Wonder why the LED bulbs seem to so fragile after a few years?

 

well, i did the swap...easy. makes a big difference!

 

This is a great thread. Followed all the advice and changed out the lights without any issues. Thanks to all for the tips and tricks that made these installs easy.

 

I am extremely disappointed with SuperBrightLEDs.com. Not with their bulbs -- I never received them! No, I am disappointed with their customer support.

Based on the recommendations in this thread I went ahead and ordered $65 worth of bulbs. I picked the USPS Priority Mail shipping option because I had a service appointment scheduled in a few days and was going to have them install the bulbs while they're at it. I checked the USPS website and it said Priority Mail takes 2-3 business days. Perfect!

6 days later and I still have not received the bulbs. The USPS tracking number they provided was useless because all the tracker had was the date the bulbs went out and no updated info since. I contacted SuperBrightLEDs and they told me that USPS Priority mail can take up to 14 business days to deliver a package! I told the rep that this was unacceptable and that I wanted to cancel my order and get a refund. She told me that I had to wait 14 days to receive the product and only then can they issue an RMA and a refund. I asked if I could at least get refunded the shipping charge for Priority Mail since 14 days is not what I would call expedited shipping. She said no and repeated that I had to wait 14 days.

I then told her that I will dispute the charge with my credit card company and that I will mark the package RETURN TO SENDER if and when I get it. She can wait 14 days!

I've ordered a lot of items over the Internet and it has been my experience that if a Priority Mail package doesn't arrive within 6 days that it has either been lost or damaged at the USPS facility and it will never arrive. The few times this happened the vendors offered to send me replacements right away or refunded my money right away. None of this waiting for 14 days crap. I understand that SuperBrightLEDs has no control over the USPS but if they're going to offer that as a shipping option, they better stand by it!

Anyway, I ended up ordering Philips bright white LEDs from Amazon Prime. Sure the bulbs costs a couple of bucks more but shipping was free and they arrived the same day so I came out ahead!

Most of you probably think I'm being a jerk. First world problems, right?

 

Over half my customers choose USPS Priority. It doesn't take 14 business days. It takes 1 to 3. If it takes longer than that, something went wrong (rare, but possible) or the seller's shipping department is seriously slacking. I always ship the first business day after receiving an order, sometimes the very same day. So effectively, it's 2-4 business days to delivery with USPS Priority. You don't sound like a jerk at all, your complaints are definitely valid.

 

I would also like to say thanks for all of the instructions on this post. I ordered the lights and was able to replace them fairly easily. The improvement in the light in the car is amazing.

 

Thanks for the write up.
I was half way through doing this on my 2007 V8V when I ran into a snag when pulling the trunk/boot lights. As I was pulling the bulb it zapped (as seems to be common. Note to self - pull the plug out from the bulb assembly before trying to pull out a traditional filament bulb)and they both went out. No problem, I thought, I'll just swap out the fuse in the cabin. I'd been in there before so I knew it was buried under the floor carpet. However, when I pulled the 5A fuse (47 - 5th from right, as mentioned above) I found the fuse was fine. When I put the fuse back in I noticed the map lights came on so again, not a fuse issue. I went back into the boot and used a voltmeter to check the bulb socket since I had it all opened up and there is no voltage across the gap where the bulb goes even though the boot lid is open.

Anyone come across this before? Its got me baffled why the both lights in the back are not getting power but my cabin fuses and cabin lights are fine.

 

I seems to remember that the lights in the trunk goes out after a while even though the trunk is still open... My car is in storage so I can't verify this right now but if you put you key back in the car the light should come back on. Hope this help

 

What Handyman said. It's a battery saving thing so accessories left on don't kill the battery as easily. Did you try turning the car on or something to "reset" the power distribution?

 

Good suggestion but that doesn't seem to be the issue. I started the car and see no change to the status of the lights in the trunk. I even pulled the battery for a few seconds and that didn't get it going either. I checked both bulbs just in case they are wired in serial like the old Christmas lights.

 

No trunks lights, no seats or glove box operation! That's another story. Try #46.

 

Glove box and seats are just fine. This gremlin only affects the trunk lights and none of the other items on the same fuse circuit. I'm pretty sure its not one of the fuses in the cabin as Ive checked 95% of them (there are some high current fuses behind a big bundle of wires but since these little bulbs don't need 20-25A I left them alone). On the plus side this has been educational. After I disconnected the battery my windows stopped lowering so that the doors would not open and close properly. The soft top also gave up on life. A bit of worrying followed by forum digging revealed what all other AM owners probably knew already; after a battery disconnect you have to re-calibrate the windows.

 

Figured it out and fixed it. There is a second fuse just for the trunk lights. If you look in the manual you find that trunk lights are mentioned twice: cabin fuse F47, labelled 'trunk accessory (illumination) socket' and again in the trunk fuse box as F17 but replacing that one did the job.

 

On a related note- any thoughts on why my 47 fuse keeps blowing? My map lights were not working, i put in a new fuse and they came back on. Now the fuse is blown again... Seat adjustment, fuel door, etc works fine until i try to turn on the map lights.