This is a fix if you have Eagle Eye LED tail lights.
I'm not sure if this fix would work for everyone since these lights are chinese made so there can be multiple points of failure.
Also, you can't get the resistors or voltage regulator separately from the vendors.
The part below is what we fixed. We noticed when we applied pressure to certain point on the box, the lights would come on. You have to pry the box open to get to the circuit board.
On the circuit board, we bridged 2 of the soldering points with graphite/pencil (if you've modded a Wii you'd know what I'm talking about).
Unfortunately, I don't have a pic of the circuit board. If anyone has spares or the same issue - Can you take a pic of the circuit board? I can detail what we bridged.
Not sure what happened but it worked. Maybe someone could chime in.
Alright, finally found the fix(at least for mine). Mine are eagle eye tails.
Looks like the solders start to crack(stress cracks may be) and the connections get very fragile.
I had to play around with it a couple of times but finally found the pin that was to be re-soldered.
If anyone has this flickering issue, dim blinkers or blinkers working sometimes only, try this before replacing the little resistor box.
Resistor boxes can be ordered via Bryan@jlevi, so if it doesn't work don't hesitate to order from him. Great guy.
Ok, DIY:
pry open the little black box stated in the above posts.
press(hold) both sides of the board at various places while the blinkers are ON.
If you find a spot where you hold and the lights work properly, note(mark) that spot. That is the area you should be concentrating on.
Check the solder joints on each pin in that area. If you see any cracks or notice anything not touching, remove the old solder(use de-soldering braid) or just solder on the joints again.
I had to solder 3 points to find the one that was the culprit, so don't hesitate to try.
My lights are working perfectly fine, it has almost a month I did this repair and the lights have held up.
I just repaired mine with the help of this thread, it was pretty simple. My left brake light wasn't working (but only when my headlights or parking lights were off) and both left and right blinkers weren't working. I've got everything working now, and took me about an hour. Here's a simple DIY:
1. Remove the black box from your tail lights. It's connected by two connectors; one to the tail lights and one to the resistor.
2. Get the circuit board out of the black box. It is basically a container that they set the circuit board into and then fill up with epoxy, so it isn't easily removable. I had to use a hammer and wood chisel to basically destroy mine to get inside. It may not look like it, but I tried to do as little damage as possible so that I could maybe tape the box back together when I was done.
3. Take a soldering iron and heat up and re-solder the pins. I re-soldered any that didn't look perfect; there were a couple that had a dark ring around the connection. I did NOT solder any together, I just fixed the connections that were already there. I think I re-soldered about three connections on each tail light. The small pins looked fine, I just focused on the large solder joints. I didn't use any new solder, and I didn't suck any old stuff up with de-soldering braid. I just heated and re-melted what was there already.
4. Plug the circuit board back in and test everything. Once you get it all working, wrap up the board in electrical tape. I put some of the remains of the black plastic box back on for protection, and then taped it all up. Who knows how long this fix will last, but it's working perfectly right now. Fortunately it will be easy to re-solder if I have to do it again.
Good work.
I don't think its the components that are substandard, its the solder joints that come undone.
As long as you keep those joints refreshed, you should be fine.
Mine is still working after this fix, almost after 5-6 months I guess.
hey just another confirmation as "mekaneck" did above :woot: ... i re-soldered all the soldered points and now it works like brand new! No more getting pulled over for me! Just go to radioshack if you don't have an soldering iron they are $9.00 get the 15amp one so you don't cook the board... i also beefed up the soldering points a little with radioshack's 62/36/3 .022" diameter solder for added security; it seems as though the little Asian kid in China didn't use enough solder the first time :tsk: thanks guys for all your help on here! :thumbsup: i spent a few hours yesterday trying to get a hold of someone to buy a new resistor/cap box... no need now
excellent that you guys figured out a possible solution, I've followed the DIY and simply heated up the larger solder points, some of them looked like they had black hairline fracture lines in them. Havent had a chance to put it back in yet but will report back on whether successful or not.
The trickiest part is prying open the box. I used soldering pen with a knife attachment, a screw driver and a pick tool. Also dont bother trying to cut into the epoxy resin with the solder, its rock solid.
I thought i would take some more pics for ppl thinking of attempting this, to make it clearer how to open the box. Hope this also helps:
So happy I found this thread, my passenger side blinker is on the fritz. I'm going to take apart that box, and check out and re-solder anything that looks bad. Subscribed.
I just used this thread to fix my passenger tail that would work here and there. So the culprit was the stupid little black box as usual. A few tips that I would like to share.
-You dont need to completely ruin the box when trying to open it. I just took a utility knife and cut down one corner of it, then stretched it open and pulled out the board. It even snapped back into place when i was done and there was no need for tape. I put it on anyway though LOL.
-have it plugged in while the box is open and touch around until your tail lamp turns on. easiest way to diagnose
-My area that needed re soldering was those two pins that the guy earlier in the thread soldered together. I didnt solder them together just because that doesn't make sense to me. I just blobbed a bit of solder on each to secure the connection, making sure that they dont touch each other.
VIOLA! My tail lights are perfect again! Thank you fanatics, you just saved me $200. This site has been SOOOO good to me over the years of owning this car.
I found out my taillight was acting up and it's a good thing I searched! Picked up a soldering iron, checked for the faulty points on the board and soldered it.
Lets see how far this takes me but for now, thanks for this thread.:hi:
I just had to fix my lights again, my original fix didn't last even 6 months. This time instead of using a soldering iron to heat up the solder joints, I just used a heat gun aimed at the board, and "refreshed" all the solder connections at once. This was way faster (took about a minute) and has fixed everything that was not working. I'll see how long the fix lasts this time, but so far I think this is a much better method than reheating with a soldering iron.
I finally got around to trying this, I just wanted to say again how happy I am I found this thread, it worked, at least so far! I had an intermittent ride side blinker, and I found that the solder joints in the top right, there's three in a row, seem to control the blinker. While I had the blinker going and it wasn't working well, I was able to touch it with the metal part of my key and it would start working, then stop when I came off it. I re-soldered them, and added just a tinyyyyy little bit to them and wa la!
Top three in red in this pic (i borrowed another pic in this thread to highlight the spots I'm talking about)
My LED rear blinker failed (after 6 or 7 years of no problems) and I traced the problem to this box, then found this thread after some searching. I carefully hack-sawed the back off the box and soldered two of the those three joints together and it worked again. Sawing - don't saw all the way through the plastic, just most of the way through, along the edges like the burning pic above. Takes a couple of minutes and is cleaner than burning or chipping as seen in some of the posts above. Then you can pop the last little bit by prying with a screwdriver.
I think my LEDs are DEPOs but the black box is the same.
Sorry, had to bring this thread back from the dead.
I tried the solder method and it works fine for about a day or 2 and then quickly dies out after again.
I spoke with a rep at Khoatly in June and they said they will produce a revised resistor and should be released in Mid/Late June . I've followed up with them, and they never gotten back to me.
Are there any other sponsors that is selling the resistors / capacitor boxes?
I'm tired of having my taillight go out and everyone honking at me to let me know it's out...
^
Remove the old solder with de-soldering braid and apply fresh solder.
If you want a new box, send a PM to bryan@jleviSW. He can hook you up with a new box. I almost ordered the resistor box from him, but my fix is still working, its been more than a year and no problems.
Just gave them a call. Unfortunately they no longer carry them since the vendor doesn't produce them anymore. I'll try the resoldering method one more time.
Sorry to ressurection the post but i have nearly same problem too. i have 2001 e46 coupe. i am little new that bmw and forums so be nice
My turn signals not working sometimes(?), i always testing before drive but first my signals ok, when i try to stop buy something from store or etc, i turn the four-way flashers, my right signal is not working, not always but this is really annoying problem. i have also problem that is my left signal little less brighter that right one.
i have discovered that black box (srry i dont know whats that "attachment") that inside LED tail lights , when i randomly touch my metal key problem solved sometimes. So i need that black box's circuit so i can make my own. Could you post here, componnents and circuit boards?
i am gonna try to re-solder the pins this weekend, i will let you know the result.
If the soldering doesn't work, mine did for a few months and then quit, Khoalty has a replacement resistor pack that is plug and play for Eagle Eyes and works flawlessly.
I troubleshot a brake light that was out and found it to be this little black box. I was able to pry the board out of the black box. I resoldered almost all of the joints and it started working. I was able to slide the board right back into the black box. Thank everyone for their posts.
Just registered to tell you thanks! You guys make my day! :thumbup:
It all started when I bought my E46, with these f***ing chinese eagle eyes. I have humbled the fact that its are constantly flickering, but its began to fail. All as you write here.
I opened black box, soldered contacts, but it did not really help, and then I cut these thick wires and soldered it on top of the contacts on the board. Now it works.
My problem starting again, resoldering fix only for few months.
Does anyone knows this part's circuit device and components? i can make my own easliy. (i know they sell 40$ but they dont ship internationally or extra 80$ fee )
FIXED!!! Thank you! Yesterday, I only reinforced the solder joints but it didn't work. I was ready to buy a replacement but decided to give this fix another try. I figured there's nothing to lose since I was ready to trash it anyway. This time, I removed the old solder from the large terminals, applied fresh solder, and then reinforced the smaller joints. I also used a box cutter knife to cut between the joints to make sure that they're not shorting. Voila... IT WORKED! Gotta love this community.
Dnt mean to revive this but my parking lights will not stay on... These lights are brand new. Could it be the resistors? I dnt wanna hack into a new resistor box and then cant send it back. And this is for both side. Im not sure if khoaltys resistors would fix my issue. Everything else works. Brakes and turn signals. But the parking lights wont turn/stay on.
My eagle eyes just failed after 3-4 years, the black box, so I heated it up from the bottom with a heat gun without breaking the case, and did this for only a minute with a hot heat gun about 2 inches away from the bottom, and it fixed the leds, they work now, but these would work sometimes and sometimes not, so might not be a perfect fix. Will see.
The solder joints won't be fixed by just doing that.
Either desolder and reapply solder or
Reheat the existing solder.
I prefer the first and to use new solder. It's held up since I created this thread for the most part.
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