W211 LED sidelights ... flickering!

[james2747]

As anyone that has a W211 E class will know, the original sidelights are pretty feeble. I changed the old little 5 watt lW5 halogen bulbs for some new LED bulbs and they were much brighter and whiter. Unfortunately, after only a few weeks I noticed the LED bulbs would have a distinct 'flickering'. It wasn't constant and appeared to get worse when the lights had been on for a while. I eventually had to change them as they flickered so badly that quite a few people thought they were intentionally flashing (sidelights??). As I was pleased with the improved light performance of the original LED's prior to them starting to flicker, I purchased some new 'branded' LED bulbs (i.e. not cheap Chinese stuff) .... however, after about a month, the flickering started again ... and the actual LED bit fell off on one of the bulbs ... I assume to heat melting the solder on mini circuit board.
Am I just unlucky or is there something else going on I don't know about? LED's are fitted as standard items on many new cars now and I can't believe they all start flickering after a few weeks of use. Any guidance welcomed ... or suggestions as to what brand of LED's to purchase.

 

[DSK]

I’d not be surprised if they flicker from the start and you don’t realise it’s happening as it’s not frequent enough.

I have Novsight LEDs in the CLS219 for the sipped beam and they have been in there for several years now. No issues with quality but, LEDs seem to be a PITA on this model. They need additional resistors connecting to work even if they have an onboard chip. I tried a few sidelight LED bulbs, (Philips are ones that’s I have used for years on my other cars without issue) but, could not get any to work without resistors which got so hot I was not having them sat within the assembly. After a few hours I thought fvck it and fitted new halogen ones.

LEDs on this era of Mercedes are simply not worth the ball ache!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Blobcat]

They’re all made in China and absolute rubbish.

 

[Snake Charmer]

A lot of the cheap LED bulbs get their brightness by overdriving them so they burn out and faiI over time.
I fitted a pair of supposedly canbus compatible LED sidelight bulbs in my S211, they flashed straight away displaying a bulb fault on the dash. I wired another bulb holder in parallel behind the lamp unit and fitted the 5W Bulbs as load resistors, no dash warning and the LEDs have lasted.

 

[rifiki]

Tried 3 different LEDs reversing lights on CLK, all supposed to can bus(?) compatible
None worked, the last ones fitted to Ponton and are no brighter than original.
If you want to preserve your sanity don't bother.

 

[sl500amgsport]

Mine turn blue at 1st for some reason..?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

 

[Snake Charmer]

Mine turn blue at 1st for some reason..?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Voodoo.

 

[james2747]

A lot of the cheap LED bulbs get their brightness by overdriving them so they burn out and faiI over time.
I fitted a pair of supposedly canbus compatible LED sidelight bulbs in my S211, they flashed straight away displaying a bulb fault on the dash. I wired another bulb holder in parallel behind the lamp unit and fitted the 5W Bulbs as load resistors, no dash warning and the LEDs have lasted.

Thank you for your reply .... think I will try your suggestion ,as I still want to have bright 'visible' sidelights when used in daytime running and original 5w halogens are just very poor.

 

[dry run]

Mine turn blue at 1st for some reason..?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Mine do the same and on a dark blue car they look super cool - but only last about a second before going bright white

 

[Srdl]

Mine turn blue at 1st for some reason..?

Sent from my SM-G988B using Tapatalk

Mine do the same and on a dark blue car they look super cool - but only last about a second before going bright white

..and mine!