Interior Light LED Upgrade with pictures

[astonbloke]

Help! Tried prising out the bulb holders in the rear passenger area. The plastic cover came away leaving the bulb holder in the void. It seems very loose and I can't pull it through even with long noses pliers. Also the bulb is not securely in the back of the holder so if I did manage to extract it, I would not be able to put the new one in as I would not be able to get any pressure on the holder. There doesn't seem to be enough slack in the wire to pull the whole lot through anyway. Anyone got round this please?

[Freidrich]

astonbloke said:

Help! Tried prising out the bulb holders in the rear passenger area. The plastic cover came away leaving the bulb holder in the void. It seems very loose and I can't pull it through even with long noses pliers. Also the bulb is not securely in the back of the holder so if I did manage to extract it, I would not be able to put the new one in as I would not be able to get any pressure on the holder. There doesn't seem to be enough slack in the wire to pull the whole lot through anyway. Anyone got round this please?

Same thing happened for me on my DB9. I ended up prying out the entire metal holder (shaped like a U and attached with tape) which the lamp unit attaches to (being careful not do drop it in the void).

I could then pull out the lamp unit enough to be able to switch bulbs and reattach the plastic ring and cover.

Once done I just pushed the lamp unit in (without the metal holder) and it has been sitting there without problems for the past year.

To me the metal holder must be the most unnecessary thing on the entire car...

[astonbloke]

Many thanks. How did you extract the useless holder please? Mine is very loose in the void but will not simply pull through the round hole. I have not used force in case I break the wiring. Also the plastic ring and lens cover now does not attach to the holder and I have had to use double sided tape to keep the thing from falling out of the hole. Was there enough wiring to pull the bulb and it's small holder out enough to change the bulb? I am guessing you had the identical problem with the other light on the opposite side.

[shuzzy]

Had the same issue with my previous DB9 rear quarter lights and dealt with it exactly the same way as previous poster.

The circular trim around the light comes off with a screwdriver and exposes the clear plastic lens fully. This lens then pops off and exposes the bulb. However the whole light fitting is loose and just flops about at this stage making it impossible to remove/replace the bulb. You now realise the presence of the silly metal bracket 'gaffer' taped behind the light fitting.
From what i remeber it was quite difficult to get the light fitting and bracket out. You need to do a certain amount of wiggling, pulling and manipulating to get the fittings out. This is restricted further by the short bulb wire which you try and ensure doesn't drop behind the panel. It is a faf, hindered further by the extreme lack of body space, but doable. The light fitrtings then just pop back in without the metal bracket, and are secured by the circular plastic trim, which seems to hold it all in place.

[astonbloke]

Thanks shuzzy. I might have another go at this now I know it is possible to pull the gubbings through albeit with a lot of faf. Must remember to keep the doors and windows closed in case the neighbours hear the language.

[GingerMunky]

Jaytgee said:

As a new member to the forum I've really enjoyed reading the write ups on changing the interior bulbs for LED. I take delivery of my 2006 DB9 Volante in a few weeks and are wondering if everything you describe will be the same on my model. If so I would give it a go.

Great to see this is still useful.

[nsjb]

Hi DB531, I know this post was from a long while ago but I’ve just put LED lights on my doors and I’m also getting the flickering every few seconds.

Did you get a fix in the end?

Many thanks

DB531 said:

Some time ago I replaced the original interior/boot light bulbs with LED bulbs in my 05 DB9 all was/is well.
Decided to up rate the door puddle lights, obtained the LED as shown in this thread. After fitting them I noticed that they both give a very slow strobe flash after they have turned off. I did read that it is possible that if all the lamps are replaced with LED's it is possible that the LED's will not turn completely off, something to do with resistance, and an incandescent bulb should be left in the circuit. Well I tried that by replacing a boot interior light with one of the original bulbs. This has not made any difference to the strobe effect. So as a precaution I have removed the door LED's and replaced the original bulbs plus the boot LED.

Any suggestions greatly received. Thank you.

Edited by DB531 on Saturday 13th September 00:08

[DB531]

Hi nsjb,


I understand that the problem was to do with the type of LED lamps I was using.

I believe that CANBUS LED lamps are the way to go. As the set up was working I did not bother to take it any further, and to be honest puddle lights are not a high priority to me.

[Damianos]

Amazingly I was thinking about doing the LED conversion on my 09 V8 just a few days ago, so great to see this post revamped now!

I've done this before in some previous cars, but i've always purchased complete kits prepared specifically for the car. Doing a very quick search in the vendors i've used in the past did not return any results for a Vantage kit, so i'd appreciate if anyone has any tips on where to find one.

Thanks,

Damianos

[EVR]

Check my reply on page 2, it should cover everything but the interior dome lights that were LED from factory for me.

The only update on my post is license plate lights, there is a way better custom part on the market, done by a nice gentleman, you will find info here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by EVR on Monday 22 February 12:46

[Damianos]

EVR said:

Check my reply on page 2, it should cover everything but the interior dome lights that were LED from factory for me.

The only update on my post is license plate lights, there is a way better custom part on the market, done by a nice gentleman, you will find info here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by EVR on Monday 22 February 12:46

That's great thanks

[DB531]

EVR said:

Check my reply on page 2, it should cover everything but the interior dome lights that were LED from factory for me.

The only update on my post is license plate lights, there is a way better custom part on the market, done by a nice gentleman, you will find info here:

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by EVR on Monday 22 February 12:46

The list as is, does cover all the sizes and fitments required. With the the V8V and DB9 having similar interior lighting all should have been well, most of it was.

I suspect that the year of production of the vehicle has a bearing on which type of LED replacement should be used. The early DB9's have all filament interior bulbs, hence the need for some form of resistance if a full set of LED lamps are fitted ................CANBUS lamps ? All or some? I do not know.

As the V8V's were produced after the DB9, and as mentioned, they do have some interior LED lamps in situ, which would suggest the circuitry is designed for LED lamps.

[EVR]

DB531 said:

The list as is, does cover all the sizes and fitments required. With the the V8V and DB9 having similar interior lighting all should have been well, most of it was.

I suspect that the year of production of the vehicle has a bearing on which type of LED replacement should be used. The early DB9's have all filament interior bulbs, hence the need for some form of resistance if a full set of LED lamps are fitted ................CANBUS lamps ? All or some? I do not know.

As the V8V's were produced after the DB9, and as mentioned, they do have some interior LED lamps in situ, which would suggest the circuitry is designed for LED lamps.

As far as I know, as long as the LED have the same connector as the classic bulb they are replacing and said bulb is not monitored for error messages (LED have a lower voltage hence throw errors), you should be fine, no resistance needed.

[LPH]

I fitted LEDs to my 2007 V8V just after I bought it a couple of years ago.

Tried all sorts of LEDs in the doors that claim to be 'can bus' compliant but the bloody things still randomly flicker when the door is shut. Drive me mad!

[telum01]

I tested a bunch of LEDs before selling them because of the flickering issues.
I'm planning to add them back to my Redpants shop in the very near future if anyone's interested, just need to get some more adulting done.

[DapperDanMan]

I did LED interior lights a few years back and then found failures from the LED's. I've now gone back to filament bulbs with the blue colour which shines white and is almost as good as the LED but without the quality issues.

I bought these. It may turn out that these don't last but I got sick of the LED failures.

[EVR]

DapperDanMan said:

I did LED interior lights a few years back and then found failures from the LED's. I've now gone back to filament bulbs with the blue colour which shines white and is almost as good as the LED but without the quality issues.

I bought these. It may turn out that these don't last but I got sick of the LED failures.

Yeah, I used similar bulbs too on my Maserati, where the license plate lights were monitored for errors, decent result.

But guys, using the LEDs on my list on page 2 of this thread, I have not seen any problem whatsoever for almost 2 years now and counting.

Edited by EVR on Wednesday 24th February 09:27

[Damianos]

telum01 said:

I tested a bunch of LEDs before selling them because of the flickering issues.
I'm planning to add them back to my Redpants shop in the very near future if anyone's interested, just need to get some more adulting done.

Would definitely be interested, so count me in!

[Trahison]

Hi gang

I noticed my 06 V8V driver's side LED map light flickering so had a look and sure enough half the bulb is gone. I'm struggling to find the correct bulb online as I believe my existing one (or at least its part number) is discontinued. It's the same one as per the original post in this thread. Can somebody please suggest a suitable LED map light bulb?

As an aside the silver round plastic cover came off very easily and doesn't seem to want to go back in, no matter how I try and twist it into place. One for when there's a bit of daylight to investigate!

Thanks v much