Just done a google for led bulbs canbus festoon but I have tried so called canbus friendly LEDs for the number plate and they triggered the bulb warning. Are those listed gonna work? Anyone already got some that work ok??

they do them on ebay

try autoleds as well

autoleds dont seem to sell LEDs.... :(

Send car67 a message on here. I know he's just put some canbus friendly side light led's in his car. not sure what make but no faults came up.

I just put ordinary SMD LED ones in and they work fine

No error warnings

Ultraleds.

Sorry

PIAA do can-bus friendly LED's but at a cost! :( I had them in the corona rings on my 5 series and they were £40 a pair! for 501's that is anyway, not sure about festoons

The alternative is to just leave the standard bulbs in? Yeah LED's >can< look nice but they consume the same amount of power and I've never in 26 years of driving and god knows how many cars EVER had a numberplate bulb fail!!!

The problem with CANBUS is that you have to use led packages with loading resistors to avoid triggering the bulb out warning. The resistor(s) get hot because they are dissipating the power and unless you have multi-element SMD leds, the field of light can be inferior to a standard incandescent bulb. Also the build quality of many of these untis leaves a lot to be desired and reliability is questionable; I tried two different types of W5 led packages when I fitted HIDS and had one supposed "canbus error free" pair strobe and the other pair I had both fail within 2 months so I just gave up.

Seriously guys its a fad and one that can be a right PITA at that!

Oh and as you've found out, it can also be bloody expensive!

Edited 28 May, 201016 yr by wardth

I have tried the LED side light ones but they dont last, they ones I have just removed lasted 1 month and where burnt, so have gone back to normal bulbs

Tried so called CAN friendly LEDs from Ultraled and they pop up the warning straight away so there going back!

did you try them both ways round? as they have a positive and a negative.

did you try them both ways round? as they have a positive and a negative.

They lit up fine but the bulb warning came on even though the lights remained on, the LEDs looked good with a large heat sink on the back.

that's a bit rubbish then. You gonna try others?

Tried so many now, even resistors and the lights switch off with those so gonna have to leave it. :(