12v ports are at 14.2v?

[expresspotato]

Hi all,

 

So I was wondering why every LED bulb I put into my parking lamps just over heated and burned out within a few weeks... Should the 12v ports and what seems like the whole car be at 14.2v? Sounds like the way they charge the 12v battery is just to send 14v through the whole system...

 

Is this right? IIRC my old car was 12.7v through all the ports.

 

 

[murphy]

When the 12 volt battery is being charged the voltage will be around 14.4 volts. Once the battery is charged it will be at 13.2 volts. Every car I have ever owned had a target voltage of 13.8 volts. Any accessory for a car should be designed to handle up to 15 volts.

[GrySql]

Are you using standard wedge base LED's or CAN Bus LED bulbs?

You might contact this company and talk to them about your installation and problems.

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

[lolder]

12.7 V is the voltage of a fully charged battery. While charging it will be between about 13.6 to 14.2. Those are the voltages you will see at the "12 v" plug. Some bulbs for flashlights are 12 v but those for cars are rated at 13.8 sometimes. There is only one low voltage source so it can be anywhere between 12- and 14.4.

Edited July 9, 2014 by lolder

[billford]

Hi all,

 

So I was wondering why every LED bulb I put into my parking lamps just over heated and burned out within a few weeks... Should the 12v ports and what seems like the whole car be at 14.2v? Sounds like the way they charge the 12v battery is just to send 14v through the whole system...

 

Is this right? IIRC my old car was 12.7v through all the ports.

 

 

 

I have the same plug in tester. Mine read between 14.5 and 14.7 volts. Seems high to me and I like to see it lower to about 14 volts, but I never had any overvoltage trouble codes. The service manual states the battery voltage should be between 13 and 15.5 volts, depending on load. If not, a "check charging system" message will come on.

 

I also have led bulbs in my foglamps that I use as drl's. I did not know if they were quality bulbs and I didn't expect them to last, but they still work after 5 months. They are supposed to have Samsung chips.

 

I have seen my friends license plate and dome light led bulbs short out causing fuses to blow and just plain stop working for no reason after about a month. This was on a Ford pickup truck.

 

Maybe the quality of some of the led bulbs out there are questionable...

Edited July 9, 2014 by billford

[Easy Rider]

Once the battery is charged it will be at 13.2 volts. Every car I have ever owned had a target voltage of 13.8 volts.

 

No it won't, at least not for very long.

 

The current "state of the art" 12 V AGM automotive batteries have a nominal no load voltage of 12.8 when fully charged and "rested" for a while.

13.2 is a typical maintenance voltage applied by a smart tender type charger after the battery is fully charged.

 

What exactly do you mean by "target voltage" ??

[murphy]

 

No it won't, at least not for very long.

 

The current "state of the art" 12 V AGM automotive batteries have a nominal no load voltage of 12.8 when fully charged and "rested" for a while.

13.2 is a typical maintenance voltage applied by a smart tender type charger after the battery is fully charged.

 

What exactly do you mean by "target voltage" ??

Yes it will. I'm talking about driving the car after the battery is fully charged, not turned off sitting in the garage.

 

Long ago before alternators existed the set point for the car's voltage regulator was 13.8 volts.

Two-way radios for automotive use specify their operating parameters at 13.8 volts.

 

Modern cars are more aggressive with their charging at 14.2 volts.

[Easy Rider]

Yes it will. I'm talking about driving the car after the battery is fully charged, not turned off sitting in the garage.

 

Well then that is the charging voltage.......NOT the battery voltage.

 

Given that, yes, the minimum charging voltage would be 13.2 but I bet that you will almost never see that........as there is enough drain while running to keep it charging above that point.,

[acdii]

Every car I ever worked on ran at 13.8 volts at the alternator. That is what the voltage regulator was set at, however the new breed of no alternator cars with DC-DC charging ups the voltage, so what may work fine in a normal car will pop in the Hybrid.

[Easy Rider]

so what may work fine in a normal car will pop in the Hybrid.

The sky is NOT falling. :)

 

If you go back just a little bit beyond your experience, the regulators often didn't cut off until the upper 14's or maybe even 15 Volts.

 

Trust me, any device created for use in a 12 Volt automotive application will work just FINE in a hybrid and will not "pop" at 14.2 volts.

[acdii]

Tell that to the guy whose LED's keep popping from over voltage. There are some things that will pop if more than a certain voltage is applied and never designed to be used in an automotive application such as LED's. Those designed to work on a car have voltage regulators built in to drop the voltage from as high as 16 volts down to the required 5 volts.

[GrySql]

You folks are discussing voltage when the OP is using a non OEM bulb. He replaced both of his OEM parking lamp bulbs with LED bulbs.

 

Some LED bulbs are specifically designed with a supervision circuit to allow them to be used with CAN (Controller Area Network) Bus equipped vehicles without triggering the OBC (on-board computer) and burning out.

Various vehicles require CAN Bus LED bulbs, the OP has not yet answered what type he uses.

Seems to me that if his standard 12v #168 Incandescent bulb was working okay then he is either using the wrong LED bulb or an inferior product.

[Easy Rider]

 

Seems to me that if his standard 12v #168 Incandescent bulb was working okay then he is either using the wrong LED bulb or an inferior product.

BINGO.

In any case, the fact that the charging system goes up to 14.2 volts IS NOT THE PROBLEM.

[expresspotato]

I've tried tons of LED's... My solution ended up being to put on a 43 Ohm 5W resistor inline with the bulbs... Keeping my fingers crossed :)

 

From high price to low price and everything inbetween. The front housing with no ventilation combined with the slightly higher voltage just burns these suckers out.

Edited July 12, 2014 by expresspotato