No light on A/C button when it's pressed!

[jjr.95]

A friend of mine has had this exact issue for months now and hasn’t been able to figure out a fix. He’s avoiding the dealership diagnostic fee because his AC still works but I’m going to send him this forum link. I love how helpful everyone is in Bimmerpost! You guys are the best!👍🏼

[musa]

Originally Posted by Cbozz

Send your ac panel to me! Easy fix! I just did mine. My AC panel decided to mess up as well and my AC recirculating button went dead....
I ended up fixing it and swapping for a red LED instead of green one and I have to say I really like the red better! I was contemplating a blue one- that would probably look good too! here is how it went!

Wow, amazing Looks like very delicate soldering.

[S65B40YYC]

Originally Posted by MPizza

My A/C button light just stopped working too! And we aren't the only ones to have this issue:

https://f15.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1374664

It seems odd to me that this is the only light failing on the panel? Or are other people having trouble with other LEDs too?

My driver's heated seat light is intermittently not working. Crap to hear need a entire panel to rectify this.

[Cbozz]

Originally Posted by S65B40YYC

My driver's heated seat light is intermittently not working. Crap to hear need a entire panel to rectify this.

you don't-- you need a few dollars to get it fixed! read a few posts before this one!

[S65B40YYC]

I see that, thanks jumped the gun and replied before reading all posts, my bad!

[musa]

Originally Posted by Cbozz

https://lighthouseleds.com/plcc-4-12...RoCC_4QAvD_BwE

LEDs have great reviews but to be honest the swap is really easy so if it fails I will swap it out again. I'm not too worried about it. It was $5 and 20min of my time....

They don't seem to have green color LEDs. What color did you install?

[Cbozz]

Originally Posted by musa

They don't seem to have green color LEDs. What color did you install?

When I was shopping they had it but I decided to get a red one. I like it. Looks oem red. Posted pic earlier in this thread..

[musa]

Originally Posted by Cbozz

When I was shopping they had it but I decided to get a red one. I like it. Looks oem red. Posted pic earlier in this thread..

Oh, just found them in Amazon, the same vendor has a store there.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=PLCC-4+SM...ref=nb_sb_noss

[EuroCarFan]

I just ordered a pack of 5 green LEDs and will send them with my panel to Chris once I get them from Amazon. If anyone needs their LED fixed, you're welcome to use one of my LEDs that I'm sending to Chris.

[musa]

I decided to do-it-myself. Lots of how-to videos in youtube for SMD LED (Surface-Mount Device Light-Emitting Diodes) install. I like this one, making sure to get the polarity right and test before buttoning up. Use leaded soldering wire and the temperature should be somewhere around 560 Fahrenheit - too hot and you risk melting the LED itself. Can test the correct temp when removing the burned out LED:

[musa]

Polarity - The notch is positive and the rest are negative. If in doubt, with your Multimeter in Diode Mode, place the RED and Black probes on opposite leads of the LED. If it doesn't light, then switch the leads. When it lights, wherever the RED lead is your ANODE (+) and the BLACK lead would be your Cathode(-).

[musa]

A/C control panel removal.

[Cbozz]

Originally Posted by musa

Polarity - The notch is positive and the rest are negative. If in doubt, with your Multimeter in Diode Mode, place the RED and Black probes on opposite leads of the LED. If it doesn't light, then switch the leads. When it lights, wherever the RED lead is your ANODE (+) and the BLACK lead would be your Cathode(-).

It’s easy to spot how to set those up, they all have the notch so you just have to make sure to line up the new one in the same manner… look at my pictures for reference you can clearly see the notches

[musa]

It turns out my case was a loose solder joint. The LED looked ok including the solder joints and I was curious why it wasn't working (testing using multimeter in diode test mode). I pressed the solder joints, heated them up and applied a little more solder. The LED started working.

[cqhall]

This thread is of particular interest to me. I just got my X5M a couple of months ago and there are several LEDs out on my panel: 2 on each of the heated seat buttons, both "Auto" buttons, and something else that I'm not remembering right now. Also, the right turn signal indicator doesn't illuminate on the dashboard. I had to code it into the HUD so I could see when it's on.

What the heck is going on with LEDs in these cars?

Is it worth learning to properly solder to fix this our is it easier to go the eBay route? Were these panels used in more than the X5 and X6 (that will help with searching).

Thanks in advance!

[EuroCarFan]

You can have it fixed or you can buy my old one.

I found a panel with ceramic control knobs so I sent mine to Chris to fix the A/C LED then I'm going to post it up on eBay.

[cqhall]

Originally Posted by EuroCarFan

You can have it fixed or you can buy my old one.

I found a panel with ceramic control knobs so I sent mine to Chris to fix the A/C LED then I'm going to post it up on eBay.

If it's the one I need, I'm very interested. I'll take a pic of mine in the morning so we can compare.

This account doesn't have enough posts, so I cannot PM yet.

[musa]

I think the issue is soldering quality of these panels. LEDs should last for years upon years. I was able to resolder my A/C LED. If you have to replace an LED, make sure the new one is of the same luminosity as factory otherwise it would look odd and off when some LEDs of the same color are brighter than others. I think the ultra-bright ones in Amazon are not a good choice for our panels.

The quality of stuff nowadays is quite wanting. No wonder the USA Odysseus Moon lander 'tipped over on touchdown' - we can't repeat what we did over 50 years ago.

[cqhall]

Originally Posted by musa

I think the issue is soldering quality of these panels. LEDs should last for years upon years. I was able to resolder my A/C LED. If you have to replace an LED, make sure the new one is of the same luminosity as factory otherwise it would look odd and off when some LEDs of the same color are brighter than others. I think the ultra-bright ones in Amazon are not a good choice for our panels.

The quality of stuff nowadays is quite wanting. No wonder the USA Odysseus Moon lander 'tipped over on touchdown' - we can't repeat what we did over 50 years ago.

lol you act like everything was super high-quality in the 1960s. People have always made high quality and crap quality stuff. The crap from the 1960s never made it out of the 1960s, so it's lost to time.

[EuroCarFan]

Originally Posted by cqhall

If it's the one I need, I'm very interested. I'll take a pic of mine in the morning so we can compare.

This account doesn't have enough posts, so I cannot PM yet.

Here's a pic of my replacement panel with the ceramic controls. It's the same as my original one except this one says FM/AM while the other says BAND.

[cqhall]

Originally Posted by EuroCarFan

Here's a pic of my replacement panel with the ceramic controls. It's the same as my original one except this one says FM/AM while the other says BAND.

Mine also reads "BAND".

Here's mine. Note that the right heated seat is on but only two of the three indicators are on. Also note that it's in Auto mode but the "AUTO" lights both are not on.

I'm interested in buying yours. Can you, a long-time forum member, PM me and I reply? (I know some forums work that way) Any other way that I can contact you?

[cqhall]

EuroCarFan, I'm able to PM now. I sent you a PM.