Interior L.E.D. Dome lights gets dim when truck is off.

So I’ve searched the forum and found this has been discussed but I haven’t found a solution. I replaced the 2 map lights and the 1 dome light with LEDs from superbrightleds.com. When the key is in the accessory position or on, the lights work fine. When the key is off and the doors are closed or open, the lights are very dim. I’ve measured 12V at the dome light when the vehicle is on and .3V when the vehicle is off. Now I’m aware why this is happened and how the LED is not pulling enough current but Im looking for a solution to this. The stock light draws 12V even when the truck is off whereas the led is only drawing .3V. I’ve tried adding a resistor to both ends of the bulb, but the voltage is still far too low. If I switch out one of these 3 lights with a stock light and turn it on, the other LEDs get bright. I’m guessing because the stock light is telling the computer to put out 12V to the circuit whereas the LED won’t draw that much so the computer doesn’t push that out. I may be an electrical technician but I’m not familiar with this kind of wiring. Any help is appreciated.

 

I have a 2001 tacoma I just replaced my dome/map lights with led's and I am having the same issues. The lights work great when the ignition is on, but dont work at all when the ignition is off. Any help?

 

I used one of these soldered at each end of the dome light LED, and it took care of all of my issues.

$8 uxcell 10PCS 100 Ohm 1W Resistance Fixed Metal Oxide Film Resistors Blue

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PZYO11K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/dome-light.511351/page-2#post-16157474

 

Thanks everyone. I tried a 1000 ohm .5 W resistor and that was clearly not enough. I will try a 100 ohm 1 W resistor.

 

I believe the Body ECU was engineered around using incadesant(filament) bulbs and not LEDS...

 

of course it was, but we like to mod

 

UPDATE: I soldered a 100 ohm, 1W resister to both sides of the led bulb that I used for my dome light and it works!!

 

I dont suppose anyone has found away around soldering resistor to the bulb yet? I was hoping there was a a relay or something that could get it done

 

you will always need the resistor, as it is looking for a certain amount of current/amps(?) across the wire. I bought bulbs with the resistor already soldered, saved me from having to care ;p

 

be careful with the 1 watt resistor. 100 ohms at 12 volts is .12 amps and 1.44 watts
at 13.4 volts it .134 amps and 1.7956 watts.

still gonna be less heat than the stock bulb, but the stock bulb was made to handle the heat, a 1 watt resistor is not designed to handle almost 2 watts of heat.