LED Dome Lights Glowing

[HBB]

Came home last night and noticed that the LED dome lights in my '90 tin top were glowing. Not something I've seen in the few years I have been running LED's.

The lights are not "on" at full illumination. Instead, it's a faint glow.

The door switches are all operational, and turning the light swtiches to "off" turns them out entirely. Turning the light switches to "on" gets them up to full illumination. They were only glowing in the "on when door open" position.

Fired up the van and drove around the block, and when I parked again, the issue had gone away.

Any idea what is going on here? It seems as if there is some sort of stray current in the circuit, but I am not entirely certain how best to chase out the source. I am also confused about how this just started all of the sudden.

Thanks in advance.

[DanHoug]

you're correct, there IS leakage somewhere. my guess would be dust/salt contamination on the door pin switch. was it humid/wet out when this happened?

pull it out, clean entire switch with Windex or run under hot water and activate the plunger a bunch of times. retest.

-dan

[Vanagon Nut]

I've had that happen at least twice. The first time, I cleaned the driver side door switch and the issue abated. Second time, the battery the light connects to, was quite low and for all intents and purposes, dead. Unfortunately, the issue stopped before replacing that battery and I highly doubt this is possible, but I have to wonder if a low battery voltage is somehow part of what caused the LED dome to glow, door closed. (your post mentions driving around the block. A surface charge to battery could be possible??)

Neil.
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Dampcamper]

Low battery probably wouldn't cause the glow, but the glow could cause a low battery over a long time.
Is there an alarm system in your Vanagon? Some alarms tap into the door switch (to trip alarm when door is opened). Could be a tiny bit of current going on there. It wouldn't be enough to make an incandescent bulb glow but maybe an LED, it only takes like a milliamp to get a tiny bit of light.
But I'm thinking it was a wet/dirty door switch, more likely.
It only takes a tiny bit of current to make a modern LED glow. I changed my "High Beam" indicator LED to a blue one, had to replace the series resistor (don't remember the original value but it would have been a few thousand ohms) with a 1 megohm resistor, it was that bright. And I fuzzed up the end of the LED to diffuse it too. So the LED is giving a good indication running about 10-12 millionths of an amp through it.

[Timwhy]

Recently this too has been happening to my 91 Tin Top's dome LED. I think it was two part, door switch and how the LED was seated in the lamp.
I took the LED out and reseated it and gave the door switch a good work out.
May still replace the door switch.

LED's I used
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014LR4THM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
_________________
'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_author=Timwhy&show_results=summary

http://www.youtube.com/user/TIMWHY2?feature=mhee

[HBB]

Thanks for the responses; I will pull the switches when I get home tonight and try cleaning them up a bit. I will also try reseating the bulbs.

As for the low battery thing, I don't think that's the issue, due to the speed at which the van cranked, but I will check the voltage and see if that is a factor as well. [/list]

[Vanagon Nut]

Ya the low battery thing was a somewhat qualified WAG.

In my case the well intended dielectric greas id applied to the door switch contacts was most likely a contributor to the first episode of dim LED, swich off. Cant say why the light recently did the same thing, then stopped.

Voodoo?
_________________
1981 Westy DIY 15º ABA

1988 West DIY 50º ABA

VE7TBN

[Wildthings]

Moisture especially combined with road salts might well cause this. Maybe hit the door switch with some WD40.