Fitting rear courtesy lights........

[Steevie Wonder]

Having nearly completed this myself I thought I'd put a bit of info up about it!

Having ordered the lights over 4 years ago I thought it time I actually fitted them!

Part no: 1H0 947 291

You have to state what colour you want, the options are: Pearl Gray, Black or Beige.

First thing to do is release the front interior light by taking off the light cover and undoing the two phillips screws securing it in place.

With the help of Rob Clubley's fantastic 'Pimp my Skoda' site:thumbup: I found out where I needed to solder the live and earth wires to - see picture. Take note which is LIVE (brown) and EARTH (blue)

Next thing to do is cut a small section of the roof lining out (will get pics for this!) in between the grab handle.

I took off the multi-plug connector exposing the live/earth terminals. I used araldite to secure the terminals to the plastic body of the light so they wouldn't move and touch.

Using 2 core cable I then connected the wire to the terminals - take note as to which is LIVE and EARTH! See pic!

Feed the wire across the roof lining, I used a piece of flexible braising wire then connect both lives and earths up from the two new lights then connect them to the short feed soldered on the front interior light.

This will now give you two rear lights that are activated when you open the doors or turn on the front interior light, unfortunately they don’t work independently like the front map reading lights.....

Hope this is of help to someone! More pics to follow!

Steve

[Bowders1]

Great mod that, one of the first things I did to mine.

[countryboyhaha]

Great write up. Can this be made a stick in the tech guides area? When u go in there most of the stick guides are for the furby, Octo owners do guides but need more stickys

[Steevie Wonder]

A few pics to show the finished product.

Steve:)

[andyrew]

are the lights switchable at the light unit itself?

if so are they always "on" so that the "door open" then sends the power to illuminate the bulbs?

[bajanpete]

is there a way to run it such that it operates like a bora?

[Steevie Wonder]

are the lights switchable at the light unit itself?

if so are they always "on" so that the "door open" then sends the power to illuminate the bulbs?

They operate at exactly the same time as the front courtesy light. i.e. whenever the front light is on the rears will be activated. They can be turned off completely on the light switch itself to.In simple terms they cannot be used as a stand alone light without the fronts being activated.

is there a way to run it such that it operates like a bora?

The Bora switch has 3 setting like the front courtesy light, in which case the wiring setup will be completely different.

Hope this helps!

Steve:)

[Phil-E]

And are also very easy to fit to any other car too. Including my Felly:

[Bowders1]

I believe that when fitted in standard Octy's like the Ambiente, they are actually switchable at the rear lights. i.e they can be switched on and off independantly to the curtesy light. But they do not come on with the doors open.

Most folks that have fitted them as a mod will have them coming on with the curtesy light when doors open.

One person has managed to get the lights to do both, but can't remember who that was now.

[andyrew]

i have them fitted to my elegance, but i must say iam working at getting them to be individually switched on and to come on with the doors open.

trouble is, the courtesy lights in the front are switched on by controlling the earth, while the rear courtesy lights are controlled by switching the positive. i will sort some pics out when i sort it out.

[Bowders1]

nice one keep me posted...

[Woolfy]

Great little guide:thumbup:

I didn't know they were available in black as well. I've been thinking of fitting some lights to the tailgate of my Fabia estate to shine into the boot and work as puddle lights on the ground and want something that looks OEM.

What bulbs do they take, as I think I will need 42mm 10w festoons to shine that far down?

[andyrew]

Great little guide:thumbup:

I didn't know they were available in black as well. I've been thinking of fitting some lights to the tailgate of my Fabia estate to shine into the boot and work as puddle lights on the ground and want something that looks OEM.

What bulbs do they take, as I think I will need 42mm 10w festoons to shine that far down?

the rear courtesy lights are the 501 type and not the festoon.

[andyrew]

nice one keep me posted...

right, ive sorted it. took the photos as i went a long. it was pretty easy actually.

you actually need 3 wires to run to the rear courtesy lights. one will be a permenant live, one is a permenant earth and the other is a switched running from the front interior lights.

in my elegance the permenant live and permenant earth were all ready there so all i had to do was run the switched earth from the front light to both rear lights.

the front interior light is negatively switched on where as the rear lights were positively switched. i.e the switch to turn them on is on the posititve feed. i started off by cutting the directional tabs off of the plug that went into the rear light so that it could be turned over so that the rear lights were then negatively switched.

then i needed to attach the wire that runs from the front lights to the rear light fitting switch side of the bulb but before the switch it self. there for when the wire went to ground the light would come on. and then the local switch will still work as it has not been touched.

i then needed to attach the wire to the front light and with help of the picture further up this post, it was just as easy. when i tested them it worked a treat but i then found that when you switched the rear lights on, it would then illuminate the front lights at the same time, so i fitted a diode in its path to prevent this. job done. when the front lights are on the rears come on but when you switch the rears on, just the rears come on.

hope that helps some of you out.

the finished job.

Edited 23 October, 2009 by andyrew

[Osku_P]

right, ive sorted it. took the photos as i went a long. it was pretty easy actually.

you actually need 3 wires to run to the rear courtesy lights. one will be a permenant live, one is a permenant earth and the other is a switched running from the front interior lights.

in my elegance the permenant live and permenant earth were all ready there so all i had to do was run the switched earth from the front light to both rear lights.

the front interior light is negatively switched on where as the rear lights were positively switched. i.e the switch to turn them on is on the posititve feed. i started off by cutting the directional tabs off of the plug that went into the rear light so that it could be turned over so that the rear lights were then negatively switched.

then i needed to attach the wire that runs from the front lights to the rear light fitting switch side of the bulb but before the switch it self. there for when the wire went to ground the light would come on. and then the local switch will still work as it has not been touched.

i then needed to attach the wire to the front light and with help of the picture further up this post, it was just as easy. when i tested them it worked a treat but i then found that when you switched the rear lights on, it would then illuminate the front lights at the same time, so i fitted a diode in its path to prevent this. job done. when the front lights are on the rears come on but when you switch the rears on, just the rears come on.

hope that helps some of you out.

the finished job.

Did you use 1H0 947 291 lights or something else with on/off switch ?Really great Guide

[sdenny]

so i fitted a diode in its path to prevent this. job done

Are you sure you couldn't find a bigger diode?

I've never seen a diode that thick - i just looked up the specs of that - 600v

:eek:

[pikpilot]

Great job. I was going to use a FET to do the positive/negative changeover in mine but changing the polarising on the plug is better. [i will paint the ends that have to match together].

I only see one diode so do both rear courtesy lights come on if you switch on just one of them?

On the question of diode size, I would use at least a 2A diode for a 6W ( 0.5A load) and voltage rating is immaterial as general purpose low voltage diode often have 400+ voltage rated diode chips in them anyway as they are cheaper to make that way.

Only thing left to do now is to feed the wires through the roof. How did you do that?

[NinjaVRS]

steevie what colour matches the octavia vrs ones is it the pearl grey or black just so i no what the right ones are

[sdenny]

Only thing left to do now is to feed the wires through the roof. How did you do that?

The easy way is to just go along the sides of the car and push up the side of the headlining, but you can go the direct route if you like fishing!!

[sdenny]

steevie what colour matches the octavia vrs ones is it the pearl grey or black just so i no what the right ones are

Pearl grey is quite a light colour, so you're probably better with black, but I think the front vrs light is described as onyx.

However, I put a pair of beige lights in mine last year, with the intention of painting if they offended me.

Needless to say, they haven't......

[sdenny]

Great job. I was going to use a FET to do the positive/negative changeover in mine but changing the polarising on the plug is better. [i will paint the ends that have to match together].

I've had some success using a paper clip to release the pins from the plugs - you may be able to swap the wires over that way.

[andyrew]

Did you use 1H0 947 291 lights or something else with on/off switch ?Really great Guide

yes that is the part number for the rear lights that came as standard in the elegance. thats what i used.

[andyrew]

Are you sure you couldn't find a bigger diode?

I've never seen a diode that thick - i just looked up the specs of that - 600v

:eek:

lol. i didnt know what to go for so i just picked one out of the box. it is a tad big i guess but does the job so who cares!!!

[andyrew]

Great job. I was going to use a FET to do the positive/negative changeover in mine but changing the polarising on the plug is better. [i will paint the ends that have to match together].

I only see one diode so do both rear courtesy lights come on if you switch on just one of them?

On the question of diode size, I would use at least a 2A diode for a 6W ( 0.5A load) and voltage rating is immaterial as general purpose low voltage diode often have 400+ voltage rated diode chips in them anyway as they are cheaper to make that way.

Only thing left to do now is to feed the wires through the roof. How did you do that?

yes both rear lights come on at the same time, which i have found really usefull as when you lean in your head blocks the light from the one you have just turned on.

i used a straightened wire hanger to feed the wire through the roof linning. i ended up pulling the rubber door seal down and pulling the roof linning down a bit to see where the hanger was going. wasn't do diffcult at all!

[Bowders1]

yes both rear lights come on at the same time, which i have found really usefull as when you lean in your head blocks the light from the one you have just turned on.

i used a straightened wire hanger to feed the wire through the roof linning. i ended up pulling the rubber door seal down and pulling the roof linning down a bit to see where the hanger was going. wasn't do diffcult at all!

Hi Mate, So to be clear:

When you open the rear doors or any door your rear lights come on with the front light.

You can independantly switch the rear lights on from the front (but both rear lights come on)

if so great as currently mine only come on with the doors open, so will try your mod.

Edited 16 November, 2009 by Bowders1