I just recently bought an LED headlight set for my 2010 Honda CRV LX. The LED headlights fit perfectly and function properly with low and high beams. The only problem I have is when my CRV is on and I do not have the headlights switched on, the CRV automatically toggles the Daytime Running Lights. I suspect that the voltage for the daytime running lights is far too low to power the LED headlights (which has a resistor connected to it) therefore the LED lights flicker. I was wondering if I would be able to pull the fuse (#37 in the fuse box supposedly) and I was wondering if that would simply stop the daytime running lights from activating in the first place. Supposedly there is no other way to prevent the daytime running lights from coming on. I was also wondering if doing this would mess with any of the car's other electronic systems.
1 Answer
LED's don't flicker when the voltage gets too low, they just simply won't light up at a certain threshold. There's relatively little difference percievable with voltage change. The reason you see it flickering, may very likely because your beloved CRV uses PWM to dim the lightbulbs it expects to be powering.
PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) means that it simply rapidly switches the lights on and off, so you'll percieve it as if your lamps are dimmed. Just like a movie is a bunch of pictures played so fast, that you percieve it as fluent.
With lightbulbs the frequency at which it switches the lamps can be very low without you noticing the switching, because bulbs keep glowing for a short time after being switched off.
LED's immediately stop emitting light when the power is cut. So for you to percieve the LED's as dimmed without seeing them flickering, the frequency at which they are switched, just has to be way higher than for lightbulbs.
Aftermarket LED lights you can buy usualy include a driver for the LED's. (small box inline with the wires) That driver will react unpredictably when its powered by the PWM signal from your CRV. It expects a stable 12V input. So you'll either have to provide it with a stable 12V by an axilliary switch, or make a signal conditioner for your LED's. But the latter will be too hard without advanced knowledge of electronics.
Pulling fuses may trigger errors as you already mentioned. I'd try to build an auxiliary switch for the LED's.
