I put LED lights in the domes, front and rear, and after 2 weeks I had an error message in the I-drive saying there was excess battery drain. When I put the old bulbs back the error went away. I used the same LED bulbs in the bottom of the doors with no issues. Does anyone understand the wiring on these cars? I know the dome light has a large circuit board but I did not think the car was that "Smart".

2008 550 LCI

 

The LEDs typically draw less current than the conventional filament bulbs you replaced. That said, unless something shorted in the installation of the LEDs I'm suspecting that you are now experiencing what so many newer BMW owners are experiencing - that the electrical demands of these cars exceeds the capacity of the car's electronics (including batteries) to deliver reliably. And that problem is noticed more so when cold temperatures reduce the capacity of batteries.

One INDY I work closely with, on a number of automobile related matters, recently told me that from October to March (here in SOuthern NJ) he regularly replaces between 40 and 60 car batteries a month and 2-3 are in VW's and MB's -- the rest are in later model BMWs. What does that tell you!

This problem (IMHO) is so pervasive I believe that all BMW owners so affected by this engineering issue MUST be direct and specific and communicating with BMW Engineering, IN WRITING, that this product deficiency is and must be addressed. I personally find it unconscionable that a company with BMW resources (after all HYDROGEN CARS ??? HYBRID 7'ers ?!?!? ) Come on folks!!

That said, I suspect your issue has nothing to do with the LEDs (the dealer may lamely limp to that as an "excuse" ... Your battery is going south ... well I wished it could ... at least it'd be warmer and under less stress there ;-)

 

A little history...
I bought the car in May of 2010 with no issues. In October I changed the 4 under door courtesy bulbs and the 2 dome lights to LED's from www.superbrightled.com.
At Thanksgiving I went on a trip leaving my car in the Garage for a week. When I drove the car next the I-drive msg came up with excessive battery drain. I had to reset the clock and date. I had the light come on every other day in the month of December. When I finally got to the dealer they checked every thing out, the only comment was that other cars with LED's were causing fuses to blow and causing other electrical issues. Another comment was the car was not designed for LED's. After that I removed the LED's and have not had an issue for a month. Very Annoying. The car always started with no issue even when left overnight at work for 2 days. Who knows? I am going to buy the xenon bulb package from Bimmian and be done with it ($42). I put the LED's in my wifes '09 Acura MDX with no issues. My guess is BMW does not want us to mess with their cars.

 

That's odd and I'd like to see what other opinions there are.

BMW has already begun to replace many other incandescent lamps with LEDs in newer models and will likely continue that practice to reduce energy consumption. It is odd that your battery excessive drain problem has disappeared since you returned to the old style bulbs. As for the interior lamps ... unless the current draw of the LEDs exceeds that of the incandescent bulbs I'm not satisfied with the service adviser explanation. But then I'm certain he/she earned a degree in engineering from MIT ... and I'm as dim as a 5 watt bulb.

 

It could very well be the quality of the LEDs.

Prior to buying the license plate housing replacements, I had bought LED bulbs from a local shop. It was cool for two weeks, and then I started to get errors, and then they half way through the third week they blew out.

So regarding the comments earlier in this thread about finding the cheapest "deals" out there might not necessary be the best route.

 

I can understand poorly manufactured LEDs ssue creating a problem with lamps that are on for extended periods of time (like license plate lamps).

But the limited time that most interior lamps (courtesy, map, etc) are on, and since those lamps are not "monitored" for current like brake, parking, side markers, etc ... I just don't see it as apples and apples. But I could be wrong ... after all, a bum LED could act like a short in the circuit and we know our BMWs are complex electronic mazes.

I'd be very interested in hearing from one of our resident electronic guru's like Bruce

 

Just another note.... I still have the same bulbs in the under door courtesy locations (4 doors). Maybe the dome lights are monitored more closely by the computer. When at the dealer they had a 40 page download from the computer. They said randomly the car would wake up at 3 am. All I know is the problem seems to have been fixed when i removed the bulbs from the dome lights. I should go back and ask for a copy of the paper work. Maybe these bulbs are not compatible with the computer?

 

There's another member that was told the same thing, G530 (Michael), last year. His car's electronics/battery was acting funky and when he first told me about the dealer saying it's the LED replacements, I thought it was BS.

Who knows, maybe there is a grain of salt in there.

 

I also wanna change my rear turn signal bulbs to smd led, but im not sure which one should i get to don't get an error ?

 

bought courtesy and trunk lights from angel lights on ebay - let me tell you - blow the doors off what i purchased from a member on here a year ago - so much brighter!

$25 a set of two though, but worth it.

FWIW.