I'm looking at replacing my Brake/Tail and Tail lights with LEDs. I know I need P21/4W bulbs for brake/tail and 4W for tail lights, but was wondering whether I can simply replace these with LED equivalents as I find the lights to be generally dull, to the point where I wondered if the tail lights were actually working.

 

Does anyone have a link to suitable LED lights and recommended sellers?

 

Car is an '07 plate Octavia Mk. 2.

 

Thanks

The issue with LED's in the tail light clusters is that the light output is very directional.

 

The rear lights on the Octavia are designed to reflect the light from a normal incandescent bulb around the reflectors inside the cluster to maximise the light output.

 

You can now get bulbs that have LED's around the sides too that help but I'm pretty sure you'll struggle to improve on normal bulbs.

 

 

Bulbs do deteriorate over time, my advice would be to replace them all with normal incandescent bulbs and give the lenses a good clean with a slightly abrasive cleaner.

 

Remember to get CANBUS friendly LED's if you do decide to go down this route to avoid getting the blown-bulb warning on the dash.

Edited 30 May, 201412 yr by silver1011

Better still just get the full LED rear clusters...

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/289065-octavia-hatch-led-tail-lights-now-fitted/?hl=%2Bled+%2Brear+%2Blights+%2Bxpower#entry3429189

 

Hi, welcome to Briskoda

 

If you put LEDs in the top and bottom, unless you have got the right resistors in there, you'll always have a warning on the dashboard, and there's no guarantee they'll work either. If the CECM detects the bulb is not working, it can drop trying again until the car is restarted. The other two are standard W5W and are not on the buld-out detection system. Trouble is, if you do them on their own, it'll look like you're brakeing all the time.

 

 

You can get LED clusters for the rear, which would have the right resistance and be brighter, but expect to part with around £200.

 

Having just seen Silver's reply, I'd go with new bulbs first.

In theory though, you could have a look around and see if you could get the last of the 3C8 CECM units from a Passat. They were moving over to LEDs so, it is possible the last 3C8's would drive LEDs without issue.

 

Of course though, VW could just have easily used resistors.

Thanks for the reply, I'll do what you and silver1011 suggested.

 

I know I need P21/4W for the brake/tail lights, but what do I need for the other two? Am I right in thinking there are 4 rear bulbs in total per side? Bit of a newbie to this, but determined to be able to do it buy myself.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Hi, welcome to Briskoda

 

If you put LEDs in the top and bottom, unless you have got the right resistors in there, you'll always have a warning on the dashboard, and there's no guarantee they'll work either. If the CECM detects the bulb is not working, it can drop trying again until the car is restarted. The other two are standard W5W and are not on the buld-out detection system. Trouble is, if you do them on their own, it'll look like you're brakeing all the time.

 

 

You can get LED clusters for the rear, which would have the right resistance and be brighter, but expect to part with around £200.

 

Having just seen Silver's reply, I'd go with new bulbs first.

I had a similar thought some weeks back, and was directed to http://www.autobulbsdirect.co.uk/380-Ultimate-Canbus-92-SMD-LED-Bulb.html

While they couldn't guarantee these would work (i.e.not give bulb out errors) they did say they'd take them back if there were any issues.

So far I haven't got round to doing anymore about it :think:

going on what silver said about the directional bulbs.

 

I have fitted cree reversing bulbs. I used to have them in my civic and they were brilliant but the same bulbs in the octavia aren't anyware near as good.

 

The light goes outwards meaning you are left with a dark spot in the middle of the rear of the car so its not brilliant. If you look all the bulbs face slightly outwards

Thanks for the reply, I'll do what you and silver1011 suggested.

 

I know I need P21/4W for the brake/tail lights, but what do I need for the other two? Am I right in thinking there are 4 rear bulbs in total per side? Bit of a newbie to this, but determined to be able to do it buy myself.

 

Thanks again.

 

Yes, 4 bulbs per side. The other 2 are W5Ws.

 
 

Yes, 4 bulbs per side. The other 2 are W5Ws.

 

You need W3W.

 

I tried W5W once, they worked fine but very quickly went black and died.

I stand corrected then

 

Have a load of fliment spares from when I did the LED upgrade on the interior and front sidelights, so I've not had to check.

Replacement LEDs seem pointless as they really wont look much different in the std cluster.

The full replacement LED clusters look excellent whilst stil maintaining that OEM look, but each to their own.

I stand corrected then

 

Have a load of fliment spares from when I did the LED upgrade on the interior and front sidelights, so I've not had to check.

 

Similar story to me

 

I thought the W5W's might be a little brighter too but for some reason they weren't, at least to my eyes.

 

When they kept blowing and I'd exhausted all my stock I decided to buy some W3W's.

You need W3W.

I tried W5W once, they worked fine but very quickly went black and died.

The dealer gave me W5W for mine and never blew or discoloured. I said about the W3W but they said they now use W5W. Strange.

Sent from my IPhone 5 using Tapatalk.

I do high mileage (30,000 / year) and this was during the winter months (lights on for almost 4 hours per day).

 

I'd imagine during normal use you may never see the same problem as me?

 

Its bad that the dealers are giving out the wrong bulbs though.

Edited 2 June, 201412 yr by silver1011

What I found strange is the difference between the estate and the hatchback:

The hatchback has 2 x 21/4w per side (ignoring the W3W's for a moment), but the estate only has 2 x 21w. The estate drives them at a lower current as taillights and then ramps it up when you brake / it's foggy. I like that idea