This has made me think twice now, hearing about this BCM :( so if I understand this correctly (andyvee) will the interior lights & footwell lights will ok on canbus or non canbus led bulbs? but if you use normal led bulbs for the side lights & rear number plate lights, then you need to really get them coded! or does this also go for interior lights too...

 

What about if you already have front bi-xenon headlamps from factory & rear led tail lamps! will the BCM not already be programmed?

 

cheers & appreciate your help/info

Interior lights, footwell lights, puddle lights (boarding spots) and the lights in the doors are not monitored, so you don't need CANBUS friendly for those.

 

Exterior lights are monitored, so if you change for LED's then the bulb type needs changing.

 

For example, the number plate lights are set from the factory to 2*5W - so this is what the BCM (Body Control Module) is expecting to see in terms of current draw, and also it will test to check that the bulbs haven't blown.

 

If you replace them with LEDs you will get a bulb warning error, and depending on if the BCM sees it as an open circuit or a short circuit they will either continue to work, or the BCM will cut the power to protect itself.

 

Each individual bulb has its own setting, so it doesn't matter if you have LED tail lights etc or not.

 

I personally wouldn't use CANBUS friendly in the interior bulbs as the extra current going through those resistors just generates heat, which might not be a good thing given the location of the bulbs.

Andy I am in Manchester. Could you code my car please? I'll order some bulbs this evening. You seem very, very knowledgable and know what you are doing obviously.

Thanks

Of course I can. Let me know when you have the bulbs. If you order those ones from the link I posted earlier they take about a week and a half to 2 weeks to turn up.

Thanks for that I will order them later.

So, interior bulb replacement will not impact bcm (did I get that bit right?) however, users should note the increased heat. Reasonable statement?

That said, the filament bulbs give off considerable heat and are considered safe. My main concern then would be limited to the quality control of the manafacturer of the bulbs. Given the boot lights are only on and off for a short period, I'd consider a low risk.

Edited 9 October, 201510 yr by Mallettsmallett

Could still impact BCM, but as they aren't monitored other than for shorts to ground there is significantly less chance.

 

As for heat, on a filament bulb it is in the centre of the bulb, depending how the resistors have been mounted on CANBUS friendly it could be in a different place, closer to the socket for example. Thinking mainly of the front interior lights as the footwell lights have heat shields.

 

I personally wouldn't use them, but they are unlikely to cause issues, especially if used as boot lights.

@ andyvee I have looked through the VCDS adaptations but can not see where you change the front side lights to LED! Any chance you could show us the coding parameters as I'm getting a few things done tomorrow & would like to change my front side lights to LED, thanks

I'm on the phone so can't see your profile, I take it you have a vRS with Xenons?

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Yes mate, VRS with xenons, I just want to change the front side lights in the coding only to LED as I still have the canbus LED's in the interior lights, boot & number plate, will this still be possible or will I have to change all the LED lights over to non canbus in-order for the VCDS coding to work? Cheers

You can leave the other LEDs inside as CANBUS

 

The channels you need to change are:

(1)-Leuchte16BLK SLB35BLK SL KC9-Lasttyp 16 to 6 - LED Lichtmodul 

(1)-Leuchte17TFL R BLK SRB3TFL R BLK SR KC3-Lasttyp 17 to 6 - LED Lichtmodul 

Thank you mate so just to make sure (sorry) I know from before you said the interior is not monitored which I understand but the adaptations above are just purely for front side lights only! It won't effect my rear number plate canbus LED lights?

Thanks again for your quick assistance

That's correct, those are just the sidelight bulbs - Ive added it to the sticky thread, for some reason I thought I had ages ago!

 

I also don't seem to have added the delay for the headlight washers either - I'll get that added at some point as well

Questions....

 

Today I have fitted the following LED bulbs: Number plate lights, rear indicators, and front side lights.

 

For the rear indicators I used 'Philips X-treme Vision PY21W LED Retrofit' LED's http://www.powerbulbs.com/product/xtreme-vision-py21 and for the front side lights and number plate lights I have used 'Osram W5W LEDriving Long Life' http://www.powerbulbs.com/product/w5w-led-driving-6000k-cool-white-twin.

 

All of these bulbs are advertised as being NON can bus friendly, the Philips ones even come with resistors to cancel bulb out warnings (which I have NOT used).

 

All have been installed successfully and are working as they should. However, the Philips rear indicators did not produce a bulb-out warning on the dash. Not even briefly. The Osram front sidelights, also are not producing a bulb out warning on the dash. The number plate lights (same bulbs (different colour temp, but the same)) are producing an error as expected (but are working fine at present).

 

My questions to you fine and knowledgeable people are:

• Why are the indicators and sidelights not producing errors? Is this normal, are those lights not monitored etc.
• Do they still need to be coded? Will any harm come from not coding them for LED's, even though they are not producing errors and are not can bus friendly.
• Will any harm come from using the number plate LED's and ignoring the warning on the dash for the time being, until such times as I have the time to get it coded? Or does it need to be done as a matter of urgency?

I just pulled out ugly yellow bulbs and installed can-bus leds (resistor) in all inferior and boot space.

As I was working I thinked about the heat that will be emitted from thoose. Then I just got to back footwell lights which were hot to touch (all lights were on about 20-25 minutes). What I found inside left me with wide open eyes.

I worry about can bus resistor and then I find one built in from Factory???

What do thoose two resistors on back footwell lights stand for?

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If you aren't getting errors then leave alone

 

Are your number plate lights still working? I have seen it where it throws the error and then eventually turns the bulb off .........

If they are still working then you can take your time getting them coded.

I just pulled out ugly yellow bulbs and installed can-bus leds (resistor) in all inferior and boot space.

As I was working I thinked about the heat that will be emitted from thoose. Then I just got to back footwell lights which were hot to touch (all lights were on about 20-25 minutes). What I found inside left me with wide open eyes.

I worry about can bus resistor and then I find one built in from Factory???

What do thoose two resistors on back footwell lights stand for?

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Are you sure they aren't diodes

 

The heat from the filament bulbs in the footwell lights is quite scary ...... no wonder they put a heat shroud on there to stop the seat foam catching fire!

 

You don't need resistors for any interior lights - they aren't monitored. Just use standard LEDs.

If you aren't getting errors then leave alone

Are your number plate lights still working? I have seen it where it throws the error and then eventually turns the bulb off .........

If they are still working then you can take your time getting them coded.

Thanks Andy

They are at the minute...will keep my eye on them though.

I was going to get the number plate lights from Superskoda, but they are canbus friendly so decided not to after what you and others have said about potential damage (and they cost 1.5x more than the LED bulbs :p)

Exactly, no need to spend silly money on CANBUS friendly when the car fully supports standard LEDs with a bit of coding

 

Just keep on eye on the bulb warnings, things can change after the controller has gone to sleep overnight

 

I can always code the number plate lights for you if you are about this weekend, you are only 20 miles away at the most from me.

Are you sure they aren't diodes

The heat from the filament bulbs in the footwell lights is quite scary ...... no wonder they put a heat shroud on there to stop the seat foam catching fire!

You don't need resistors for any interior lights - they aren't monitored. Just use standard LEDs.

To be honest... I assumed they are resistors just by touching them :-(

Will re-check on next disassembly.

Yes I know they are not needed, but I had 10pcs in drawer screaming my name for few weeks. I assumed they cant do damage as I used them in Audi's in past. Today the force was not with me and I have done it [emoji12]

Eitherway, they are way lower temperature than thoose damn hot back footwell's. After shower I saw that I actually a little bit burned my fingertip on one of them.

I'm a little bit worried now about the scary heat generated from thoose after several hours od driving. Wish I did not find this out today evening [emoji22]

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I'm quite tempted to change number plate lights and side lights as they look ****. Andy could you code mine and hba at the same time?

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Questions....

Today I have fitted the following LED bulbs: Number plate lights, rear indicators, and front side lights.

For the rear indicators I used 'Philips X-treme Vision PY21W LED Retrofit' LED's http://www.powerbulbs.com/product/xtreme-vision-py21 and for the front side lights and number plate lights I have used 'Osram W5W LEDriving Long Life' http://www.powerbulbs.com/product/w5w-led-driving-6000k-cool-white-twin.

All of these bulbs are advertised as being NON can bus friendly, the Philips ones even come with resistors to cancel bulb out warnings (which I have NOT used).

All have been installed successfully and are working as they should. However, the Philips rear indicators did not produce a bulb-out warning on the dash. Not even briefly. The Osram front sidelights, also are not producing a bulb out warning on the dash. The number plate lights (same bulbs (different colour temp, but the same)) are producing an error as expected (but are working fine at present).

My questions to you fine and knowledgeable people are:

• Why are the indicators and sidelights not producing errors? Is this normal, are those lights not monitored etc.
• Do they still need to be coded? Will any harm come from not coding them for LED's, even though they are not producing errors and are not can bus friendly.
• Will any harm come from using the number plate LED's and ignoring the warning on the dash for the time being, until such times as I have the time to get it coded? Or does it need to be done as a matter of urgency?

Any pictures? Powerbulbs are showing as having a sale in too right now!

You can leave the other LEDs inside as CANBUS

The channels you need to change are:

(1)-Leuchte16BLK SLB35BLK SL KC9-Lasttyp 16 to 6 - LED Lichtmodul

(1)-Leuchte17TFL R BLK SRB3TFL R BLK SR KC3-Lasttyp 17 to 6 - LED Lichtmodul

Works a treat Thanks andyvee

I'm quite tempted to change number plate lights and side lights as they look ****. Andy could you code mine and hba at the same time?

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Course I can

Any pictures? Powerbulbs are showing as having a sale in too right now!

 

Indeed! (Please excuse the poor quality photos). Oh, and it was cleaned yesterday, and within a few hours was covered in filth again  . I will also post a video of the LED indicators when I get round to it

 

Reg Plate LED's:

 

 

You can't tell as much at night, but because the LED's are fairly directional they don't quite cast the same light over all of the plate. If you look in daylight you can see the right-half of the light isn't really lit up. Might try and make a little reflector out of something...:

 

 

I shouldn't have gone for the 4000K LED's for the sidelights, they don't look much different. I now have some 6000K ones on the way for the sidelights, having tried one of the reg plate ones and found them whiter and IMO better looking. They look a little better at night because they are a little brighter than the halogen's, unfortunately you can't see properly on the night pictures because it's raining too much, so day time ones will have to do.

Standard Philips Blue Vision W5W halogen:

 

Osram 4000K LED:

 

Nighttime comparison (both LED's fitted). Not sure why/how but the sidelights actually look whiter on the photo than they do to the eye. Either way i'm aiming for very similar to the DRL's, which these are not:

 

Daytime comparison (Offside = LED, Nearside = Standard Bulb):