working. Luckily the little white switches are slide in and easily opened and insde have click rotate workings similar to a biro, cleaned the terminals and popped it back together and its all fine but £2 leds could of cost a whole new light unit. I filed the heat sinks off a bit and now its like a frigging stadium in there

[Sam Mcgoo]

It has been covered a few times on here. But a good reminder to new members as it can actually blow your BCM which isn't a straight forward diy fix. If you look in the guides section, I'm sure there is a guide on this very subject.

[Stan]

I have some of these on order - would placing a bit of electrical tape over the heatsink to avoid contact suffice?

[Tangoe]

I have some of these on order - would placing a bit of electrical tape over the heatsink to avoid contact suffice?

 

I would of thought so, but will reduce the effectiveness of the heatsink so leds might not last as long

[Iwantone]

Be mindful of the heat that the heatsink is intended to dissipate. Restricting the airflow around it could cause serious overheating and maybe a risk of fire.

 

Steve

[Stan]

I thought about that but as it is just for the overhead lights when you unlock the car, would they really get that hot for a few seconds?