LED Bulb Upgrades for Superb II

[wawilkinson]

I own a Skoda Superb II Elegance 1.8 TSI MY 2012 with Bo-Xenon Headlights. The DRL's are Type: 1156 with BA15S Holders. I have successfully replaced the stock halogen bulbs with the below LED Bulbs, without triggering the Can Bus error warning. The bulbs are super-bright and they look great on the car. I purchased them from e-bay and you can cut-paste the below phrase in to e-bay to search for them.

CREE Q5 382 1156 BA15S LED REVERSE BULB 9.5W 450 LUMENS BRIGHTEST AVAILABLE

Happy Motoring....

Do you have an update to whether these LED DRLs are still running strong and worth the investment?

[Mark S Morley]

Do you have an update to whether these LED DRLs are still running strong and worth the investment?

Still working fine here...

m.

[wawilkinson]

Sold, I'm going to order me a set now...

[wawilkinson]

Fitted these yesterday and really impressed with the quality and performance so far!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330833286044?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I do have some pics, but as they were taken at night with a camera phone, they're not the best...

I'll try and take some other decent pics but I think the colour of the light almost matches perfectly with the Xenon headlights.

[ksr]

Fitted these yesterday and really impressed with the quality and performance so far!

Bulb failure warning? Did you wire in resistors?

[DCC]

Reference my posts above #3, #31, #49

Been using the Cree LEDs noted in post #49 for about two months now, about 2000 miles, with no problems.

As said, they are very similar in light output to the Alltronix ones, but are more compact in shape.

No additional load resistors added for either types.

Ebay Item 160971442944

2x382,1156,BA15S 20W CREE LED BULB WHITE BRAKING/REVERSE LIGHT CANBUS FREE ERROR

[spencem]

Fitted these yesterday and really impressed with the quality and performance so far!

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1497.l2649

I've just looked at that and the seller's compatibility checker says they will not fit the Superb 2????

[JakeBlade]

I've just ordered some MTEC xenon "super white" bulbs to replace the fog and the DRLs to get a better colour match for the factory xenons. Sorry for posting a about filament bulbs in a thread about LEDs...

Colour temp is a claimed 4,350k - so about the same as Osram's Nightbreakers.

Will let you know how I get on when I install them.

[wawilkinson]

I've just looked at that and the seller's compatibility checker says they will not fit the Superb 2????

They were a straight swap for me, no errors and working perfectly!

[ksr]

They were a straight swap for me, no errors and working perfectly!

It's the newer vehicles (MY 11,12) that are less tolerant, as far as I know.

[Coops]

I've just ordered some MTEC xenon "super white" bulbs to replace the fog and the DRLs to get a better colour match for the factory xenons. Sorry for posting a about filament bulbs in a thread about LEDs...

Colour temp is a claimed 4,350k - so about the same as Osram's Nightbreakers.

Will let you know how I get on when I install them.

Be careful with the MTEC bulbs - there are reports about them getting very hot and melting the bulb holders. There are a couple of members on here who have sufferred with this.

[Gizmo]

^^^ from my personal experience of them they also emit a crap light as well.

If you really want some Mtec DRL bulbs mine are never likely to be used.

[wawilkinson]

It's the newer vehicles (MY 11,12) that are less tolerant, as far as I know.

Could be...mine is a (July) 2010 and working fine...

[wawilkinson]

My original pics;

Left (NS) = Original

Right (OS) = LED

Both = LED

[JakeBlade]

^^^ from my personal experience of them they also emit a crap light as well.

Unfortunately I read this, only after I ordered them.

Be careful with the MTEC bulbs - there are reports about them getting very hot and melting the bulb holders. There are a couple of members on here who have sufferred with this.

Cheers. I'm only replacing the fogs and DRLs on mine, which are still rated at 35W and 20W respectively on the bulbs. But I am replacing SWMBO's H7 dipped lights with them too. Those are rated 55W.

Silly question, but isn't the worst case the normal 35W dim bulbs where most of the watts consumed by the bulb would be turned into heat? So as long as these MTEC 35W bulbs produce "more" light than the standard ones then they must (by the laws of physics) be producing less heat?

Is the melting issue because people have fitted 100W by mistake, rather than 55W?

Edited 19 February, 2013 by JakeBlade

[JakeBlade]

Well the MTECs have gone in the fogs and DRLs.

First impressions are that they are certainly a much much whiter light than the factory bulbs. But they really don't appear any brighter than the factory bulbs, despite the fog bulbs being 35w and claiming they have the same light output as a 65w bulb.

Haven't driven with them yet, and bearing in mind the change was for aesthetics I will see how I get on over the next week or so.

[splinter]

For DRL try superskoda part number S2-B150L 39.99euro

I have fitted them to 2012 Superb Estate L&k and they are very bright white light

You will have to reverse the wires to the bulb holders but they come with simple instructions.

I think they look the Mutts!!!

[sony]

Be careful when buying LED DRLs for the Superb, see my post #3 on this thread.

Points to remember ...

The 1156 bulb holder in my MY12 is centre pin negative (Maybe all Superb IIs are like this). Most polarity sensitive 1156 LED packages are centre pin positive.

Look out for non polarity sensitive LEDs.

The Wattage of many DRL LED offers are greatly inflated. For example the alltronix ones claim to be 9.5W but are only 4.8W.

Another one on Ebay, which looks like a nice package claims to be 20W but is only 3.8W !... search Ebay for...

1156 High Power Cree Q5 20W

It may also be centre pin positive.

This supplier is quoting 20W which is the maximum rating of 4 x 5W leds... but in this small package they cannot be run at their maximum rating because of the heat generated.

Also look out for LED DRLs which use a constant current source as an internal driver.

This protects the LED system from self destruct caused by thermal run away.

you can pin out the 2 wires on the DRL connector and swop it around if there's polarity issue.

[Coops]

After running LEDs in my DRLs for about 10 months, I started having problems at the beginning of the week. I've been using ones from car-mod-shop together with OBC resistor fix leads from HIDSDIRECT - these have been working fine and had no real problems.

On Monday morning, I got a bulb warning for the front left DRL, upon inspection the bulb housing was all rusted inside.

As the OBC fix leads already had brand new bulb housings attached to them, I disconnected all the DRLs and housings and ran without for a few days. In the meantime, I ordered some CREE Q5 bulbs from Alltronix. Fitted them last night and to my suprise, no bulb errors. Was all geared up for totally rebuilding the OBC fix leads as in the past my car has not accepted LEDs at all.

They are much better than my previous LEDs, much brighter and whiter. I'd noticed last weekend (in a shop window reflection) that my old ones had gone very blue and they looked totally wrong. Much improved and much better now.

[ksr]

I ordered some CREE Q5 bulbs from Alltronix. Fitted them last night and to my suprise, no bulb errors. Was all geared up for totally rebuilding the OBC fix leads as in the past my car has not accepted LEDs at all.

Hi Coops

Can I ask you to clarify three things please?

1. Are you still using the resistors?

2. The Cree Q5 from Alltronix - is it the 5w or 9w?

3. What Model Year is your Superb?

Thanks

KSR

[Coops]

Hi Coops

Can I ask you to clarify three things please?

1. Are you still using the resistors?

2. The Cree Q5 from Alltronix - is it the 5w or 9w?

3. What Model Year is your Superb?

Thanks

KSR

I spoke too soon, ksr

Bulb errors when I just popped out at lunch - nothing last night nor this morning. Looks like I'll have to fit the resistors back in.

In answer to your questions - (1) I wasn't, (2) 9.5w and (3) MY11 on 61 plate

[ksr]

Thanks for getting back so quickly Coops - If this was eBay, I'd give you 5 star feedback for comms!

The whole bulb failure thing is a real 'hit or miss' affair. Would love bright, white DRLs. but don't want to get involved in all the hassle of fitting resistors, etc.

[dstev2000]

My SuperSkoda LED lamps are still going strong after several months. All I had to do was reverse the polarity onto the DRL fitting and that was it, no bulb warning and no silly resistors to faff about with.

They are a bit pricey IMO but they look good and (touch wood) have been reliable thus far.

[Coops]

Thanks for getting back so quickly Coops - If this was eBay, I'd give you 5 star feedback for comms!

The whole bulb failure thing is a real 'hit or miss' affair. Would love bright, white DRLs. but don't want to get involved in all the hassle of fitting resistors, etc.

No problem, it is very hit and miss. The OBC resistor kits are very easy to fit IMO, and I may well look at this over the weekend.

My SuperSkoda LED lamps are still going strong after several months. All I had to do was reverse the polarity onto the DRL fitting and that was it, no bulb warning and no silly resistors to faff about with.

They are a bit pricey IMO but they look good and (touch wood) have been reliable thus far.

Be interested to understand the process for reversing the polarity as the fitting onto the DRL bulb housing is a moulded plug which can only be fitted one way, so I suspect you had to physically remove the conncetors and switch round that way? Just out of interest more than anything.

[dstev2000]

The LEDs only work a certain way round. I had to physically cut and swap the two wires over (heatshrink is your friend).

I would suspect they cocked the original design up and didn't take proper note of whether the center cap was positive or ground and vice versa.

When I originally fitted them they didn't work, I pre ordered them and they didn't come with any instructions about reversing the wires.