I just bought a 2020 R/T and while going through getting it in tip top shape I came across some of the map lights not working. What a surprise I got when I saw that there were not bulbs in there to easily replace. I know there are threads about soldering new LEDs on the board but Many of those are several years old and I am wondering if there has been any advancement in someone making an easy replacement... plus I'm not the greatest at soldering something that small. These vehicles have been out a while... has anyone found a place that just sells replacements that can just be spliced in? I have one of the two in the middle row not working and both of the map lights in the 3rd row out. Both center dome lights come on so I'm getting power. Any suggestions other than soldering?

Also...what are the chances that 3 of the LEDs burned out? I checked and I am getting power at the connector on the round circuit boards so that would most likely point to them burning out. LEDs should last longer than 2 years right?

 

leds have somewhere around a 10k hour lifespan so unless the previous owner left them on 24/7 they should definitely NOT be burned out.

however, the xformers/step down units have a shorter lifepspan (even being solid state) and if you have power at the light puck then the bulb is burned out.

unfortunately i do not know where to get replacements. dealer would probably want to sell the entire module to you.

 

It seems pretty unlikely that all those LEDs would be burned out this quickly. When you checked for power were you measuring both the positive and negative at the connector, or did you have the ground probe of your meter connected to a known ground? What voltage were you measuring? Do you have a test light that you can try to make sure you are getting enough current to the LEDs?

Did you remove the boards to see if there are several surface mount LEDs or if it is a single LED puck? Based on the vias through the boards and the lens, I'm inclined to suspect they use a single LED on a heat sink, and the vias are to further distribute the heat to the copper clad on the back of the board. A single puck may not be all that difficult to replace as long as you get the polarity correct.

-Rod

 

Power was weird at the white connector on the back. But with the way the lights come on and fade I wasn't sure if I should have consistent and specific voltage. I measured at the connector (arrows in picture show where I put the leads of the meter) and I used the negative of the connector, not a ground somewhere else on the vehicle. There is a single LED on the other side of the board. Looks like there are 6 solder points on it (3 on each side) so I didn't really know which to use to check power. I admit I get the concept of lights and power but have not had to do anything with LEDs and connections. I wish there was a way to cut the leads and wire in a 168 socket in it's place...but no idea how that would work.

 

The LEDs likely use Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) for the dimming feature, but may receive the full 12V peak voltage. It will depend on if the LED has a built in current limiting resistor or uses multiple LED elements in series. The 6 solder terminals are likely just parallel points, 3 for power and 3 for ground. You could check for continuity with your multimeter. You could also check for continuity between the connector on the back side and the terminals of the LED. If you can get a photo of the other side of the board we may be able to help you track down a replacement, or at least help you identify a way to test the LED.

If you are able to confirm continuity to the LED puck, then it would suggest that they are 12V LED pucks, and you should be able to apply power directly to the puck to determine if it's actually bad or if the issue is somewhere else.

I should add that one of the overhead LED courtesy lights on my 2014 Ram flickers at times. It seems like an element or two is only making intermittent connection, but it hasn't bothered me enough yet to drop the overhead console and explore. Besides, it works more often than not so my luck is I wouldn't be able to duplicate it on my work bench anyway. If it fails completely then I'll pull the console and see what I can learn.

-Rod

 

So I did some more testing and found that I have 11.? - 12.? volts at the connector. I also tested the other side of the board and have the same at the LED contacts. During my process of fooling around with it, one of the LEDs suddenly lit up. It seems that if I press down hard enough on the LED itself against the circuit board it lights up. The other one also does the same thing. So I am guessing that the LED is just not getting a good contact on the circuit board. I also put some wires against the contacts and tried lighting up an incandescent 168 bulb (did not light up) and a LED 168 bulb (it DID light up). So now I can either try my hand at soldering a new LED on the circuit board OR cutting the wires and splicing in a 194/168 socket and putting in a regular bulb type LED.

 

Since those LED lights appear to have focused lenses, soldering in an 168 or 194 style bulb will probably yield a very strange light pattern. Since applying pressure seems to get the bulbs to light up temporarily you might first try reflowing the solder joints for the LEDs as well as the wire connectors. There's a good chance lead-free solder was used which will require a bit more heat than usual to get it to flow.

I do recall replacing a couple of LEDs on the overhead lights for my 2011 Durango several years ago, but I don't recall which LEDs I had to replace. I do remember buying a pack of 50 replacement LEDs since it was not easy to find a drop-in replacement. Once I did I ordered plenty since they were inexpensive and I wasn't sure if I'd destroy any trying to swap them out. So if if comes down to needing new LEDs, I may have the correct form factor and color temperature for what you need. I'm not sure if they changed the LED or not.

-Rod