Citroen DRL Headlight fault.

[blackolive (Ste)]

Finally managed to get the headlight split open, absolute pain of a job!

The offending item. Any ideas how to find out who manufactures these? Tried the serial numbers in Google but no luck. What would this type of chip typically be referred as?

View attachment 328535 View attachment 328536 View attachment 328537

Scanning the QR code looking thing didn’t bring any joy either

Thats just an orange and white dual led chip, the backing pcb will act as a heatsink. So the two connector pins are positive for orange and white, and earthed via the plated holes on the pcb. If the leds work when you apply a voltage, then the driver unit is fubar

 

[KaneH]

Headlight has a main board which feeds off to each individual bulb. All other lights in the unit work as they should so presume it must be this specific LED board that is at fault?

The LED did function before just not correctly (flickering when on DRL then intermittently working albeit dimmer than the opposite side whilst on position lamp setting).

Do you get generic boards like this that I can try and graft in if I can’t get a old headlight to replace this one with?

 

[blackolive (Ste)]

That looks like inverters/led drivers and some form of controller. Why on earth have things become so complicated

Its no wonder older simpler motors are inndemand

I wouldnt be surprised if theres an electronics guru buried in a citroen forum somewhere who fixes them

 

[badabec]

Don't bother with the Citroen Car Club forum, you have to be a member to view and then you'll find me and about 5 others.
Try aussiefrogs.com
Australian but worldwide

 

[Nomad]

That looks like inverters/led drivers and some form of controller. Why on earth have things become so complicated

Its no wonder older simpler motors are inndemand

I wouldnt be surprised if theres an electronics guru buried in a citroen forum somewhere who fixes them

I had a similar problem with the LEDs in a 2007 BMW rear light and ended up using a multi-tool to cut open the sealed-for-life light unit.
When I asked on the forums I found it's a common failure, a few of us collected some failed lights and opened them up,

We found 2 common problems:
pooly soldered joints on the legs of the LED, easy to fix by resoldering the joint (once you found where the problem was !)
Also BMW had used their own LEDs rather than the industry standard "never known to fail" types, Many of the BMW LEDs we checked had died, we replaced them with industy standard LEDs and the repaired lights worked fine.

Unless you enjoy tinkering and repairing electronic circuits, I'd keep checking the breakers / ebay etc or buy new.

 

[KaneH]

Just to close this off. With the MOT now due and me not having the time, nor the desire to start chasing the electrical fault further I’ve forked out and replaced both headlights (halogen type) instead of the single LED unit. £250 for two halogen aftermarket parts vs the £400-600 for the single LED version.

All this for the sake of a single bulb which should have been less than a fiver…

At least all of the bulbs in the new units are easily replaced should they go tits up in the future.

Thanks for the help folks

 

[hotponyshoes]

Good solution.
Is the car not giving you a blub fault message then?

 

[Barking Mat]

Why is everything which could be simple, so bloody complicated nowadays?

Is this really better ? I'm fed up with being dazzled by these super bright headlights.

Electric handbrakes too, grrr.

 

[Pete.]

Try aussiefrogs.com

Aussiefrogs

I love the Australians

 

[KaneH]

Good solution.
Is the car not giving you a blub fault message then?

It wasn’t flagging a fault with the LED unit installed but obviously wasn’t operating as it should. We have two of these cars, one that had the LED headlights and one that has the halogens so I checked the halogen unit on the LED car before buying new.

The light arrangement between the two units differs slightly as the halogen has separate bulbs for the indicator, position lamp and DRL but the pins on the plug must be the same as everything operates as it should. Off for an MOT today so hopefully that’s all that’s needing sorted!

 

[not done it yet]

Yes, you do need to be careful when changing systems. LED circuits will work perfectly with much thinner conductors, lower power relays etc. However, changing to high-current devices can be a fire risk - which is unlikely to be covered by the insurance policy….

 

[Melvyn Best]

Why is it that when driving in France it is a legal requirement to carry a spare set of bulbs AND the worst cars in the world to change a headlight bulb are French?

 

[KaneH]

Yes, you do need to be careful when changing systems. LED circuits will work perfectly with much thinner conductors, lower power relays etc. However, changing to high-current devices can be a fire risk - which is unlikely to be covered by the insurance policy….

The LED headlights were a styling option so the loom and associated gubbins are more than likely to be the same. Exact same cars only this one being a year newer than the white one we have.

 

[not done it yet]

… are more than likely …

I would be checking, all the same. Little things like this can cause big problems in the (unlikely, hopefully) case of an insurance claim. You could find yourself covered for third party only, or even less if only another vehicle or property was damaged.