Quote:
Originally Posted by Cndnmax
Seems odd that this keeps happening. I changed all my bulbs out without disconnecting the battery, I never disconnect the battery for bulbs. If you disconnect the plug on the bulb socket that would be the same as disconnecting the battery.
The only thing I can think of is an onrush of current when plugging in that’s damaging the control unit but there would be a much bigger current with a regular bulb than leds so that can’t be it. If there’s a short in the bulb it would short as soon as you connect the battery anyways so there’s no escaping that. I suggest you test each bulb before connecting them.
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Yes, if you unplug the connector from the light fixture before working on the bulb, that safely removes power. I suspect the problem occurs when people just pop the fixture out of the door, then remove and install the bulbs blindly into the powered-on socket without taking off the grey back cover in order to get better access and to see what they’re actually doing. By using a tool or wrong bulb orientation they inadvertently short the +12V to the BCM/ECU output pin. This isn’t a big slug of current which would blow a fuse. Without knowing the actual design of the output driver, I suspect it’s an open collector transistor, which needs some sort of current limiting from the bulb, whether it’s incandescent or LED. If this is the case a momentary short to +12 would blow that transistor.
A short in an LED bulb could also cause this problem. I agree it would be prudent to test your LEDs before installation.
