Tailgate interior LED's

hey crew. I just installed LED's in the interior tailgate lights. Philips Ultinon bulbs. They're bright and a nice color. But I noticed that when the tailgate is closed, they are still very faintly lit. Even when the truck is turned off. This is when the switch is in the "door" position.

They turn on brightly when the tailgate is opened. And they shut off when closed. But when it's really dark, I can see that they're still very faintly powered, even when closed.

And when I crawl back there and flip the switch to the completely off position, that very faint glow goes away immediately.

So, even with the tailgate closed there's some current being fed to the bulbs. It needs to be pretty dark to verify this. But could someone with LED's in that location see if yours does the same thing?

If it does, and you've never had a dead battery, then I can be confident this won't drain my battery.

 

I highly doubt it will drain your battery. LED's use hardly any power when totally on. I think what you have going on is leakage current...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caxb9N1N9Fc

 

It seems this is pretty common with dimmable LED bulbs. Is the Ultinon dimmable?

 

Hmm. Don't know. They do fade out gradually like the OEM bulbs when you open/close doors.

 

Super interesting. Thanks.

 

You are welcome. In the video he mentions something about how it happens with improper wiring, but then proceeds to pull energy out of the air. So it looks like led's can gather energy from just about anywhere. Pretty wild.

 

Being a 3-way switch, the socket is completely cut off from everything in the OFF position. But in the DOOR position, there's essentially a "4th" switch- the pressure sensitive one that gets pushed down by the door (presumably- I haven't looked).

When in the DOOR position, the switch is as good as ON. But dependent on the pressure sensitive 4th switch (second circuit). At least, this is how I'm imagining it in my non-electric guy head. So, there's some current leak in that switch, or that circuit is hanging on to some current.

I suppose the way to tell what's happening is to check and see if the dimly lit lights eventually go off (residual current) or if they stay on indefinitely (current bleed).

Full disclosure; pure speculation here.

 

The main reason you are probably dealing with that is essentially the RESIDUAL POWER. Your original halogen bulbs utilize a significantly higher power than the LEDs which if you are now using the lEDs, all it is the excess power is "draining", that wont kill your battery as LED Bulbs dont control when your vehicle is giving it power. Its just working with the power provided.

 

So, will that dimly lit bulb eventually go out if it sits long enough?

 

Yeah, the bulb should go out in a matter of a few seconds after all the lights are turned off.

Logicly, it makes sense right? that the bulb only "does as its told" so the residual power being enough to power it, until there is no residual power left

If you have a vid link of it, I will def take a look at that and see if I can give you any feedback