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LED Headlights Flickering

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roscoe

roscoe

Jedi Knight
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I have installed some LED head lamps and lenses. My issue is that they flicker when the engine is running. I've read quite a bit about this and it seems that the potentialities are bad grounds, faulty alternator (I have a good alternator installed), or the need for some type of anti-flicker device like a canbus decoder, resistor or capaciter. I'm pretty sure my grounding is good. Claims about canbus decoders imply they solve most problems, but seem like they are for newer cars with systems that run through computational devices that need to talk to each other. Perhaps overkill for my BN2, but still a possibility. The resistor or capaciter route seems to make the most sense to me as I have this one issue.

My question to you all is, have any of you had this problem and what solved it?

If you have solved it, what brand did you use? That may not matter, but there are a gazillion different units out there. None of these things are too expensive to experiment with, but I hate buying stuff that I don't need. Thanks for reading.
 
Is your wiring original so that the power to the headlights goes directly through the switch on the dash? You might try a capacitor between the + & - on the switch.

I only use LEDs on the side/turn signal/brake lights.
 
Thanks, that would be easy. Yes my light power is through the switch. I'll give that a try.

Jon
 
Hi Roscoe--

I installed LED headlights about six months ago and as far as I know there is no flickering, though of course I am not able to see them unless I am in front of the car or perhaps when driving at night. I also have LED bulbs in the stop/tail lights and at least so far they are trouble-free.

I'm in the process of upgrading the lighting to the two 576 driving lights. Earlier this week I pulled new wiring to them and replaced the original incandescents with LED bulbs. Of the four bulbs I had received three failed to light at all and one lasted about a minute before apparently burning out. Fortunately I also had on hand a pair of halogen bulbs whichg= are working fine and are way brighter than the originals.

I have to say that given the various problems many of us who have tried to go to the brighter world of LED's have experienced I wonder if it is worth it all. I'm definitely not a captive of originality but sometimes it seems like our cars resist being taken into the 21st century.

Best--Michael Oritt
 
Agreed. LEDs bulbs installed in the taillights and an LED flex strip light installed higher up on the body as a third brake light. Many years' service so far. The rear reflectors were retained as original.
 
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