Genuine VW LED Number plate Lights

[NotSoSimple]

ohhhh, heated now!

 

Like RobFab, white LED light is way more awesome than crappy yellow bulb light.

 

I do it for the improvement of the lives of those that have to sit behind my car in traffic and they think to themselves 'i wish i had bought a vrs, it has cool white number plate leds which match the aesthetic of the rear light clusters'

 

[Robfab]

ohhhh, heated now!

Like RobFab, white LED light is way more awesome than crappy yellow bulb light.

I do it for the improvement of the lives of those that have to sit behind my car in traffic and they think to themselves 'i wish i had bought a vrs, it has cool white number plate leds which match the aesthetic of the rear light clusters'

Haha, thats what i do it for , vrs doesnt come with them :(

[reverse]

Question - and feel free to kick me in the nuts if you must - but adding the resistors will make the LED bulb draw the same amount of power from the electrical system as a normal bulb would? So the mod is only for looks, not for "saving" on power? I did sleep trough that part at the school physics lesson.... 

[PekoSI]

Well your dreams were just as educating as the lesson it seems - you are right 

[NotSoSimple]

Question - and feel free to kick me in the nuts if you must - but adding the resistors will make the LED bulb draw the same amount of power from the electrical system as a normal bulb would? So the mod is only for looks, not for "saving" on power? I did sleep trough that part at the school physics lesson.... 

 

Not bothered about saving power - it purely for the looks of the white light as opposed to the yellow that the factory bulbs give. 

 

The resistors are there to stop the dashboard warning that the bulb is blown due to the lower energy draw.

[Robfab]

You are correct the resistors are used to draw more current. Why id want to save power using led number plate lights i don't know but simply iv done it for looks

[banksie]

Dealer unable to activate LED number plate lights after doing PDI although they have ticked box to say "rear LEDs with tailights ". Put the bulbs in from my previous post and the warning light came on. Fitted the resistors, easily crimped into place and all tucked back into the tailgate and the warning light disappears.

Tailights now on with DRL's and now LED number plate lights, looks good!

[NotSoSimple]

Fitted my 'Robfab' set of LEDs - i didn't need to cut off any plastic bits, they fitted perfectly (but only one way round)

 

I did make a mistake with the wiring and the little metal fittings at the end of the cars wires - i cut them off thinking that i would be able to crimp them into the new fittings. Once i realised this mistake (30 seconds after cutting in the dark and cold - i am **** at DIY) then i new i would have to do some soldering! Took it to my friendly car tuner who sorted it out and fitted them.

 

Works perfectly with the resistors and no dashboard lights. 

 

Great visual improvement!

 

Tuner wants me to add spacers to the stock 18" alloys to bring the outside edge of the wheel to align with the bodywork (it currently sits inside the bodywork just a tad), but having never done this i would want to know if there are any issues with this. 

[Robfab]

Fitted my 'Robfab' set of LEDs - i didn't need to cut off any plastic bits, they fitted perfectly (but only one way round)

I did make a mistake with the wiring and the little metal fittings at the end of the cars wires - i cut them off thinking that i would be able to crimp them into the new fittings. Once i realised this mistake (30 seconds after cutting in the dark and cold - i am **** at DIY) then i new i would have to do some soldering! Took it to my friendly car tuner who sorted it out and fitted them.

Works perfectly with the resistors and no dashboard lights.

Great visual improvement!

Tuner wants me to add spacers to the stock 18" alloys to bring the outside edge of the wheel to align with the bodywork (it currently sits inside the bodywork just a tad), but having never done this i would want to know if there are any issues with this.

Excellent glad your happy and i was to help of at least one other person. Yes maybe thats my fault for not stating. But is a very simple thing to do with no need of soldering or snipping.

Yes they do sit far in, however my concern with spacers is the wear it will have on the bearings. I aim to own the car for 3 years so ideally don't want to be messing with changing bearings.

Rob

[NotSoSimple]

no, i dont want to be messing with bearings so perhaps its not worth it.

[TheWanderer]

You gotta have balls to play with your bearings.

[TheWanderer]

Did anyone have any success just installing the so called LED Canbus bulbs that you get from Ebay, without spending nearly £70 on all of the gizmos that robfab did or is it a hopeless case?

[andyvee]

No reason why they shouldn't work, the VCDS coding is known now for LED number plate bulbs - translated by Google and taken from

http://www.stemei.de/pages/coding/vw-golf-7/led-kennzeichenbeleuchtung.php

 

Activation of the LED license plate illumination

 

The onboard supply control unit, you can unlock the VW Golf 7 retrofit LED license plate lights. Thus, no error message will appear more in the instrument cluster (dash panel insert).

 

The following coding is used:

 

1. Select STG 09 (vehicle power)
2. STG access authorization -> Function 16
3. Enter Unlock Code 31347
4. STG adjustment -> function 10
5. (1) Select-Leuchte25KZL HA59 load type 25
6. Adapt general LED - value at 43
   
    
7. (6) Leuchte25KZL HA59-dimming AB 25 Select
8. Adjust Value to 127
   

 

Note: unlock the VW dealer by action code 381AA well

[Defenderben]

Did anyone have any success just installing the so called LED Canbus bulbs that you get from Ebay, without spending nearly £70 on all of the gizmos that robfab did or is it a hopeless case?

Think you will find the straight answer is no!

There are no off the shelf LEDs AFAIK that will go straight in place of the festoon or capless type lamps without a lamp out fault.

Basically fit LED's and do either;

1. Fit resistors

Or

2. code via vcds

I'm running with a lamp fault at the moment as it is no big deal to me, if I bump into someone with vcds I will ask them to code them and offer them a beer

Edited 1 December, 2013 by Defenderben

[Defenderben]

In what sense do you mean code it properly? If i used VCDS then the system wouldn't recognised that there was a light failure and fail to warn me, so using resistors in my opinion is the correct way as the system works as intended and warns of any failures in the lighting.

Fitting resistors does not allow the system to operate correctly?

If the VW led unit fails you will not get the lamp error on your dash, as the resistors are still mimicking the load to the monitoring system. The resistor would need to fail to give a lamp out fault they way you have yours, which is unlikely

You should have saved some money and stuck in some decent LEDs and had it coded which is the correct way.

Sticking resistors in is not the correct way.

Edited 1 December, 2013 by Defenderben

[andyvee]

AFAIK, coding as per the example I posted will allow non-CANbus LEDs to be used, and you will still get a bulb failure warning.

 

Not tried it though, but with VCDS you are letting the module know LEDs are fitted, and reducing the brightness. No disabling of bulb failure messages taking place.

[Defenderben]

Ideal so with vcds coding to LEDs it will still monitor that circuit.

I assumed the minute current an led draws would have been unmonitored.

Cheers for the info.

[andyvee]

Ideal so with vcds coding to LEDs it will still monitor that circuit.

I assumed the minute current an led draws would have been unmonitored.

Cheers for the info.

AFAIK, yes. This is apparently how the factory code for LED number plate lights.

[Robfab]

Fitting resistors does not allow the system to operate correctly?

If the VW led unit fails you will not get the lamp error on your dash, as the resistors are still mimicking the load to the monitoring system. The resistor would need to fail to give a lamp out fault they way you have yours, which is unlikely

You should have saved some money and stuck in some decent LEDs and had it coded which is the correct way.

Sticking resistors in is not the correct way.

Id rather it not look a dogs dinner with bulbs that don't shine on the plate.

The resister is placed in series so if the light was to fail that will cut the circuit meaning no voltage/current making a full circuit

[Defenderben]

Hi robfab.....I take that back if they are fitted in series, my apologies.

[Robfab]

If i unplug one of my light the warning light is displayed on the dash.

Its something i take note of now, and the worst cars for it of A3's around 04 plate who have fitted cheap leds and they look naff. Im very happy with mine and didn't mind spending the money to have them look OEM.

[PekoSI]

The resister is placed in series so if the light was to fail that will cut the circuit meaning no voltage/current making a full circuit

 

Not true - the resistor wired in series that is. The LED lights you have (or any other LED bulbs for cars) are designed to be connected to 12V DC power source. So if you take an extra resistor and wire it in series the voltage will be distributed between the LED and the resistor (how much depends on the value of the resistor). The whole purpose of having these resistors is bringing that wattage up to the same level as it would be with the normal filament bulb. That can only be done if you wire the resistor in parallel with the LED. This way some extra current is drawn and the wattage remains sufficient for not triggering the error.

 

So in case the LED fails the resistors will continue to draw current but it won't be enough - you will get the error.

 

I know just looking at that resistors it seems like they are wired in series but they're actually wired on opposite pins - one side on '+' and the other on '-'.

 

Just to clarify things 

[Robfab]

Thank you for clarifying it does make sense. Not sure how the led are wired up, as just seems the resistors run in through one leg then out of the unit on the other leg.

Never mind, however it is wired I'm happy and don't have a warning light or tacky/chavvy number plate lights

[PekoSI]

Never mind, however it is wired I'm happy and don't have a warning light or tacky/chavvy number plate lights  

 

Exactly - it works and looks good which is all that matters. That I can agree on 

[Flush01]

Anyone tried these? According to the spec no error message on VW Touran. Not sure these fit?

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 http://www.ledperf.co.uk/leds-pack-white-6000k-license-plate-for-skoda-octavia-3-p-4949.html