Byte 18

[booke23]

The negative connection in the cluster is likely to be a track built in to the cluster with very little visible sign. The only possible sign you'll see is perhaps a metal ring around one of the screw holes where the head of the screw contacts when it is attached to the car.

All that extra wiring on the conventional cluster looks like it is to power all the tail lights.....I assume like the octavia it has a number of those little W5 tail lights. I imagine in the LED units these bulbs are replaced with a bank of LEDs that are mounted to one big circuit board and powered from the single tail light wire.

Although the resistor idea will certainly work to stop the bulb warnings, it doesn't seem the perfect solution. Is there any way a dealer could access byte 18 to code them for you? Weren't these LED tail lights fitted as standard to certain models of Superb? Perhaps they retrofit them from time to time.

Edited 1 September, 2013 by booke23

[adamal]

I have looked at this a little more and I now think booke is correct that the resistor needs to be wired in parallel (sorry for doubting you!!). It is clear no canbus wiring goes to the individual bulbs, so the monitoring must be done at the whole circuit level.

Please ignore my post above with all the physics and sorry for any confusion.

Mmm humble pie.

Adam

[silver1011]

Although the resistor idea will certainly work to stop the bulb warnings, it doesn't seem the perfect solution. Is there any way a dealer could access byte 18 to code them for you? Weren't these LED tail lights fitted as standard to certain models of Superb? Perhaps they retrofit them from time to time.

 

Yeah, I've tried the coding avenue, hence this thread. Skoda UK aren't willing to help.

 

I need to get a scan done of the car with VCDS to see if Ross-Tech can help.

 

These LED clusters are fitted to the top spec Superb (L&K) so the coding does exist, but the L&K is a very recent introduction to the last run of the pre-FL Superb so there is every chance it has a newer controller than my car (2011).

 

Therefore the idea of the resistors was supposed to be the easier option

[booke23]

I have looked at this a little more and I now think booke is correct that the resistor needs to be wired in parallel (sorry for doubting you!!). It is clear no canbus wiring goes to the individual bulbs, so the monitoring must be done at the whole circuit level.

Please ignore my post above with all the physics and sorry for any confusion.

Mmm humble pie.

Adam

 

Thanks for clarifying that! You could have easily been right, I'm not familiar with how the CANBUS actually monitors the resistance in the lighting circuits.....I guessed it was monitored at the whole circuit level but was not absolutely certain.

 

 

Therefore the idea of the resistors was supposed to be the easier option

 

 It's a shame Skoda UK won't play ball. 

 

So to summarise, as the Fogs are in their own cluster the red, blue and yellow wire on your LED cluster must be for the indicator, tail and brake light. The simplest (and crudest) way to wire in the load resistor would be to cut one of these wires, strip the insulation off the two ends, take the wire from the load resistor and twist all three together and solder them (or use a connection block). Then connect the other wire from the load resistor to earth (negative). The earth can be any bare metal part of the car.....the easiest thing is usually to find a nearby screw or bolt, loosen it and tighten it down onto the wire from the resistor.......then repeat with the other two wires......then do the same thing to the other cluster.

 

A neater method would be to dismantle the cluster and find where each wire connects to the circuit board. Then solder each load resistor directly to the circuit board pad and then to the earth terminal. It would be completely invisible then.         

[adamal]

Also I imagine it will get hot so it needs to be one of those with a kind of heatsink built in. It should probably not sit on any plastic either.

[booke23]

I've looked into load resistors a bit, and as adamal says, they do get hot. 

 

So forget what I said about mounting them inside the cluster. They will have to be mounted outside the cluster and not mounted on plastic. I also read that you can get T tap connectors that allows you to neatly connect the resistor without any cutting. It automatically cuts the insulation of the original wire. Picture below.

 

 

Very cleaver and neat. 

[trundlenut]

Scotchloks are a swearword on here I think.

[Gti Jazz Blue]

The earth to the cluster is probably a single cable on the connector which is then split internally to the cluster, it would be very unusual on a VAG car for it to be via the mounting screws, more likely there is a brown connection on the loom that will go to an earth connection point near to the cluster. Best bet would be to use a good known earth and with the car battery disconnected test for it using a DVM on resistance setting. Or see if you can find a wiring diagram for the car on the net.

[silver1011]

Thanks guys,

 

I am getting closer now, I'm pretty sure we've discovered the negative ground wire in this thread...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/287715-which-wire-is-negative/

 

Scotchloks work well but the back of the cluster is exposed to the elements so I'll be splicing, soldering and heat shrinking. A bit more faff but should allow for a more durable connection.

 

I just need to work out how to keep the resistors away from any plastics as they do get very hot. I don't want to screw them to the body so will see how much space I have behind the cluster...

 

 

 

 

[silver1011]

Just to tie up this thread, thanks to everyone for their help and advice!

 

I fitted the resistors today and everything works perfectly, and no blown-bulb warning on the dash!

 

 

 

 

 

[rumiexile]

Good work silver1011 but as you may notice they're kinda overbright. I still think a specific VCDS Byte 18 coding is required. I tried a couple of codings including "05" which sets the correct brightness. But it won't remove the error and in daylight rear left and right fog seems to be on all the time. 

[silver1011]

I admire your persistence rumiexile!

 

I ran out of patience in the end and wasn't overly impressed with the Ross-Tech representative's attitude on here so went down the resistor route instead of buying the cable / support. 

 

The brightness hasn't changed with the fitting of the resistors, it was the same before so I'm guessing this is how they are meant to be.

 

Interestingly though I followed an L&K specification Superb the other day here in the UK and when he applied his brakes all of the LED's lit up in 'brake light' mode.

 

On my Chinese clusters only the top two layers of LED's light up for the brake light function...

 

[zei20t]

 

 

 

my two cents:

 

the bulb out check/warning looks for resistance of the incandescent globe.

 

the LED has less resistance when 'on' so only has an error when you use it.

 

the above diagram, although would work, has halved the average resistance of the LED and resistor.

 

I think you'd need to put the resistor in parallel with the LED circuit to 'add' resistance.

Edited 9 October, 2013 by zei20t

[booke23]

I think you'd need to put the resistor in parallel with the LED circuit to 'add' resistance.

 

You are half right.

 

The LED has a very high resistance compared to a standard bulb. This fools the car into thinking the bulb has blown.

 

Adding a 6 ohm resistor in parallel lowers the resistance of the circuit to approximately the level of resistance of a standard bulb.....so you fool the car into thinking the bulb is working fine.

 

The above diagram shows perfectly how it should be done.   

[rumiexile]

Silver1011 I have some updates for you. We had an assumption of Chinese LEDs are different from L&K ones. Today I was at the dealer, because of %20 Sale in Accessory campaign in Turkey. I decided to get L&K so called European ones. I told them if it removes the error code I'll buy them. They changed the LEDs but it didn't work. It behaves exactly same as Chinese ones.( bottom line brighter upper part for brakes. ) And VAS coding didn't work either. So I decided to examine european and chinese one. Know what? They are exactly same: Same factory code, same made in china, same production line codes. Same cabling everything is same. 

 

What we see this time is: updated versions of VAS doesn't show J519 LED Stops coding option anymore in my BCM Central Electronics. So my late 2010 MY11 plate Superb 3T BCM is not compatible for LEDs. We tried it on a newer superb and after coding voila it works in correct brightness, brakes with all leds, everything is normal. 

 

Unfortunately my car is out of warranty so I couldn't change my BCM, which is quite expensive 3000 TL (1500$) here. 

 

Finally, I think I'm gonna use your wiring diagram and resistors for now and wait for another year to get a new Superb III, not the FL. Thanks for your help.

[rumiexile]

Also to add. For lower brightness  for tail lights use "7A" for Audi TT Separate TFL 

 

 

[newtonmeter]

Hello all,

 

I am doomed with the Byte 18 bug. I have a 2012 (1Z) Skoda octavia L&K DSG TDI. i have a halogen high beam, Xenon Low beam, Seperate DRL on Fog lamps.  My CECM dump is as follows 

Address 09: Cent. Elect. (J519)       Labels: 1K0-937-08x-09.clb

   Part No SW: 1K0 937 087 AD    HW: 1K0 937 087 AD

   Component: BCM PQ35  H   111 0709  

   Revision: AB111709    

   Coding: 4E000AB8E80508C04008008011001124417000AE722085605C8440000040

   Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00081

   VCID: 73E53947D240F386991-8026

 

   Subsystem 1 - Part No: 1Z2 955 119 D  Labels: 1KX-955-119.CLB

   Component: Wischer 02051  26  0601 

   Coding: 00D7B7

 

   Subsystem 2 - Part No: 1K0 955 559 AH  Labels: 1K0-955-559-AG.CLB

   Component: RLS 060612 05  54  0403 

   Coding: 0630ED

 

 

Can any one help me with the Factory code for Byte18?

[langers2k]

 

Hello all,

 

I am doomed with the Byte 18 bug. I have a 2012 (1Z) Skoda octavia L&K DSG TDI. i have a halogen high beam, Xenon Low beam, Seperate DRL on Fog lamps.  My CECM dump is as follows 

Address 09: Cent. Elect. (J519)       Labels: 1K0-937-08x-09.clb

   Part No SW: 1K0 937 087 AD    HW: 1K0 937 087 AD

   Component: BCM PQ35  H   111 0709  

   Revision: AB111709    

   Coding: 4E000AB8E80508C04008008011001124417000AE722085605C8440000040

   Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00081

   VCID: 73E53947D240F386991-8026

 

   Subsystem 1 - Part No: 1Z2 955 119 D  Labels: 1KX-955-119.CLB

   Component: Wischer 02051  26  0601 

   Coding: 00D7B7

 

   Subsystem 2 - Part No: 1K0 955 559 AH  Labels: 1K0-955-559-AG.CLB

   Component: RLS 060612 05  54  0403 

   Coding: 0630ED

 

 

Can any one help me with the Factory code for Byte18?

 

 

There is no correct factory code for byte18 in an Octavia to my knowledge. Instead it should be set to 00 and the lighting configuration is set using dealer tools by editing the eeprom of the CECM directly.

 

What problems are you having?

 

If you have access to either ODIS-e or to VCP I might be able to help, it might also be possible using VAS. However, VCDS is not able to configure the lighting configuration directly I'm afraid.

[newtonmeter]

There is no correct factory code for byte18 in an Octavia to my knowledge. Instead it should be set to 00 and the lighting configuration is set using dealer tools by editing the eeprom of the CECM directly.

 

What problems are you having?

 

If you have access to either ODIS-e or to VCP I might be able to help, it might also be possible using VAS. However, VCDS is not able to configure the lighting configuration directly I'm afraid.

Thanks a ton, i tired "38" and everything is back to normal now;) Hopefully 38 was the OE code.